George,

Glad to hear that you are recovering, and hope that all goes well. BTW, Old
Bridge used to have a lake for float planes. When New Jersey basically
outlawed landing them, it was used as a practice area for exhibition water
skiers. Is it still there or have they filled it in?


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


red12049 wrote:

Thanks for the memories..... when I lived up that way, the
"maintenance
shop" was an outdoor storage shed that they stuck the nose into.... The
FBO's office was an old mobile home, and they had just put up the first
of
new hangars when I was leaving the area, before that, there were none.

They have six or seven sets of T-hangars, each with 8 hangars. One more
set is
being constructed. They have a three story derelict building that looks
like
a control tower and was supposed to eventually become a restaurant. There
are
also two hangars large enough to comfortably hold the biggest light twin
Cessna
makes. One of those used to be the maintenance shop. The office and an
attached
medium sized hangar are near the fuel pump, more or less in the center of
the
field. I hear they have plans for expanding into an area now used for
parking
the remains of cars crushed during shows at the dragstrip.

Business at the maintenance shop was so good that the shop was always full
with
at least six planes being worked on outside. The shop owner wanted to
expand
into the other large hangar, which is being used by the airport manager.
The
airport manager wanted to put another twin into the maintenance shop.
Guess who
won?

What with Marlboro closing, all of the tiedowns near the office that used
to be
available for transients now have permanent tenants, and they've sunk
tiedown
rings in the turnaround at the west end of the runway. It's pretty packed.
The
owners haven't raised prices, however.

Marlboro was a pretty little field, shame they gave in.... Flew a few
times
out of Colts Neck.....

Colts Neck hasn't been on a sectional in at least three years. I wouldn't
even
know where to look for it. Marlboro's still there but Xed out. The way the
McMansions are going up across the road, though, it won't be long before
they
plow it under.

used to live in South Amboy.... how are things
up that way now?

I don't really know the area that well - I live in Middletown. Things are
pretty
depressed with the collapse in the Telecom area. The major players in that
are
still laying off at times, but not as badly as 2002. My former employer is
about
half the size it once was - that alone put about 4,000 people out of work.
The
Times ran an article a couple weeks back entitled "Want a Job? Start
Packing.",
so it doesn't look encouraging in the near future. On the plus side,
there's
been an increase in the service area. Lots of people have decided to fix
up
their current homes rather than move. I'm building up a home repair
service
myself.

George Patterson
To a pilot, altitude is like money - it is possible that having too
much
could prove embarassing, but having too little is always fatal.