Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Flight to Astoria (aka $100 hamburger)

This last Sunday I flew to Astoria for lunch.  The weather was mediocre so I had to skim under the clouds and above the mountains.  This seems to be the norm for my area this time of year.  The wind was gusty and strong to the east.  I was flying west to Astoria and East home so getting home was much faster than getting there.  
Landing at Astoria was exciting as the wind was almost 45 degrees to the runway.  It took a steep crab angle to keep moving in the direction of the runway.  All turned out well however and the landing was quite short.  I taxied over to the FBO and parked the plane.  I went inside and asked where I should go for lunch.  The gentleman working there told me that there were a few places in town but none on the airfield.  He let me use their car and I was off to lunch.  I had shrimp which was good and filling.
After I was done eating I went back to the airport, thanked them for the car and left a tip for the service.  It is customary to tip about 10-20 dollars for courtesy cars.  then I flew home.  It was a nice day out.