Ever since getting my private pilot certificate, I wanted to fly to one of the airports on Long Island. I’ve had the opportunity of going to either East Hampton or Montauk for the last few years by driving there and it just took too long.
However, with an aircraft - that trip was cut down quite significantly. We loaded up the plane with ForeFlight, some cold bottles of water and departed KCDW at 10am. Despite it being a Saturday in the summer, the traffic around TEB and HPN was quite manageable - and was even pleasant thanks to VFR Flight Following.
It took us about an hour to get to HTO. initially I had called out my position inaccurately while speaking to the tower. Once we got that sorted out, we landed and went to the FBO for a quick lunch. It was also my first time dealing with ramp controllers - which was a unique experience!
Unfortunately the traffic at East Hampton was quite awful and instead of going to the beach for lunch, we were only able to squeeze in a quick slice of pizza before we had to head back to the plane and then fly into CDW.
It was most certainly a memorable flight and I’m glad that the aircraft gives us so much more reach and opens up a world of possibility.