Six Flags Great Adventure Fly-Over

The weather on Saturday, the 4th of November 2006, finally cooperated, and I was able to take to the air in the hopes of shooting many aerial photos of Great Adventure's Safari, along with the entire theme park in general. My wife could not join me today, so it was only Dad and I.

I arrived at Solberg airport in Readington, NJ, gave the plane a thorough pre-flight, then started the engine. Because the plane sat for the past 3 weeks, the engine took a bit of throttle pumping to run. In no time, I was preparing for take-off and running-up the engine and checking the guages. Finally, I entered on runway 22 and added full throttle. Soon I was climbing out of the traffic pattern at 1,000 feet per minute & 90 mph. And because the air was cold and dense, the propeller bit into the air like a screw churning through butter, which is a nice feeling to say the least.

I set-up the GPS and punched in the coordinates for Miller Airpark airport; a route that takes me directly directly to Great Adventure. I then set the plane at a cruising altitude of about 2,000 ft and enjoyed the view, shooting some photos of various interesting structures along the way. Soon, I could see the Outlet Mall at the intersection of Routes 195 & 537, and I shot a few pictures of this before heading south.

As I neared the Lakehurst Naval Base airspace, I quickly turned back north and set myself up to shoot many pictures of Great Adventure's safari. I was able to capture the entire theme park and the Safari as well in one of the photos, and the remaining ones were only of the safari and theme park seperately.

In all of my flights over Great Adventure, I had never shot any GOOD photos of the Safari, and thus was my goal today. Also, upgrades for the 2007 season are to be underway in the Safari and I wanted to have something to compare when this finally happens.

After shooting these photos, I flew south towards McGuire AFB, but turned north well before their airspace, climbed to approx. 3,500 feet, and shot a few pictures of the entire property of Great Adventure, from Prospertown Lake to the Safari to Route 195.

After the photos were all shot, Dad and I headed to South Jersey Regional airport near Mount Holly, NJ for some coffee and a muffin. After we landed, the wind seemed to drop to near zero and the temps were waming up. We fueled-up there as well, and Avgas (aviation fuel) was still a whopping $3.89 per gallon. Soon, we were back in the air and heading north, with our course taking us over the NJ Turnpike Extension bridge into PA, just west of Trenton, NJ and then west of Flemington, NJ. I wanted to over-fly my home in High Bridge, NJ, so we made a few circles and I snapped a couple of nice, clear shots of my home from above.

In general, the color of the leaves were mostly brown with only a bit of yellow, and many trees were simply naked and only showing their "sticks". We then entered Solberg's traffic pattern and landed, shut down the engine and pushed the ole' girl back into her tie-down spot, ending an ever so perfect flying day....