KFRG Farmingdale PIREP Request

Bryan wrote:

I'm planning a trip from KBED in E. Massachusetts to
Farmingdale/Republic Field, New York next weekend in a Cherokee.

Thanks for the responses. Despite a very gloomy outlook forecast Friday
afternoon, Saturday and Sunday turned out to be exceptional flying weather.
We left a little later then planned on Saturday morning due to some
lingering ceilings on part of Long Island. By the time we got down there
the visibility was unlimited all around. We received flight following the
entire route down. For some reason Providence Approach (or was it Bradley)
did not want to effect a VFR handoff to NY Approach, but at least they
provided a handy frequency. NY approach was very helpful and kept a
departing 737 at 3000' for a few moments until we could pass at 3500'. (I
was thankful to be passing over the wake turb. rather then under it). The
scenery along the north shore of Long Island made for a great flight.
Calverton looks like a great field. I understand that it is open for some
limited GA but only via special permission. Still it's good to see that the
old Grumman field might still have life left in it. I'll have to explore
more of the eastern end of Long Island this summer.

Republic Field was a little busy, but nowhere near like Hanscom is on a
sunny Saturday, and there were no delays getting to the runway. We taxied
right to Long Island Jet and after calling them via radio they sent someone
out to guide us to an overnight tie down ($15). LI Jet is a little out of
the way for the uninitiated to find via car, but our party was able to find
the FBO without too much trouble. Inside the FBO the lady behind the
counter was very friendly and helpful.

On Sunday we made use of LI Jet's ample facilities to do the flight planning
and weather checks. A Tiger had just parked next to our plane. The pilot
had just arrived from Florida and remarked that he had trouble getting any
assistance from the FBO via radio, although they seemed eager to help us.

I asked ground control if we could get a VFR squawk code from NY Approach
(BED will sometimes coordinate this with Boston tracon if they are in a good
mood, and the tracon seems to encourage it) while on the ground, but they
declined. There was a lot of inbound traffic (mostly Sunday evening
corporate arrivals) but there were no delays at all getting a departure
clearance. We never did say goodbye to the tower upon leaving the Class D
as they didn't call us and they seemed busy with other traffic. With the
class C wall coming up soon, I needed to get busy with calling FSS and
contacting approach.

The approach controller for the Islip area was having trouble with people
stepping on each other. He finally told all VFR traffic to go away for a
little while and call back later. By the time we were able to communicate
with him we had pretty much flown around the C airspace wall--a very
squiggly line that corresponds to a highway below. The controller seemed a
little grumpy but that didn't stop him asking somebody returning from the
McGuire airshow all about it, despite that it took many times to get the
conversation across b/c of more simultaneous transmissions. Naturally NY
Tracon didn't hand us off to Bradley. As usual we were delayed in the
pattern a bit at Hanscom, but landing was uneventful.

All in all a great trip, and to top it off we had tailwinds in both
directions. Total trip engine time was about 90 minutes each way. A heck
of a lot better then weekend traffic on I-95, and a lot more fun too.