recommendations for NH/VT sightseeing destinations? (via air)

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lukezimmerman

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Help me out you New England'er POH members ....

My wife and I will be visiting Boston this fall for 4 days. On one of those days, my hope is to rent a plane at Beverly airport and spend the day flying up into the lower parts of New Hampshire and Vermont (Maine too?) for some aerial sightseeing, and land at some quaint airports. A stop or two for food would be ideal too.

Any of you locals, please let me know the tops sights to see from the air, fun airports to visit, and any worthwhile on-airport (or accessible) restaurants.

Thanks!

P.S. this will probably be on a Sunday
 
For a food stop you can use Sanford me. Also owls head me. Has a museum.nashua NH has a restaurant on the field.
 
lukezimmerman said:
Help me out you New England'er POH members ....

My wife and I will be visiting Boston this fall for 4 days. On one of those days, my hope is to rent a plane at Beverly airport and spend the day flying up into the lower parts of New Hampshire and Vermont (Maine too?) for some aerial sightseeing, and land at some quaint airports. A stop or two for food would be ideal too.

Any of you locals, please let me know the tops sights to see from the air, fun airports to visit, and any worthwhile on-airport (or accessible) restaurants.

Thanks!

P.S. this will probably be on a Sunday
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Are you renting from Beverly Flight Center? I did all my ratings there. I know all the planes pretty well. Great people work there. Cant recommend them enough. All of his fleet will work well for a VFR trip. I'm partial to 34D as it has a 430W- but you shouldn't need that for a sightseeing trip.

A few nice destinations and easy flights from KBVY-

Fly up to KSFM- Sanford, ME for some decent breakfast/lunch in ME. Its an easy flight from BVY and there are pretty nice views of the ME,NH, and MA coast.

Also KLCI- Laconia, NH- beautiful scenery and the approach is right of Lake Winnipesaukee. You can usually get a crew car there and it is a few minutes to some decent restaurants right along the water. Or you can rent a boat and buzz around the beautiful lake.

AFN- Jaffrey- Silver Ranch- is a nice little airport right before the mountains. Its a small runway but doable with any of the warriors you will rent. Follow the signs to the ice cream right next to the airport (a 5 min walk from the ramp)

DDH-Morse State- Southern VT airport among the mountains. Great views.

6B6- Minute Man- small airport feel. Great food at the restaurant for breakfast and lunch.


If you need any more info on BVY or anything else around let me know!
 
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Flying up Rt 93 or 302 through the White Mountains is fun. Great views as you fly below the peaks up the road.

Parlin field is nice to fly in/out of. Restaurants are close by in town. Same with Bethel, ME.
Good food truck at Plum Island on weekends.

There's the floatplane fly-in this coming weekend in Maine.
 
lukezimmerman said:
Help me out you New England'er POH members ....

My wife and I will be visiting Boston this fall for 4 days. On one of those days, my hope is to rent a plane at Beverly airport and spend the day flying up into the lower parts of New Hampshire and Vermont (Maine too?) for some aerial sightseeing, and land at some quaint airports. A stop or two for food would be ideal too.

Any of you locals, please let me know the tops sights to see from the air, fun airports to visit, and any worthwhile on-airport (or accessible) restaurants.

Thanks!

P.S. this will probably be on a Sunday
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You won't find quainter than 2B3 (Newport, NH). Very picturesque setting in a valley with a covered bridge at one end of the field. Very friendly people, probably the friendliest airport I've landed at so far in New England. Fuel prices are good there too, though not as good as at Bethel, ME. Unfortunately the Mexican place on-field has closed permanently. :(

For food, KEEN has a nice little diner just outside the airport entrance.
 
I have been wanting to make an aviation trek through New England too. What is the prime leaf viewing time for New England? Around my area, in the North Georgia mountains, it would be toward the end of October, but I would think New England would be sooner. What would be the latest time to consider in order to avoid the cold and snow.

I have made notes of the airports listed above to add to my bucket list.
 
Jaffery NH. Near Mt Manadnock (spelling?). Nice foliage area, but their is a family run ice cream stand at the airport road. Jaffery is an interesting not level airport in the low hills. Be good on short field techniques.
 
Hampton NH, on the coast, grass runway.
Laconia, Lebanon, NH
Springfield VT
 
MickYoumans said:
I have been wanting to make an aviation trek through New England too. What is the prime leaf viewing time for New England? Around my area, in the North Georgia mountains, it would be toward the end of October, but I would think New England would be sooner. What would be the latest time to consider in order to avoid the cold and snow.

I have made notes of the airports listed above to add to my bucket list.
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It's hard to predict, but once the foliage line starts moving south, it's gone in about two weeks. Mid October is best bet.
 
BillTIZ said:
It's hard to predict, but once the foliage line starts moving south, it's gone in about two weeks. Mid October is best bet.
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Last year, the colors were gone by mid-October (except maybe in RI and CT). Up here in central VT, the foliage peak was late Sep - early Oct, depending on elevation.

As you say though, it's hard to predict in any given year.
 
BillTIZ said:
Hampton NH, on the coast, grass runway.
Laconia, Lebanon, NH
Springfield VT
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Hampton has been paved.
I don't see the point of landing in Laconia. 5M3 is just as pretty, but neither are right in town. Laconia can be busy on weekends. Flying over the lake is nice.

Flying around Mt Washington is fun. Can land at Twin Mountain (8B2) if you want to get some hiking in.

I need to find some hiking/fishing/camping airports in VT. Was just there last weekend at KCDA for mountain biking in East Burke. Love that place.
 
UngaWunga said:
Hampton has been paved.
I don't see the point of landing in Laconia. 5M3 is just as pretty, but neither are right in town. Laconia can be busy on weekends. Flying over the lake is nice.

Flying around Mt Washington is fun. Can land at Twin Mountain (8B2) if you want to get some hiking in.

I need to find some hiking/fishing/camping airports in VT. Was just there last weekend at KCDA for mountain biking in East Burke. Love that place.
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Looks like you need to update your states map. Your VT should be green. :yes:

You might look into KVSF for fishing, but I'm not sure about camping. For hiking, Mt. Ascutney is nearby.

I've been eyeing 5M3 for a while but haven't gotten over there yet. TBH some of the comments on ForeFlight make me a little reluctant. Allegedly there are threatening signs all over about fees and cameras to make sure pilots pay. sounds VERY weird for an airpark. Any truth to this?
 
neilw2 said:
Look at it's notams....just got paved last month....for what reason? I don't know
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Ah ha, I see that now. From 170 ft wide grass to 46 ft wide pavement.
I still think it's just wrong to do that to an airport that I think is still listed as a National Landmark.

Hopefully it is off to the side (east) where they have built some private hangers.
I'm betting the hangar owners pushed it because the runway was too wet at certain times of the year.
Leave the grass usable.

I did my tailwheel training in J3s there, back before an endorsement was required. Some of those J3s are still there.

Edit: I just looked at it on Google Earth. Work in progress, it looked ugly.
Hope the final finish has usable grass.
 
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Grass is on the private hanger side, and isn't opened yet. Still trying to get the grass to grow well. Yeah, I miss the grass. I would have preferred that they just leveled out the dirt a bit, added some drainage, and reseeded. And the upped the fuel prices to cover the cost of the paving. But we'll see how I feel in the spring when the field was normally a mud pit.
 
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azure said:
I've been eyeing 5M3 for a while but haven't gotten over there yet. TBH some of the comments on ForeFlight make me a little reluctant. Allegedly there are threatening signs all over about fees and cameras to make sure pilots pay. sounds VERY weird for an airpark. Any truth to this?
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Never seen those signs. Are you talking about overnight fees and the like? I don't know. Never spent the night there. Cheap fuel.
 
UngaWunga said:
Never seen those signs. Are you talking about overnight fees and the like? I don't know. Never spent the night there. Cheap fuel.
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I don't know either, I'm just going from the comment. Here it is, quoted in full from ForeFlight (any transcription errors are mine and mine alone):

Nice runway, cheap fuel. It's an air park setup, lots of homes near the runway. No restrooms, or any sort of FBO other than a shack by the fuel pump. Be warned, everything there has demanding instructions. "Pilots Sign In and Pay Fees, buying fuel doesn't count" in big letters. Signs saying security cameras in use, do this, do that. Felt very unwelcoming and histile. I don't ever plan on returning.
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Dated 10 months ago.
 
Anyone know of any B&Bs or cabins within walking distance of small airports in NH or VT?
 
neilw2 said:
Look at it's notams....just got paved last month....for what reason? I don't know
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I doubt its the only reason but this past winter shut down the airport because they couldnt clear the snow off the grass. I would think pavement is a lot easier to clear. I took my intro flight, then couldn't continue because of snow. (although I should be able to get going again soon! finances suck. lol)
 
It was shut down not because there was snow on the grass. They've plowed it every other winter. It was the amount of snow.

They had to get some sort of industrial snow blower to clear the runway. Plows couldn't move it. Too deep.
 
UngaWunga said:
It was shut down not because there was snow on the grass. They've plowed it every other winter. It was the amount of snow.

They had to get some sort of industrial snow blower to clear the runway. Plows couldn't move it. Too deep.
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yeah, we had unbelievable snow totals. all within a few weeks. UngaWunga, are you local to the area?
 
Wrench978 said:
yeah, we had unbelievable snow totals. all within a few weeks. UngaWunga, are you local to the area?
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Yup.


i-Bd8mFSZ-XL.jpg
 
Yeah, picture from the good old days. I'll probably change my tune this winter when they can plow easier.
 
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