By Eric McCarthy

Buzzard’s Bay (Courtesy Ben Nugent/Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce)Ahh…it seems like only yesterday! My long cross-country as a student pilot…

I was speaking with one of my CAP squadron-mates the other day and asked how close he was to finishing his Private Pilot license. He said he had just a couple of items left, including his solo long cross-country. Since he was training at a Part 141 flight school, his cross-country merely had to cover at least 100nm. As I look at the FARs today, it appears that the requirements may have been relaxed from when I did my long cross-country years ago. As I recall, my flight had to have three legs of at least 100nm each.

At the time I was training at Turners Falls (0B5), a remote, picturesque airport located at a sharp bend in the Connecticut River in north central Massachusetts. The airport has a 3,200-foot runway that sits on a plateau about 50 feet above the river, which to me as a young aviator provided an exhilarating view when approaching runway 16 over the river.

I had planned my flight under the supervision of my instructor and just needed the weather and aircraft availability to cooperate. That day arrived in July, 1980. I had graduated from UMass that May, and had been making the 100 mile trek from my home in eastern Massachusetts to complete my training at 0B5 since then, but that was getting tedious – especially since I lived under the traffic pattern of Norwood Memorial Airport (KOWD). This would end up being my last flight from Turners Falls.

My flight would take me from Turners Falls to Portland International (KPWM); from there to Martha’s Vineyard (KMVY); and then back to Turners Falls; total distance: about 360nm. It would take me almost five hours’ flight time to complete in the club’s Cessna 152, N49394.