Wellsboro Johnston N38 to Cherry Ridge N30

Canyon Pilots Association August 9, 2014

August, a high pressure system and a clear, calm day.  What better conditions could exist for a Saturday afternoon flight? A Short wing Piper and a couple of Skyhawks from the Canyon Pilots Association made the trip from the Wellsboro Johnston Airport, N38, to the Cherry Ridge Airport near Honesdale Pa.  Beside the flight itself, the $100. hamburger at the famous Cherry Ridge Airport was the goal and the airport was another airport checked off the list of the six airports in the Canyon Pilots Associations VFR 2014 Challenge.  

Craig Musser's Skyhawk at an interesting Cherry Ridge runway.  One end of the runway is a swamp, the other end is in the forest.  The nose of the other Skyhawk in the photo belongs to Ron McClure

The airport and restaurant were oddly quiet for a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  The only activity was a Flightstar SC departing as we arrived.  

We arrived, parked, noticed how quiet the airport was and headed for the Cafe.  No wonder the place was quiet!!  The hand written sign on the door said "Cafe Closed Due To Maintenance Aug. 9"  As luck would have it they closed on one of the nicest flying days of the summer and they didn't even mention it in the NOTAM!!  That is a major airport bummer and should have been in the darn NOTAM!!

 CPA members left to right. Rob Fisher, Kevin Johns, Tom Freeman, Craig Musser

Photo by CPA member and Skyhawk pilot, Ron McClure

 Cherry Ridge, N30, was an interesting place.  It looks like it could be a busy place on any given day.  There are a lot of planes hangared there.  The hangar facilities were very old and in rough condition but they were full!  An FBO on the field had two Warriors on the field with his logo on the tail which were obviously used in flight training.  It looked like a step back in time.

Rob Fisher is Mr. Ercoupe of at N38.  He hit the jackpot at Cherry Ridge and at Seamans airport on the return flight.  There was another Ercoupe at that field too.

This 1959 Pacer was a pretty nice plane. Check out the hangar.  It looks like a two man job to enter and exit this hangar.  The doors as seen on the right were hinged and folded up to close that area but obviously have not been functional for a number of years.

This was a beautiful Cub and was kept in one of the better hangars

 The sight picture from the Tri-Pacer as we departed. The $100 hamburger did not cause us any reason to recalculate the weight and balance on this particular visit to Cherry Ridge

 On the return flight to N38 we knocked out another airport in the Canyon Pilots VFR Challenge.  This is the approach to 0PA3, Robbins Farm runway 17.  This is a very nice private grass strip near Troy Pa.  Thanks to CPA member Ron McClure for working with Mr. Robbins to allow this strip to be part of our VFR Challenge 

 As we returned back to Wellsboro we couldn't resist a turn-about-a-point over the demolition derby taking place on the final day of the Tioga County Fair!  

This was a beautiful day to fly with friends and enjoy some of the best scenery that God has created.  The Endless Mountains in Pennsylvania's Northern Tier are a special place to fly!!