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Atlantic City '06
Atlantic City '06
(Click on photo for larger version, or select "medium" or "large"
links below each image).
Bader Field was a small airport located a short walk from the
Atlantic City Boardwalk. This historic airfield had operated
since 1910, and is believed to be where the term "airport"
was originated. Sadly, in 2006, the city decided to close
the airport and sell the land to developers.
Having flown past Bader a few times without ever stopping there,
we decided to make a trip there a few weeks before it was to be
officially closed, to pay homage.
Headin' Out
We left from Gaithersburg's Montgomery County Airpark,
crossed the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, then across
MD's Eastern Shore to Delaware's Cape Henlopen, then
across the Delaware Bay and up the Jersey Shore.
Approach into Bader
Bader is (was) just in-land from the row of casinos along the
Boardwalk. The approach into Bader from the shoreline naturally
crosses over the casinos.
Bader
Right next to Bader is the home field of the Atlantic City Surf,
a minor league baseball team. We were warned that if you park your
plane too close to the stadium, the plane can get beaned by a
well-hit home-run ball.
Atlantic City
We found a nice place to have lunch, walked around a bit, and visited
the beach, which has an intangible aura of skeeviness about it.
We also happened to be there on the day of the Atlantic
City Greek Festival (apparently all 15 members of AC's Greek
community were there) and had some nice cookies and stuff.
As risk-averse aviators, we sacrificed $1 to the slot machine
Gods, and then decided to save what remained of our luck for the
flight home, given a forecast of thunderstorms.
Headin' Home
All good things must come to an end, and it was soon time to say
farewell to Atlantic City, and to Bader Field.
The winds favored a departure to the East, which took us
directly over the casinos and back to the shore-line.
Well, not directly over the casinos, necessarily.
With Bally's looming large in the windshield, there
are long odds on outclimbing it, the better bet is to turn
a bit to the right and pass between Bally's and the Tropicana,
to avoid hitting the blackjack tables one last time.
We managed to circumvent some severe thunderstorms prowling
over Delaware, and landed back in Gaithersburg just after
sunset.
Harry Mantakos /
harry@meretrix.com
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