Total Eclipse Trip - April 2024

Leg 3 - 4/7/2024 - Middletown, DE (KEVY) to Canton, OH (KCAK) (and the Total Solar Eclipse!)

Leg Stats

• Time Enroute: 2.1 hrs
• Distance (direct): 276nm
• Distance (actual): 283nm
• Fuel Used: 25.6 gal

The first task of the morning would be to check the weather. Our initial plan was to head to Cleveland, Ohio, and fortunately, Katherine's mom had a first cousin in Cleveland, who graciously offered to let us stay with her. Fortunately, the weather still looked good in Cleveland, with the clouds being forecasted to move away by midday on Monday.

Because we would need a car to potentially drive around for clear skies in the morning, Katherine's mom was going to drive over very early in the morning (while we went by air), and we would meet somewhere in Ohio on Sunday afternoon. I was highly worried about finding a place to park the airplane... I expected extreme levels of traffic, and so did all the FBOs in the path of the eclipse. I called around and found that Canton, Ohio had room, and the special event fee of $25 was reasonable. I was happy to find a place to go, and I was glad that we would be 'in place' a day in advance. We got ready to go and took an Uber back down to Middletown, Delaware to pick up the airplane. (About 40 minutes away)

The flight itself was very easy... mostly clear skies and no significant weather other than more gusty winds (although not as bad as the day before). However, it was complicated considerably by the VIP TFR and some low clouds in the vicinity of the airport. Unfortunately, the freezing levels were low enough that I was not able to file IFR, meaning I had to call on the ground for a VFR squawk code to depart the TFR. Additionally, Summit (KEVY) is right on the inner ring of the TFR, meaning I would need to make a very early turn on departure to clear it. In the end, it wasn't a difficult maneuver, but it's not great to be flying at an invisible barrier!

We flew by Pittsburgh, PA under clear skies and landed in Canton, Ohio just around 1pm. The airport wasn't all that busy yet, although they were clearly expecting more traffic soon. We ordered lunch on Uber Eats and played with Magic in the FBO while we waited for Katherine's mom to meet us. She picked us up around 3pm and we decided to head down to downtown Cleveland to check it out. We had a great time walking by the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and we found a dog-friendly brewery, Masthead Brewing, and had some beers and pizza. Katherine's cousin Grace got home around 9pm and we met her at her apartment and enjoyed some wine and chatted until bedtime.

Trip Leg Navigation