On Sunday, November 25, 2007, Dad and I took to the air for a late Fall flight which would take us over two amusement parks, one of which is now defunct. We flew southeast to begin with, heading directly to Six Flags Great Adventure. I prepped the camera, descended to an altitude of about 1,500 feet and flew a few counter-clockwise circles around the park. I distinctly wanted to photograph the dismantling of one of the park's larger coasters, Batman & Robin: The Chiller, and what I noted that day was that it had almost been completely cleared from the site, minus the station and queue. I also noted that a large water ride that resided next to this dismantled coaster had also been removed. All of this to make way for the new arrival in Spring 2008; Batman: The Dark Knight indoor coaster.
After shooting pictures from other areas of the park as well, I climbed to 2,000 feet and headed southwest, destined for South Jersey Regional airport in Lumberton, NJ. I decided that I would transition McGuire Air Force Base's airspace rather than fly around the perimeter of it, so I contacted the control tower for permission. Of course, permission was granted, and I was asked to SQUAWK a specific code on my transponder. Once this was done, I proceeded to over-fly the base, heading directly over the aircraft apron and mid-point of the airfield itself. Quite a stunning sight indeed, and in the interest of National Security, that is all I will say.
Moving on, I was cleared by the base's controlling agency to SQUWK VFR, and radar contact was terminated. I was now on my own, which is just the way I like it assuming the weather is as nice as it was this past Sunday. We landed at South Jersey Regional airport for a stretch, to use the facilities and to take a look around. Not wanting to grab a snack in the over-crowded but very pleasant and friendly restaurant there, we boarded the plane and flew back to our home base airport in northwestern New Jersey. Once back home, we parked and ate our picnic lunch in the car, which was a lot more comfortable than in the rather cramped cockpit of our Cessna.
The weather was really turning beautiful and the little wind in the morning dropping off even more so. We then took off and this time headed north, destined for a small children's park, which is now defunct, located in Oak Ridge, New Jersey. Fairy Tale Forest is its name, and now has a storage facility built directly on a portion of its property. I was told there might still be signs of the park's existence, but I needed to wait until the majority of the leaves fell from the trees since this park was nestled in the woods. I remained at a rather high altitude, about 2,500 feet, due to the rather limited emergency landing sites that existed in this hilly, tree-covered area of far northern New Jersey. I flew a few circles of the park's property, and was pleasantly surprised that much of the structures still existed. Several buildings from the Fairy Tales were present, the large Shoe from "the was an old woman who lived in a shoe" and the castle-like front entrance. Even the road sign and parking lot was still intact.
After shooting quite a few pictures, Dad and I noticed a fire burning on a hill just east of where we were, so we flew there next to take a closer look. It turned out to be only some small brush or flare fires that were set, though we had no idea why. We did not see any flames, but there was a LOT of smoke. We then headed northwest towards Vernon Valley Great Gorge and McAfee ski areas. Some snow was made, but very little since it was still too warm outside. Continuing west, we spotted Sussex airport in Sussex, New Jersey, and setup for a landing. After parking, we used the facilities there, and noted the fuel price wasn't too bad ($2.45/gal). It was rather depressing there with little to no activity except for some kids on a quad running around the aircraft apron. There was some construction equipment on site as well, working on adding a NEW taxiway to the southern portion of the field. It was getting late now, the temperature was dropping and the sun would be setting very soon. It was time to leave, and that we did, heading directly for our home-base airport.
On the way, though, we spotted a rather large Corn Maze in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and I decided to circle it once to snap a few pictures of this truly impressive corn field masterpiece. Finally reaching the airport, I set up the plane and landed with a "grease job", which in pilot terms means the landing was so smooth, the tires barely make a sound as the plane ever so gently makes contact with the runway.
Take a look at my Six Flags Great Adventure photos from today, as well as my Fairy Tale Forest coverage as well. It was a great flying day with exceptional weather....Weather we hope will again be with us well into the winter months of 2007/2008....Thanks for reading !!!
Strap yourself in and join Flyin Phil as he recites via text his flights throughout the northeastern United States...
