"What are you doing Labor Day weekend?" I recognized that the voice on the other end of the phone belonged to my brother, Mark. I scanned my memory for that weekend. No special plans immediately came to mind. "I think I'm free. What's up?", I replied. "Stittville."

(Click picture to enlarge) Graphic by Tim Bayer

Coming from an upstate New York based PPC pilot, a single word noting a relatively obscure little town outside of Utica, NY is all that is needed to identify the annual Stittville Fly-In. There was more to his response.

"… and then we are going to fly over Mt. Marcy in the high peaks of the Adirondacks."

I located my calendar which revealed a conflict on Saturday that weekend. A short discussion followed and the plans were outlined. Mark would travel with his camper to the Stittville Fly-In on Friday. On Sunday, I would head east and join the folks at the Fly-In before continuing to the Adirondack Mountains.

Labor Day weekend arrived and the first decision on Sunday morning was made for me. At 5:50 AM my cat, Lazer, determined that I had enough sleep and it was time for me to wake up. The stomping began. Despite the repeated prodding from his pencil feet, I remained under the covers and started creating a mental check list of items needed for Stittville. The list would include my video camera. Mixed in with the morning routine of shower and breakfast, I collected and packed 2 days of clothes. I put out two days of food and water for my cats and I was off - immediately after I located Lazer, who was sleeping, and woke him up just for good measure.

(Click picture to enlarge) Picture by Tim Bayer

From Webster, it is a straight shot east on Rt. 90 past Syracuse to Utica. Exit from Rt. 90 near Utica, take the correct back roads and I would find Stittville. However, I did not take the correct back roads and ended up driving around the countryside for a while. I was slightly annoyed at my delay in arriving at the Fly-In. I decided my marginal navigational skill on this day was caused by lack of sleep.

I stopped into a mini-mart and went to the pay phone. I called my house to make the phones ring, which I was sure would wake up Lazer. It made me feel better.

I retraced my tracks, discovered my driving mistake, and arrived at the farm which is the location of, "Tommy's Play Station PPC Fly-In". The hosts of this fly-in are Tom and Colleen Farr. I got to meet Tom and Colleen and then I made the rounds to touch base with the folks that would be traveling to Mt. Marcy. The group included Gordon Merkel, Nick and Marie Viscio, Mark Bayer and John Murphy. I also got a chance to chat a bit with Rockin' John Carr. I tried to coax him into joining us on the trip to Mt. Marcy. Unfortunately, John had to head back to Massachusetts and was unable to go with us.

Around 4:00 Sunday afternoon, the 4 vehicle caravan departed from Stittville on the two hour drive to the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. We stopped for dinner along the way and arrived in Keene Valley after sunset where we camped for the night.

A couple of weeks earlier, the pilots had contacted the town of Keene Valley and had received permission to use the Marcy Airfield on Monday. At sunrise, the pilots had a meeting to review the flight plan, look over maps, set GPS coordinates and identify alternate and emergency landing locations.

The morning air was cool and clear. There were some low clouds to the southwest, but the mountain ridge at the end of the valley formed an effective barrier, keeping the sky above the airfield clear. Not only would the mountain ridge keep clouds away from the airstrip, it would create a spectacle like I had never seen from the seat of a PPC.

When preflight inspections and warm-up were complete, Nick Viscio was the first to take to the air in his single seat PPC flying a green, yellow and red chute. After waiting for the prop wash of their predecessor to clear the field, one by one each PPC added their tracks on the dew covered airstrip.

I was on board the second PPC to take off, and we circled in the air to regroup. Next to join us was John Murphy with his all white canopy, followed by Gordon Merkel flying an all blue parachute. Viewed from above, the bright PPC canopies were outlined with the dense, dark green, tree covered mountains and valleys below. The sunshine had not yet touched the valley floor, but it bounced off the bright colors of the canopies that had risen above the shadow cast by the mountain ridge. Ahead was the cloud dam at the end of the valley.

(Click picture to enlarge) Picture by Gordon Merkel

The 4 PPCs were all headed in the same direction along the valley with anywhere from a couple of hundred to many hundreds of feet of separation. Mark kept our Blue Heron Marathon near the top of the group, so that our view of the other PPCs was generally from above or in profile.

Our perspective on the other aircraft changed constantly throughout the flight. At one point Nick Viscio, in the single seat Spirit, was below us providing a view of the top of his multicolored, red-edged canopy against the green and gray of the valley floor. He crossed beneath us traveling toward the sun side of the valley and then began climbing to match our altitude. As his machine climbed, the bright colors of the semi-translucent parachute became more vibrant as it traversed onto the sunbeam. At the same time, the opaque profile of the cart and pilot gradually darkened, eventually creating a black silhouetted pilot below a glowing, florescent colored wing. The mountain peaks were at elevations from around 4,000 to 5,344 feet. The clouds on this day were at about 4,100 feet. As our PPC climbed towards 6,000 feet, the combination of factors produced the spectacle I had never seen before; PPCs flying above the clouds. The southwest wind pushed the moisture laden air into the mountain ridge forcing the cloud cover to dam at the ridge and then split around the peaks. The bank of clouds flowed around the peaks, spilling into the valley below. At the same time, the rising sun heated the cloudless valley of the airstrip. The colder air containing the clouds sank as the wind pushed it over the crest at the end of the valley. The result was an amazing cloud waterfall moving in slow motion. The cooler cloud material became heated on its journey down into the warm valley. The warmer air dissipated the descending clouds which disappeared before reaching the valley floor.

(Click picture to enlarge) Picture by Gordon Merkel (Click picture to enlarge) Picture by Gordon Merkel

Mark added thrust and we climbed above Gordon and Nick as they passed over the mountain ridge that was preventing clouds from entering our side of the valley. Beyond the ridge, an unbroken sheet of clouds extended to the horizon. The slow speed of PPCs and our distance to Gordon and Nick gave the initial impression that the two PPCs were suspended in space, floating above a white, fluffy background. We admired the flowing cloud river and mountain scenery for more than an hour until diminishing fuel required us to return to the grass airstrip. I had configured my digital video camera to record in wide screen, 16x9 format. The tape rolled the entire flight, capturing the experience with moving images.

(Click picture to enlarge) Picture by Gordon Merkel

The pilots regrouped on the ground discussing the amazing flight experience. The parachutes were packed and the machines were loaded onto the trailers. The trip from Mt. Marcy back to Webster would take a little over 4 hours.

This was the last flight of the season for me, and it turned out to be the best flight of the year. For PPC pilots in the northern US, September is a signal that the end of flying season is near. When winter arrives in the north, most PPC pilots and their machines hibernate. However, I wasn't surprised by the phone call I got in February.

"What are you doing today?", I heard Mark's voice say.

"I'm free. What's up?", I replied.

"Irondequoit Bay has been frozen for weeks and we can use the ice as an airstrip."

While still on the portable phone, I went to retrieve my video camera.

"I'm in."