Atlantic City Boardwalk

The Atlantic City Boardwalk was the place to be today. Bright sunshine, cool temps, and lots of blue sky overhead. There was a charity walk going on, but the boardwalk was plenty wide for everyone. I stayed out of the casinos and took in the fresh air and fun. Here’s a timelapse video showing a good part of the walk from the Taj Mahal down to Bally’s. Don’t miss the pizza and sausage at the shop in the middle of the tape.

The only thing that could have made this day better was a flight in a small airplane. That’s on for tomorrow. By the way, the video you watched was made from still images captured by the little GoPro camera I reviewed a few days ago.

Coastal Flying

Back in February, I took a nice flight to Cape May, NJ, right before a snowstorm. I decided to retrace that flight and add another leg to it along the coast. Therefore, I flew to Cape May then turned north, skirting the New Jersey beaches all the way to Monmouth County Executive Airport. Since we’ve already seen photos of Cape May’s airport. Take a look at Atlantic City International as seen from 3500 feet.

As you can see, there’s plenty of runway over there in the haze. Atlantic City also has approach controllers, which is a handy feature for those of us flying under visual flight rules. We call them on the radio, give them our tail number, and if they have resources available, the approach controller will provide what is known as “flight following.” In this case, they give you a discrete code for your transponder and they keep an eye on your progress through their airspace. They provide traffic advisors which makes it easier to see the other guy, especially in conditions like today, when it was hazy.

Well, looking out the other side of the plane, you can see Atlantic City itself. Check it out.

Poor folks down there dumping money into the casino. Or, maybe they’re on the beach. Moving right along, the next photo shows Barnegate Inlet. The lighthouse stands on the south side. I’ve been in and out of there on boats a few times.

All in all this was a terrific flight. The Cessna 172 performed well, the weather cooperated, and while there were plenty of other planes in the air, none of us got in each other’s way. And how about that view!