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.