Long Lunch - 5/24/10

After 5 weeks of being busy wrapped up in other things, and crummy weather, a flyable day arrived. With ceilings at 2800ft, I would not be able to go outside the valley, but it would be a good day to take a long lunch and knock the rust off.

With a little light rain here and there, I flew over to McMinnville (MMV) for a couple of crosswind landings, then over to Aurora (UAO) for another, and back to Twin Oaks.

The wind favored runway 20 back at Twin Oaks, and a crosswind landing on 20 is always good practice. Sometime I'll hopefully have a passenger along when landing 20 to take a few pictures. It's sure a different sight picture following the small creek down on final to a down-sloping runway.

Nothing particularly exciting or challenging, but nice to fly.

Matti Dad and I

I'd wanted to get over to Tillamook and the museum with dad since last summer, but the weather never worked out for us on a day we could go flying. Fortunately Sunday was a beautiful day from the start.

As we arrived at Twin Oaks, I wondered if the three and a half hours I'd scheduled would be enough. Surprisingly on such a nice day, I was the only reservation of the day for 4KU, so Betty said not to worry and take it for as long as we need. Great!

We departed and turned west, remaining at pattern altitude for the first 5mi to remain below the only string of clouds along our flight path. Clear of the clouds we climbed to our cruising altitude of 4500ft, taking us over the Coast Range.

Entering the pattern for runway 13 at Tillamook (TMK) at 1100ft (1000ft AGL) from the east requires either a fairly rapid descent after passing the final ridgelines, or a more gradual descent circling descent east of the pattern. To I'm sure the dismay of my passengers ears, I go for the rapid descent. It's quicker, and seems easier to scan for traffic.

An added bonus of Tillamook is the smell of cows while in the pattern. Not a "good" smell, but one that brings feelings of countryside and open space.

Our visit to the museum was enjoyable, as was lunch in the "Air Base Cafe". The size of the hanger always makes you pause. It would have been something to see when full of K class blimps many years ago.

We taxied out to runway 19 and became a little concerned seeing model rockets being launched as we took the runway, but managed to avoid being shot down, making a straight out departure to the southwest.

After crossing the coastline just south of Cape Lookout, we turned north, passing over Three Arch Rocks and Seal Rock, Cape Meares Lighthouse, several fishing boats, and even a broaching whale. Unfortunately we were not able to get a good picture of the whale, but I was amazing how well you could see it from above, even after it dove below the surface.

After we passed Nehalem Bay, and the town of Manzanita, we turned east towards home.

Matti then proved that he is his sister's brother, falling asleep on the return trip, apparently comforted by the turbulence over the Coast Range.

Three generations of boys, a Cessna 172, clear skies, a good day.

The photos from top to bottom:
Entering left base for runway 13 and the Museum in the distance
4KU parked at the museum - Note the size of the doors in comparison to Dad and Matti
Cape Lookout
Arch Rocks and Seal Rock
Nehalem Bay Airport and Nehalem Bay State Park

Tulips

Sunday, I took Heatherle and Audrey down to Independence (7S5) for breakfast.

My favorite 172 was back on the line after being down for maintenance for a while, so I was excited.

We departed Twin Oaks with scattered clouds at 1500, and high overcast, but little wind.

As we headed south, we climbed above the scattered clouds, which became broken, until finding a large clear area to descend through about 15nm north of Independence. From there it was 1000 agl to remain well below the broken overcast.

After a good breakfast we headed northeast to follow the Willamette River, and overfly some tulip fields (very colorful). Again, we had to stay lower than I normally fly the valley due to some clouds, but the view was sure nice, and turned to clear skys the further north we traveled.

I've made the trip from Twin Oaks to Independence several times now, but each flight I find or experience something new, and it's always a thrill to fly in somewhere, eat, and take off again.

Taking The Right Seat

I got a call from my friend Bob Saturday, asking if I'd like to do a little flying. Of course!

Since I wouldn't be able to leave for a little while, Bob said he'd get his plane ready out at Lenhardt (7S9), and pick me up out at Aeroacres (OG30).

I quickly realized what I thought was Aeroacres, was actually Fairways (OG20). Fortunately Heatherle was still home, and was able to look up the directions to Aeroacres for me.

When I did arrive at Aeroacres, Bob had already arrived. Good thing too, because if I hadn't seen Bob's 182 sitting in the grass, I may have driven on past thinking it was just another field.

We loaded in, taxied up to top end of the field for a run-up, and we were off for a soft field takeoff.

A soft field takeoff consists of holding the yoke back to keep weight off the nose wheel, lifting off at minimum airspeed, and gaining additional airspeed in ground effect, a few feet off the ground. Once you have enough airspeed, some backpressure on the yoke and up you go!

At Aeroacres, this means pointing the nose at the house just past the departure end of the runway, and surrounding trees. Exciting! (I'm sure for those who live in that house as well...)

It was a beautiful day. With East winds reported as 16 with gusts to 29 at Hillsboro (HIO), it was also quite bumpy.

We made a hop over to Twin Oaks, entered the pattern for 02, and without a hint of tension, brought us down for a smooth gusty crosswind landing. Bob can sure keep the rudder moving.

After a short visit we departed, and turned back towards Aeroacres.

After a circle over the field to check the windsock (picture to the right), we descended for the downwind leg, and soon back smoothly on the grass. 

This was my first flight with another pilot (at least one that was not giving instruction, or administering and exam), and my first time in the right seat.

It was a short flight, but allot of fun!

 

  

Daddy-Daughter Flight

Audrey and I were able to go flying on Sunday together, our first just the two of us.

Our drive was under high thin cirrus, until a ¼ mile from the airport…Fog…no where else, just over the airport. How does that happen?... so we checked in with the Starks, let them know we’d get a snack, and be back in bit to check conditions.

Off to Starbucks for coffee, hot chocolate, and a cookie.

After 45 minutes the fog was well in the process of thinning out, so we began to preflight, and took off into a nice morning sky.

With our original plan was shortened due to foggy conditions, and just over an hour before we needed to be back on the ground, we kept to the Willamette Valley, with a stop at Mulino (4S9).

Audrey enjoyed the front seat, which can be adjusted for height, giving her the ability to easily see out the window, and the cows and horses below. I couldn’t tell the difference from 2000ft, but evidently Audrey can.

Audrey was able to demonstrate her flying skills for a few minutes, her focus clearly seen in the last photo. She did a fine job of keeping us straight and level.

It was sure nice.

Mmmm... Pancakes

Heatherle, Audrey, and my friend Bob, came along to the first Saturday of the month EAA pancake breakfast at Twin Oaks.

I'd never seen so many people out at Twin Oaks for

the breakfast.  The line that normally circles the inside of the hanger, continued out the door and into the parking area.  The line had gotten even longer by the time we left a few hours later.
With the large number taxiing around, waiting in the run up area, and in the pattern, it looked like an international airport in miniature.

And the pancakes were good....   

I believe the airplane on its takeoff roll is a BT-13.  Loud and cool!

2/28/10 For Future Reference

For future reference:

1000 fpm descents may not be kid friendly.

Flying above a solid cloud layer, and below another, is kind of surreal.

Problems in the back seat are not easily resolved by pulling over.

Sunday we decided to fly to TMK (Tillamook) to have an early lunch, then fly up the coast a bit.

The forecast was for partly cloudy and patchy fog before 10am, then afternoon clearing. With a forecast and weather briefing that looked promising, we pulled out the plane, completed the pre-flight, and prepared for departure.

As we climbed out I found a cruising altitude of 6500ft would keep us about 2000ft above the solid cloud cover below, and many thousands of feet below the high cirrus clouds above. We were also able to see that it was clear below the high cirrus west of the Coast Range, and the TMK AWOS was reporting overcast at 3000agl.

Flying over a solid cloud layer to a destination on the far side was a new experience. Clouds have a much different look from 2000ft above, than from 2000ft below.

Once out over Tillamook Bay, we were able to descend to an altitude that would allow us to turn towards the airport under the cloud cover.

Looking forward to some lunch, I pulled back the throttle, and trimmed for a nice 1000 foot per minute descent. I found this to be a poor choice at about 2000ft agl when Audrey began crying in the back because her ears hurt. I felt terrible that I had not considered that she would have problems clearing her ears. Fortunately, leveling out for a few minutes helped alleviate some of the pressure.

After a nice lunch, and a short time to walk around, we we're off again.

On climb out, Audrey began having some feedback issues with the ANR headset we had barrowed for her. In trying to resolve the problem, she inadvertently unplugged from the battery box. Now she had difficulty hearing us, causing us to yell for her to hear, and in response, she would yell back. We could hear her with no problem, other than that she was now yelling into her mike. This in turn caused us to yell back to her that we could hear her quite well, and to not yell.

At the point I was about to return to the airport to straighten out this headset issue, she found the battery box, and was able to plug back in.

Fortunately from there it was an uneventful flight back over the cloud covered Coast Range, to scattered clouds in the valley.  As normal, Audrey slept the entire return trip.