Bob is based in New York State along the Hudson Valley and I am in Northeast Maryland near the Susquehanna Valley. We had been planning to meet for lunch – somewhere on a route between our two respective homes – since I bought my own airplane in September of 2008. After the third cancellation we began referring to this particular mission as the “Bally Jinx.” We did manage to complete other “meet up” type missions but this one eluded us from October last year to (finally) September of this year. We had a gorgeous day in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions for a day of flying. Bob actually had additional missions for this flight, having stops planned for two other airports during his day-long flying.

So…on to Butter Valley Golf Port (Airport – 7N8), which is located just east of Bally, Pennsylvania. On first glance at Airnav and the comments posted there, some pilots may be a bit apprehensive about landing at this small airport. Of the six comments posted thus far, here are five quotes: “Challenging place to land and take-off,” “to practice an unusual landing strip,” “definitely a challenge the first time. I would do it again, but not in a Cirrus,” “one fun and challenging airport!,” and “the runway keeps the pilot on his/her toes.” What that all means is: make sure you are up on your short field landings and takeoffs – if you consider 2400′ to be short, that is. I am used to flying out of an airport with the longest runway being 2000 feet long.

We arrived as a flight of two – a C-172 (from the northeast) and an Ercoupe (from the southwest). The runway is a bit different in that it is part paved and part grass. Both surfaces are in fine condition with a smooth transition from one surface to the other. There is a displaced threshold to get your flare over/after the golf cart and road crossing. It also has a slight roller-coaster effect because of a small hill at about the half way point and, overall, is slightly uphill. With that said, the preferred runway is 34 – to take advantage of the uphill slope to keep you from needing much brake power, considering the field length. We landed into a 50 degree crosswind from the right side at about 12 knots. There was a bit of a “burble” on long final over some trees, but everything smoothed out on short final and seemed negligible during the flare. That was my experience in my Ercoupe – but Ercoupes are very easy to land in crosswind conditions (no need for rudder pedals at all). My colleague in his 172 also had no problems either with the runway length, the roller coaster or the crosswind. (He flies out of an airport with a looong runway.)

Neither of us would label Butter Valley airstrip as “challenging.” A bit different, maybe, but not difficult at all. We arrived within ten minutes of one another and met up in the tie-down area, which has ample space for a dozen or so transients. There were marked tie-downs but no ropes at the ones we chose. So bring your tie-down rope. We parked on grass and I had wheel chocks for the nose gear so I did not bother with wing-tie ropes. We said our “Hellos” and headed to the restaurant. Walking across the parking lot, I was stopped by an older golfer who asked about my Ercoupe – to see if it was mine. It seems his father had owned one for many years – from the 50′s until his passing in 1990. I am used to questions and/or comments about my airplane no matter where I fly it. (It really is a nice example of a well-cared for 1946 aircraft.)

Lunch was the main reason for our meeting – not the flying. Yeah, right! Neither of us are avid golfers so I cannot comment on the quality of the golf course but it sure did look nice. It was very beautifully kept and was picturesque with trees, hills and bunkers all around the runway, clubhouse and restaurant. It may be surprising, but many small airport (General Aviation) restaurants are not over priced. To the contrary, many are very reasonable – and Butter Valley was no exception. One of the posted “specials” was a Chili Dog for $1.95 and a Grilled Chicken Salad for $5 (if I recall correctly). The place was clean and service was efficient and friendly. And, this is a biggie for me, they served breakfast all day. Well, all day for them was Breakfast and Lunch – closing by mid-afternoon. So I ordered a usual (for me) breakfast of two scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and toast. Bob had a cheeseburger and later added on a hot dog (hungry boy that day). We both had iced tea. The entire bill was only $14 and change. The breakfast was priced at $5.95 – which seem s about average for a breakfast place. However, the surprise was that the price INCLUDED coffee or tea AND a glass of orange juice. Nice place, friendly service, good food and very reasonable pricing. This place is a “keeper” – for sure. We will be back.

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Yes, It was “the” Ercoupe – being flown solo by a close friend and student pilot. Does he know how to handle a grass runway landing or what?

Here’s another video – of a Cessna 172 landing on a grass strip in Argyle, NY (1C3). The video is taken from inside the cockpit of the C-172 with fellow pilot, Brian, at the controls.

My last flight in the Ercoupe was just before Christmas, then a few “life events” seemed to get in the way. The Monday before Christmas was settlement day on our new “second home” at the beach. “Moving in” over the holidays and weekends thereafter kept me away from the airport. Then a business trip to Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas (in January) took me away for almost a week.

The winter of 08-09 was a bad one – not snow wise, but the temperatures were colder than average and there were prolonged periods of high, gusty winds. Then in late january we had an ice storm – one icy step in our back yard didn’t like me – and caused a fractured ankle. I hobbled on crutches into the FBO and made arrangements to have the Annual Inspection on the Ercoupe moved up to NOW. I figured, correctly, that an unscheduled Annual and taking care of a couple of Squawks would have the bird being finished up about the time I could climb back onto the wing. Well, the timing was about right and the weather cooperated yesterday – so takeoff I did – up I went – back in the saddle again.

The flying really felt good. The earlier breeze and bumps had calmed down and I had smooth air at 2500 AGL. I wanted to get away from the airport for a bit and flew north to test the newly installed elevator trim cable (one of the squawks), which had all but frozen after I bought the airplane. The trim worked perfectly, I could set it up to hold altitude quite well, a poor-man’s autopilot for sure.  The ‘Coupe tries to make a slight left turn – not because it’s out of rig, but because my butt takes up 40% of our useful load. If I move to the other side, the tend is turning toward the right. With a passenger, hands off flight should now be “straight and level.” Yay…

Then it was back to the airport for five landings. However, a close friend was doing some pattern work with his (our) CFI in preparation for his anticipated solo flight. So after two pattern trips and two nice landings I decided to tie down and watch my pal fly. I also didn’t want to distract him by being in the pattern and making CTAF calls in opposition to his. I know he needs to learn to handle a crowded pattern, but thought his solo evening should be as free of distractions as possible. It all worked out – HE DID SOLO – Congratulations!

Next trip I’ll knock out a few more takeoffs and landings. Then I’ll be legal and current. Of course those two attributes do not make a pilot safe and proficient. We (pilots) all need to keep working on those important attributes. But my first two landings in over three months were “chirp-chirp” greasers. (Ya gets lucky every once in a while.) In fact, the CFI called on the radio to say the one he saw (1st one) looked cool – crosswind crab on the short paved runway. He got to see it from above. (Pilots find it interesting to see the ‘Coupe touch down in a crab. LOL) So, I’ll reach around, pat myself on the back, and look forward to getting back in the saddle again in the next few days.

The other day I was perusing a thread entitled, “Biggest Landing Challenge??” on the Purple Board for Pilots. The Purple Board for Pilots, for those not familiar with it, is an online community for pilots to share experiences and commeradarie. Questions are asked and answered, ideas are presented and commented upon, and a good time is had by all. One member expressed his Biggest Landing Challenge as not always landing on the centerline of a runway. Well, I can relate to that, so I joined in the discussion.

I stated: Don’t want to get into the “changes” and challenges of going from the C-172 in which I was re-learning how to fly – to doing my BFR “stuff” in my newly purchased Ercoupe. Going from the 172 to a plane with the wing in the right place (change in perspective), no rudder pedals (no problem with that), but no flaps and a Hershey Bar shaped wing with a sink rate similar to a sack of potatoes – all belongs in a thread (and/or blog post) of its own.

Another pilot stated that he, “…consistently lands left of centreline on wider runways. Not a lot, but always.” He went on to say that on narrow runways he always lands dead-center.

I jumped in addressing “my” centerline idiosyncrasy: “Sooooo…I seem to have developed an opposite “syndrome” at the home-drome. I am using a paved runway of 2000 x 40 feet; and I am consistently left of centerline. Not far left, nearly always just a little bit left. However, fly over to Martin State (MTN) with it’s 7000 x 180 foot runway – and I easily straddle the center paint. Go figure…”

Another pilot mentioned that he read somewhere, “…that people who do this are often trying to put the center of the plane on the center line. What I read was written by some instructor who suggested the solution to this particular problem was telling the pilot to put themselves on the center line rather than the center of the plane.”

That was posted on Thanksgiving Day. And I had about 5 hours of CAVU weather before we were scheduled to be at our Daughter’s home for Thanksgiving Dinner. I figured I would head to the airport and give that advice a try. It wasn’t a radical change – just slightly different perspective on lining up for touchdown.

Here’s the result of that .9 in the air…

OK, so I did a few TOLs yesterday – working up an appetite for that Thanksgiving Dinner. It really did seem to help a bit with putting the centerline in front of “me” – rather than where I perceived the center of the airplane to be. Here is a short video of one of those landings…

It was a beautiful day – cool, crisp and clear. The wind was not strong but it was variable. I flew for nearly an hour and the wind was mostly a crosswind from the west, so in the video I was setting up for a slight drift to the right on final. Turn the camera on and the wind swings around – go figure. We always get a bit of turbulence on final for 28 because of the mixture of trees, fields and buildings. (You should see the “bouncing” on a gusty day.

For perspective on the camera angle…the camera is wedged in next to the compass and is about 3 inches to the right-center of the windshield. The fuel indicator (you can see the shadow move) is about 4 inches to left of center. For reference to that mumbo-jumbo, just look at the head-on shot in the head of this page (at the top).

We reported over the Mall at Whitemarsh Town Center and were given a long straight-in final. We were #2 to land behind an A-10 form the Maryland Air National Guard, which gave me plenty of time to line up for the runway while being perfectly crabbed into the wind. After the A-10 was long gone, I set down on the centerline of the runway while holding that crab all the way to touch-down. I landed with the main gear down first and the little plane straightened itself right out – just as it was supposed to do. Jamie, my CFI, looked at me and said that he had heard about “those” landings, but that was the first time he had seen it (or done it) at that big of an angle. 

Back at Churchville/Aldino, our base airport, I had runway 28 available for the 240 degree “breeze,” so the landing was much less dramatic. Everything worked fine and while it might have been a bumpy ride, I had successfully completed my BFR. It was a good day. 

It was a great experience, especially after not being in the air for 37 years. The aircraft and I both did exactly what “we” were supposed to. Because of that crosswind experience I am now comfortable with winds in that range. It is a confidence booster to do something “by the book” and be able to find out that sometimes the book advice really works. Of course, with the Ercoupe being around for 60+ years, it has had a lot of people write about its characteristics and capabilities (and idiosyncrasies).