"Continuing the Legacy of my great friend, Captain John Billings"
Angel Flight June 21st, 2021… Ithaca, New York to Baltimore, Maryland
This Angel Flight Mission (on the first official day of summer) took us from home base Luray up to Ithaca, NY, then down to Baltimore, MD, and back home. Our flight up to Ithaca totaled 277 nautical miles which we covered in about 2 hours and 9 minutes. The ride at 7000 feet was very comfortable, but below 5000 feet once up in New York we had considerable chop and gusty surface winds. Ithaca is in the Finger Lake Region of New York State, and viewing it from the air is quite beautiful. At the airport, we meet our Angel Flight passenger, Antonia, whom we flew to Baltimore, MD for her appointments at John Hopkins. Our flight to Baltimore from Ithaca totaled 205 nautical miles, which we covered in about 2 hours and 5 minutes. Again, the ride at cruise altitude was very comfortable other than occasionally poking a hole thru some clouds which would give us few bumps. We were cleared into BWI, landing on runway 15Left, the surface winds at Baltimore were considerably less than at Ithaca. Inside we said our goodbyes and gave our best wishes to Antonia as she departed on with her ride. Antonia is bravely battling breast cancer which had already metastasized before it was properly diagnosed a few years ago. After departing BWI we poked some holes thru the clouds as we climbed up to our cruise altitude, the view around the harbor and city leaving BWI is always amazing! Once we got leveled out and into some smooth air, we initiated a very important part of our mission, the I.A.P. (In Air Picnic) of which we very much enjoyed as we watched the earth go by. Back in our beautiful valley we descended down and landed on runway 22 just prior to some major storms that were brewing just west of us. Our good friends, Karen and Jimmy Culpepper awaited us… Mr. Jimmy with our hanger door open, and Mrs. Karen we some of her delicious homemade goodies in hand (boy does she have us spoiled)! After tucking 49Bravo into her hanger, we enjoyed coffee and great conversation… along with Karen’s goodies before heading out on our most dangerous part of the day, the drive home! Hope you enjoy our photos… Have a great day!