KXLL Allentown Muni to Merrill Creek Reservoir Boat Ramp
After the towered KABE ATC cleared me (and forced me) to a VFR takeoff with an 11kt crosswind while reserving the straight-into-the-wind runway for IFR traffic, I went looking for a nearby uncontrolled airport, and settled on KXLL Allentown Muni. (After KABE gave me taxi clearance, there was no “cancel taxi” or any other option available until I actually took off on the cleared rwy.)
I wanted to take “my ICON A5” to a quiet reservoir for a little peace and quiet:
The plan rounds the turns short of the waypoints, and I try to fly the visuals more than the GPS. The A5 livery I chose made that a bit challenging with no compass to even know what direction I was flying. I squared the turns to put eyes on Quackerstown KUKT and Hoge Farms 56PA, then followed the river north toward my destination Merrill Creek Reservoir.
My flight instructor used to chastise me to look out the window for traffic, and this flight held a surprise when I scanned my left window - There was WingBoss7 in black ICON A5 perfectly matching my speed, altitude and direction. We exchanged wing wags and I returned my focus on setting up for my upcoming water landing.
There is a “v-cut” pass in the hill at the south end of the reservoir that allowed me a straight in, low and slow approach for my landing which went by-the-book (ICON A5 training videos on YouTube…).
After landing, I had a secret that surely gave WingBoss7 a mystery “Where is he going?”, but first I had to figure out why the water rudder has limited ability to turn the plane. If there is any wind, the tiny water rudder can only turn the plane about 30 degrees off the wind heading. By juicing the throttle I was able to turn east to where I needed to go.
WingBoss7 finally landed or slewed to be following me to my destination - a boat ramp in the northeast cove of the reservoir.
From a prior bad beaching, I had learned the secret to getting out of the water is to put the gear down just before reaching the ramp. I managed to park on dry land and shut her down to enjoy the peaceful chirping of birds and lapping water.
#HoneyBadgerSlyr may have been flying along with me in a C172 as I think I saw his gamertag very early in my flight all the way to my final screen capture parked at the reservoir.