Day 9 - Massena NY to Bangor ME

The storm system I had been following, and the reason for the previous days tailwinds, was moving further south east so the air this morning was crystal clear, and relatively cool. My host Earl, who last evening had guided me through the nearby Mohawk Indian Reservation, now told me that this morning I could fly over the very same Reservation, but with a Young Eagle as a passenger.

     Massena (MSS) NY

Massena sits tight up against the Canadian border at the very north west corner of New York state and whilst the border here is easy to find, it's the centre of the St Lawrence seaway, just to the west the border heads inland. This was where my Young Eagle lived and sure enough he wanted to see his house from the air - only when we had done a number of steep turns over his home in Fort Covington did he point out the border crossing a few hundred yards further north.

Still, whilst we may have ventured ever so slightly into Canadian airspace, we did not land and so did not have to advise US Customs or be intercepted by the Border Patrol. As the Patrol's helicopter was based at Massena, perhaps they were aware that 'GOOFY' was out flying.

   'Young Eagle' at Massena NY

Today was to be a more relaxing schedule than the previous 7 days and there was even time for an early lunch with the new 'future pilot' before departing eastward to Bangor, Maine.

I was looking forward to today's flight route as it was over an interesting part of the USA - the very northern edge of New York state, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. From the air it looked very much like the English Lake District or the lower mountains of Europe. There was even Berlin hiding under the clouds in the northern tip of New Hampshire. The names in Maine were something else - how about Mooselookmeguntic Lake!

Just to the south of Sugerloaf USA ski area in Maine I came across the namesake of another European capital - Madrid, and then Moscow.

Area to the south of Moscow, ME                                                                             Maine Ski area

                             

Heading towards Bangor at 9000 ft I could see a myriad of lakes to the far distant north and here, I knew, this was sea plane country. The GlaStar was designed as a multi-purpose airplane and is easily converted to a sea plane - it even has lifting lugs on top of the fuselage to raise the airplane so floats can be fitted in a matter of a few hours.

Again, tailwinds meant I would be arriving at Bangor Internatiuonal airport earlier than planned and I even had to get EAA Chapter 827 President Ellery Batchelder away early from his 'day job' in his welding shop. Ellery is into Kolb aircraft and has modified the steel cage on his Kolb extensively, and is talking with the Kolb factory about welding the frames for future models.

  Steve & Ellery at Bangor International

My host for the night was to be a retired air traffic controller, christmas tree farmer and long time Bangor resident, who had arranged for his grandson to be ready to fly in 'GOOFY'. Once again, the Young Eagle wanted to see his home from the air and 'GOOFY' obliged with steep turns overhead the home which nestled amongst the surrounding christmas trees!