New Panel and More

Saturday, while out at Twin Oaks for the monthly breakfast, I was anxious to check out the updated panel, new interior, and new motor on my favorite plane. It had just come back on line a few days before, and I had blocked out 4hrs for early Sunday morning. I would have liked to have hopped in and taken off, but being at the height of arrival time for the breakfast, the ramp was a swarm of activity, and decided that it could wait a day.

Sunday morning came early, very early I was reminded by the rest of my crew as I urged them out of bed nearly two hours before the sun. Sunrise is a beautiful time to fly, and if we were going to be off the ground in time, we needed to get a move on.

The first lightening in the sky promised perfect weather to fly, as I completed preflighting the plane, happy for the fingerless gloves Heatherle had found for me.  Also very quiet.

The new motor turned right over, and the arrangement of the new panel was the same as the old, with the only stand out being the new Garmin 650 GPS, which I would soon discover was also Comm 1.

In had skimmed through the 356 page manual for the 650, but was fortunate that entering a flight plan was pretty intuitive.

We were soon headed towards breakfast with the rising sun off our left wing and long shadows below.

After a good breakfast and coffee, we headed for Siletz Bay (S45), 20 minutes west over the coast range.

Entering the right downwind leg for 17 followed the breakers off the town of Gleneden Beach, base leg crossing the spit at Siletz bay, and final over the Salishan golf course.

We made a short stop at Siletz Bay, signed the log book, and walked around a little, not going too far from Audrey, asleep in the back seat of the plane tied down on the ramp. A little quirky was the three wall shelter featuring tablecloth held down with an assortment of rocks, visitor info, and cloth window treatment. Fancy, and home to a large population of spiders.

We headed north along the coast before tuning inland, following the Salmon River highway (18) back through the coast range in the direction of home.

My landing back at Twin Oaks was a stinker. Safe, but I knew it was going to bother me for the remainder of the day, so we took a redemption trip around the pattern. A passable landing, and I felt satisfied with taxiing to the fuel pump to end our trip, with Audrey, still asleep in the back.

It was still early afternoon on a sunny February day, so made a short drive through the Tualatin valley for a hike at the Jackson Bottom Wetland, and then Noble Woods Park, giving Heatherle and Audrey some letterboxing opportunities.

Early dinner and a couple of beers at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse was the right ending to an enjoyable day.

When Your Daughter Wants to Fly to an Air Museum

Seize the opportunity

When planning something to do on a weekday we both had off together, Audrey asked to fly back to the Tillamook air museum. We had been new years day, just a few weeks before, but this time visit the museum itself and have lunch.

I've made this flight a number of times, but it really is a nice stop. Only 20 minutes from Twin Oaks, nice view of the coast range on the way over, and some great coastal scenery. Can't get board of that.

Driving out to Stark's we encountered some increasing fog, forcing us to consider destination options reachable by car. Within a 1/4 mile of the airport, we were greeted suddenly by blue sky and clear visibility.

Climbing out before turning west, we looked over our shoulders to the east still covered in fog. Audrey has over flown clouds and fog in the past, but was really interested by the realization that we were circling out over the fog we had been driving through a short time earlier.

As we gained altitude approaching the coast range, my little girl next to me was also very interested in the current number of feet off the ground, and how that compared to altitude flown on our trip to Japan (commercial flight), or distance from home around the block.

The museum was enjoyable, as always, but the highlights were sharing time together having lunch, talking about the history and parts of the aircraft on display, listening to Audrey give details of our flight with the staff, and pointing out interesting things below in-route.

After returning to Twin Oaks, we were able to spend a little time chatting with Betty, and left for home with a good size bag of her peanut butter cookies. Cookies that didn’t last the weekend.

Time Between The Clouds and Snow

Winter flying can be a challenge in the northwest. Long stretches of fog, low clouds, wind, and quickly changing conditions, this year has proven to not be an exception. But, when available plane, time, and weather, all cooperate, it can be great fun.

A flight while Matti was home for winter break only came after more than one weather cancellation, but finally, the opportunity for a simple trip down south for some breakfast. Flying between a broken scattered layer below, and a mostly solid overcast above was fantastic.

Challenge came with quickly lowering visibility necessitating a small diversion west from our northern heading to skirt around a band of rain showers. Luckily, we were able then to loop back east to land at Twin Oaks.

New years day we flew over to the coast, planning for a picnic at Nehalem Bay, and some time on the beach. Beautiful on this trip were the coast range peaks covered in light snow, and flying along the coastal beaches and headlands.

Challenge came with moderate turbulence as we reached pattern altitude at Nehalem State airport. A 15 to 20kt east wind rolling off the nearby coast range made for a the beginning of a choppy ride as we descended through 3,000ft, increasing to "really knock you against the belt" bumpy as we entered the pattern. Not really feeling the overwhelming desire to continue an approach into Nehalem with turbulence increasing the lower we got, we decided to continue south to Tillamook, where I had more runway options. Still knocked around pretty good, but at least the final approach was aligned directly into the wind. We did get our picnic in, sitting outside at the museum, in the wind. A short time of sitting at the picnic table, holding down picnic items and retrieving others that blew off the table, someone from the museum offered us a table inside. Much better. 

 The flight also gave Audrey a chance to practice up on her slant style photography. 

Flying a Dehavilend Beaver

Check out this link to a short video of a day in the life of a Kenmore Air Beaver.
Kenmore Air Flying the DHC-2 Beaver
 
DHC-2 Beaver on floats - a very cool plane.