12/26/09 Wind Plus Turbulence Can Equal Fun

Finally, after more than a month and a half, I was able to get some time in the air.

Originally I'd planned a trip with Dad and Matti over to Tillamook (TMK) for lunch, then down the coast to Newport (ONP) and back. Unfortunately the wind was kicking up past what I was comfortable with.

I'd seen that my instructor was scheduled to be out at the airport, and decided that maybe it would be a better day to practice some crosswind landings. Hillsboro (HIO), about 5 mi north of Twin Oaks, was reporting Northeast winds of 18 with gusts to 24.

Matti was still up for some flying, even if it was just around the pattern, so off we went.

We readied the plane, met up with my instructor, and taxied out for 02. Up to this point, I've not flown when the wind has been strong enough, or from the right direction, to take off uphill on 02. Something new right off.

We were really bounced around as we climbed out and turned crosswind, and took allot of work to make the plane go where I wanted it to.

The first landing was not too bad, considering. My instructor didn't need to touch the controls, and made no grunts of disapproval.

The next three times around were progressively better, and with some new found confidence with cross-wind and gusty conditions, my instructor hopped out.

Matti and I still had an hour remaining to fly, so we departed Twin Oaks and turned east.

After climbing through 2500ft the air began to really smooth out, and enjoyed the view, although a little hazy, of many of the Cascade mountains in the distance.

We decided to make a landing at Mulino (4S9), and began our descent after passing over Aurora (UAO).

At first the wind appeared to favor entering a 45 degree leg for left downwind runway 32, but an aircraft on downwind for 32 announced that the wind had shifted, and he was going to make a right 180 to enter a right downwind for 14. A 360 degree right turn allowed spacing for the other aircraft, and as well as setting us to enter right downwind for 14.

The wind was nearly non-existent at Mulino, making for an easy approach and landing.

We taxied back, departed, and turned north towards Gladstone and our neighborhood.

The smooth air we'd had above 2500ft suddenly turned quite turbulent, requiring us to slow down considerably, and we turned west to return to Twin Oaks.

As expected, the pattern at Twin Oaks was more than a little bumpy, and final required quite a bit of footwork on the rudder, as well as many power setting changes, as the wind continually gusted and changed direction.

I felt very satisfied with landing number 6 for the day, and it had turned out to be just the day I needed to feel proficient with crosswinds again.

Now I need to become night proficient again.

11/25/09

Fog.... Sigh

Matti and I had planned a noon time flight south along the Cascade foothills, or a loop around Mt Hood, but we were foiled by lingering fog in the valley Twin Oaks is located in. 

Out there somewhere in the fog is Chehalem Mt at 1440 MSL.

Just a few miles in any direction was clear, so we went for some coffee, and sat back for an hour, but still no sign of clearing.

Still, hanging out for a bit at the airport on a foggy day with your son is still a good time.

11/12/09 Alone in the Pattern

Finally... a decent day with some free time available.

I left work a little early and headed out to Twin Oaks to spend some time alone in the air, a first since I was still a student.

So, what to do?

Explore somewhere new?

Fly around and take in the sights as the sun sets and it becomes dark?

Nope.... just an hour doing laps in the pattern.

Actually it was a good choice. My first few landings felt a bit off, but not too bad with a little crosswind. As I felt back in the groove, I began to throw in some soft field takeoffs, no-flap landings, slips, short field takeoffs, etc.

I also had some company in the pattern, a Cessna 150 was doing the same as I. The picture was taken as I walked up from the ramp, and the wingtip lights of the 150 on short final can be seen against the hills in the background.

It was really nice flying around the pattern, with a little time alone.

Fall Color and Rain

Fall color has hit about its high point around the Willamette Valley, so we decided to make a morning flight down to Independence (7S5) for breakfast, spend a little time around the valley, stop at Mulino (4S9), and return to Twin Oaks.

As we were climbing out from Twin Oaks it began to rain a little, but the overcast cloud layer was still over 7,000 feet above our planned cruising altitude of 2,500. A quick check of the ATIS at Salem Airport (a continuous broadcast of weather and other non-control info) was overcast at 9,000 with wind from the east at 3kts, so the route looked good.

The rain continued off and on as we flew down the valley, with a few clouds and patchy fog below, but enough light that the colors really stood out.  The air was very smooth as well.

We landed at Independence, and taxied over to the Starduster Cafe for breakfast, where Audrey discovered that they serve airplane shaped pancakes. What else would the pancakes be shaped like at an airport cafe...

We departed about an hour later, good and full, and turned northeast to head over to Mulino (4S9).

About 15 miles out from Mulino I noticed that the clouds coming over the Coast Range looked darker than they had as we were climbing out from Independence, and decided to turn towards Twin Oaks.

As we entered the pattern at Twin Oaks, the rain began again, and increased as we were making our way around the pattern. Nothing too heavy, and didn't last long, but we were nearing the end of the time I had the airplane scheduled for anyway, and we had had a nice flight. Well, Heatherle and I did.... Audrey had fallen asleep about halfway through the return trip.

I'm not sure that Audrey has made an entire trip without falling asleep.

What a nice fall morning.

Aviation and Ice-cream

There seems to be some connection between free ice-cream sandwiches and aviation. We've been to a few events where every time you turn around, someone is offering you another. Ice-cream sandwiches are good.

This event was the annual open house at the Hillsboro Airport (HIO). Pumpkins to color, both RC model and full size planes to look at, a hook and ladder fire truck, airport ground tours, future plans for the runways, even the equipment that cuts the grass.
Audrey ended up with a backpack from The Department Of Homeland Security, that she filled with balsa gliders, candy, pencils, a colored pumpkin, and other goodies.

A fun afternoon for a spur of the moment trip out.

WAAAM 10/17/09

Matti, Dad, and I, took a trip over to Hood River to visit WAAAM (the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum). I had hoped to fly into Ken Jernstedt Airfield (4S2), which is adjacent to the museum, but the October Oregon weather was uncooperative. The Columbia Gorge is always a nice drive anyway.

Matti and I had seen several of their aircraft and autos at an antique fly-in held at the McMinnville airport a year or so ago, and their collection includes more than 60 aircraft, 80 autos, 12 motorcycles, 6 tractors, and 8 military vehicles.

A long time favorite airplane of mine has been the the Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny".  WAAAM has in its collection a restored original 1917 Jenny that was located in a barn in need of restoration, but 100% complete. It is now occasionally flown, which would be great to see.

Also of interest (to me anyway) was a very rare 1938 Piper J-3P-50 (J3 Cub) powered by a Lenape three cylinder radial engine, rather than the common Continental flat four. This would make a unique subject for my 1/5 scale RC kit hiding under the bed.

The Boeing Model 40, of which I believe WAAAM has the only airworthy example, was a United States mail plane that became the first aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry passengers.  This is also the oldest flying Boeing.

There were many cars as well, a few with the windows down so you could stick you head in and breathe in that wonderful "old car smell", and imagine what it was like when that particular car was the latest in style. Probably not the reason the windows were down, but worked for me.

Before leaving Hood River, we made a stop at the Full Sail Brewing Co's pub for lunch and a beer. Good.

Painting on a Taxiway

The Mulino chapter of the OPA (Oregon Pilot's Association), of which Heatherle and I had just recently joined, has a clubhouse located on the Mulino airport property. As part of their service to the airport, the airport name located on the taxiway needed repainting, and it just so happened to be a beautiful October morning for some painting and flying stories.

As the paint was drying, Several of us hoped in a pickup to head across the field to a restaurant that is a popular fly-in destination, have lunch, and talk more flying.

A very enjoyable group of people.

Kelso-Longview 10/09/09

Friday was an in-service day for Oregon schools, so Matti and Lexie met me at work to head over to Twin Oaks and go for late afternoon flight.

We decided to fly north and follow the Columbia River north to Kelso-Longview airport.

Heading north after departing Twin Oaks, we needed to quickly listen to the ATIS for Hillsboro and contact the tower to request transition north (through Hillsboro's class D airspace). I hadn't worked with a tower for a while, but was happy that what I need to do quickly came back to me.

Leaving the north boundary of Hillsboro's airspace put us near Sauvie Island, and the farm that Matti has worked the pumpkin season for a few years.

Flying at 2,500ft we followed the river, enjoying views of the river, and the trees just beginning to turn their fall color.

As we approached Kelso-Longview (KLS), the pattern sounded pretty busy, so we overflew the field at 1,000ft above pattern altitude to get a good look at things (I had not yet been to KLS). Descending for a 45 degree entry on the downwind leg for runway 30 brought us over the Lewis and Clark bridge, and the turn to final took us over the Toyota dealership were we bought the Prius.

We taxied back past the FBO and hangers (nice looking place), waited for a couple of RV's to land, and took off headed for home.

The return trip took us SSW over the Coast Range and the towns of Mist and Vernonia, then turning east over the town of Gaston to return to Twin Oaks.

A very nice October afternoon.

Lunch Hour Flight 10/01/09

It was a nice day for a short tour of the Willamette Valley, so my coworker Aaron and I took off for a long lunch and went flying, stopping at Aurora and McMinnville.

The Coast Is Clear

That's what Tuesday's weather report said, and it just so happend that I had scheduled the day off!

With a day of great weather shaping up, my favorite plane open all day, and Matti and I excited about a day flying, I was off to walk Audrey to school for her first day of 2nd grade.

The sky was clear when we left home, but still overcast at 500ft when we arrived at Twin Oaks. The clouds were forecast to break up quickly, so we talked with the Starks, relaxed in the comfortable chairs located in the pilot’s lounge, took a walk around the airport, and within an hour the clouds had lifted.

Our first stop was Tillamook (TMK), to see the museum ( www.tillamookair.com ) and have lunch at the “Air Base Café”. The Tillamook Air Museum is located at the airport in a WWII blimp hangar covering over 7 acres, and is believed to be the largest existing wooden structure in the world. You can taxi right up to the hanger, with its 120ft high door. About as good as a fly-in lunch spot can get.

From Tillamook we flew a short distance SW to Cape Lookout, and turned north to head up the coast. It was a perfect day for flying past the coastal headlands, beaches, and towns, as well as Cape Meares and Tillamook Rock lighthouses.

As we reached the Columbia River we turned east over Ft Stevens, which saw active service from the civil war through WWII, and was fired upon by a Japanese submarine in June of 1942, but was ordered not to return fire. The fort’s concrete batteries remain, as does a recreation of earthen walls of the Civil war fort, and were cool to see from the air.

A stop and go at Astoria Regonal (AST) and we climbed out over the town of Astoria, turning SE over the Coast Range to return to Twin Oaks.

The trip back was beautiful, seeing an area of the Coast Range that I’d driven through many times from the air. Short final back at Twin Oaks became a bit exciting as a road grader working on the taxiway extension turned and crossed the approach end of the runway (don’t these guys look?), a quick burst of power kept us well above it, but did make Matti jump a bit in his seat.

On the trip home from the airport I picked up Audrey, who gave a full report of a very good first day.

Some days are just good from start to finish.

Park Flying

With so much focus on summer trips, outings, and other adventures, it had been a while since we were last out with the model airplanes.

Audrey got some time in at the sticks with her beginner airplane, Matti narrowly averted disaster (twice) when the battery slid out during a loop, severely affecting the center of gravity, and I had nice relaxing time with the two planes I brought along.

The traditional post-flight coffee shop stop topped off a enjoyable morning flying at the park.