MikeAdmin9 May 2021
Blame this trip on the bikes! It was the offer of a free bike to tour around on that drew us to Brunswick and we are glad we came.
The flight over was like flying thru Star Wars Canyon dodging those amazing puffy build ups. With broken (70-80%) cloud coverage across northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine we tried to go over the top but ended up weaving north and south to get around the highest build-ups despite climbing up to 10.6K.
RV-10 Cloud Canyon Low Level
F14 “real” Star Wars Canyon Low Level
And by climbing up we stole an hour of free sun shine while everyone else was stuck below in the shade. It was also kind of fun providing a number of Pilot Reports (PIREPS) as other pilots on frequency were heard asking Center for cloud top information as they too tried to work their way through the same air mass.
As we passed north of Mount Washington and build ups started to dissipate and we were left with a single broken layer between 6.5 and 8.5K feet. We picked a nice hole over Lewiston, Maine through which to make our escape from “on top”. Once below the clouds we immediately saw the coast and the huge NAS Brunswick airfield. Jaimie was especially happy to hear the approach controller say “no traffic”. Running into another airplane being one of her ‘concerns’ she was very happy to hear we were the only game in town.
We crossed over the airport checking out the bays the south and entered a right down wind for runway 1R. As we crossed over, we saw that runway 1L/19R was closed – something that I seemed to have missed in the NOTAM. The other interesting thing about this field was that there are two towers, one right on the field and one the other side, west of the parrell runways all by itself.
The Brunswick Executive Airport has replaced the Naval Air Station another victim of BRAC. The huge hangars now appear abandoned and large sections of the apron have been closed due to cracked and flaking concrete. This was especially sad for me as I remember when the base was the center of Navy Patrol Aviation, the most capable sub hunters in the world. NAS Brunswick was also arguably where I started his Navy Aviation career. Back in 1991 I came to NAS Brunswick to receive my first flight physical as a hopeful college student and Naval Aviation applicant.
The FBO is located in the terminal building and appears to cater primarily to executive aircraft. Speaking with Zack – the FBO guy on duty this Sunday he explained they are pretty busy in the summer months and also see a lot of traffic associated with Bowden College. Parents flying in to see their kids graduate or to watch their sporting events. We also got to talk with the line guy. Like so many of these guys at airports across America this guy fit the mold an older gentleman, retired Navy who just loved airplanes. After talking with him a bit proudly identified himself as an A-6 Maintainer who actually started in A-6As. He shared a few of his stories with me while Jaimie checked out their bathroom😊.
The FBO also manages four bicycles for the Maine Aeronautics Association. I have written about this group before. They currently have bicycles at seven airports across Maine. So far Jaimie and I have only made it to two of these Bethel and Brunswick, but this summer we hope to add to that list.
After bouncing our researched lunch spots off Zack, we saddled up and head out to see Brunswick and get some food. As we biked off “base” we passed two interesting dinner options – the most interesting was the Flight Deck Brewery. We stopped by to check them out and they have great aviation décor to include propeller pull handles for each tap and tons of P-3 paraphernalia. This brewery is situated in the base’s former small arms range, and boasts a large outside seating area, a food truck and out door pizza oven. Zack from the FBO told us that all summer long he sees people fly in every weekend and leave with cases of their beer.
Across the street from the Flight Deck Brewery is a static display P-3 and the Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum located in the former base chapel. Unfortunately, the Naval Aviation Museum was closed – the note on the door said due to a number of cases amongst the Staff they would remain closed for all of 2020 – being that they still haven’t updated the sign and it is May 2021 I am not sure what the future holds for the Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum.
As we continued off base, we passed the P-2 Static display that I remember from my time as a Midshipman. I must be getting old as seeing this thing brings back memories of a much younger man😊.
The Peppers Landing Restaurant was located just across Route 1 from the base. Route 1 is a very busy main drag with no bike line and limited sidewalks, not an ideal biking route. We took our time and weaved through a few parking lots to minimize our time on the main road, but this was definitely the most dangerous part of the trip. Peppers wasn’t a chain though it had a bit of that kind of feel, just not very homey. Though they were definitely trying the food was good, the owner was there in a suit to meet everyone and say hello. We were seated at a nice out side table, perfect so we could keep out eyes on the bikes and enjoy the nice spring weather. The only negative was it just didn’t feel like Maine, there was no ocean in sight or smell it was definitely a strip mall on Route 1.
We shared a cup of clam chowder, very good. Jaimie tired the Haddock Tacos, which were excellent – nice and spicey. I tried the Haddock basket with their home-made chips, also very good. Jaimie also enjoyed a nice Dexter Laager.
Lunch complete Jaimie took a pause to call her mother and wish her a happy Mother’s Day, so I went for a walk and found a slot track place. What is a Slot track you ask? Well so did I, so let me share what I learned. Remember those race tracks we had as kids with the car that had a little pin that ran in the track . . . that is it. They will rent you a car or you can bring your own and then only have to rent track time. I spoke with the owner and it sounds like they do OK. Even with COVID they have survived, the other part of their business is a kayak touring company. I am not sure the connection other than the owner is into both😊.
After checking out the traffic on route 1 we decide to just head back to the airport, maybe ride around base a little and head home. We did just that, returned the bikes and mounted up our faithful RV for a quick hop home. As we went to take off the green and white RV14 that we often see at PSM was in the pattern. We had a short Unicom chat with them as we took off an started heading west. For the return flight we decided to try to stay below the cloud layer and enjoy a better view of the land scape. With a cloud layer starting at about 6k we climbed up to 5.5k and cheated north of Mount Washington 6,288ft. Amazingly, OK maybe it is physics, the cloud deck right above Mount Washington was up in the 8K range so we could see it in its glory.
The trip home was fun hanging right below the clouds, a little bouncy but nothing to worry about for a short one-hour flight, I am sure it would have tired us out if we had to put up with it all day. Ceilings over Franklin County were about 4500 and the Sky divers were taking a break so we came in for a smooth left break – runway 1 and smooth landing. All in all, a good trip, nice flight, good food. The only other would the lack of ocean access and/or a safe place to go for a bike ride.