Around the Peninsula

I booked 34H for the whole day and had planned to make a trip across the cascades to Cavanaugh Bay Airport (66S) in Idaho. I called up the briefer and, while conditions looked great for the trip out, the return flight might have been a problem. Afternoon ceilings were expected to come down to around 4000', which would have made crossing the mountains impossible. The conditions were not expected to improve the following day either. So, rather than risk getting trapped on the East side of the cascades for a few days, I decided to head west to Ocean Shores (W04) and then complete a circuit around the Olympic Peninsula.

I departed S50 with overcast to the East and a layer of broken clouds to the West. I stayed below 1600' until past the SeaTac class B, and then once over Dash Point began a climb to 2500' and called up Tacoma-Narrows on the radio to request transition of the class D. The broken layer was holding at about 3500' and rather than risk getting caught on top I stayed at 2500' the rest of the way to Ocean Shores.

About half way to W04, I spotted an eagle circling ahead and to the right. As I passed I held up my camera and pressed the shutter. By pure luck I caught him in the frame as I went by:


Here's a cropped image blown up:


I've encountered birds before, and other species have always made an effort to get out of the way, usually by dropping straight down. This guy was completely unperturbed by my passage. I was clearly the interloper in his territory.

After that exciting encounter, the rest of the flight to W04 was uneventful, and I made a nice landing in a slight crosswind.

Ocean Shores Airport is a nice little field. There are no services available, but they have tie-downs, a bathroom, and a nice little pilot's lounge. I used the bathroom and signed my name in the guest book. On the wall the number for the local dial-a-ride is posted, but I decided to walk into town and then to the beach. It was a little further than I thought, and I think I ended up walking about two to three miles all told. There were lots of kites flying at the beach.

After wandering around the beach I stopped for lunch and then called the dial-a-ride for a lift back to the airport. I had to wait 45 minutes, so while waiting I made an attempt to find a local geocache but had no luck. Supposedly it's somewhere near this sculpture, but the hint didn't make any sense. The bus finally came and dropped me at the airport. The dial-a-ride is a great service at Ocean Shores. They'll pick you up and drop you anywhere in town for 50 cents.

Once back at the airport I pre-flighted 34H and took off on the next leg. I planned to fly up the coast to Quillayute (UIL), then up to the Tattoosh VOR and around Cape Flattery, then follow the coast to Port Angeles to refuel at Fairchild International (CLM). After lifting off I contacted flight service to check on the status of the Olympic MOAs. I was pretty sure they were cold, but I wanted to make sure. Unfortunately flight service didn't know the status, and I was unable to raise Seattle Center on the radio. I elected to fly up the coast at 1500'. The floor of the MOA starts at 1200' and since I was pretty sure it wasn't hot I felt safe from any intruding fast movers (though I kept a sharp eye peeled the whole way!). I passed Copalis Beach airport (S16) and snapped a shot of a Cessna parked on the beach. Copalis is interesting in that it's the only beach registered as an airport in the United States. I haven't landed there yet, but I plan to this summer.

On the way to Quillayute, I noticed the ceiling starting to lower. As I moved inland from the coast, it was at about 2500', and getting lower. It especially didn't look good toward Cape Flattery. I called flight service for a weather update and they said Fairchild was reporting clear below 12,000'. So rather than head all the way around the peninsula I turned right and made straight for Sekiu (11S). Over Sekiu the sky was clear and beautiful. I then made direct for CLM, where I landed for fuel. I hadn't landed there before, and I didn't see the fuel pumps as I was landing, so I taxied over to the likeliest looking building, which happened to be the airline terminal (Fairchild is an international airport, and Kenmoore Air provides scheduled service from there). That was not really where I was supposed to be, considering the ramp there is a secure area, so I asked where the pumps where and was kindly escorted back to my airplane and pointed in the right direction. :) I got back in the plane and taxied over to the right place and refueled.

I then took off for the final leg of the trip. It was an uneventful but nice flight from CLM to Jefferson County (0S9), and then from there to the CARRO intersection, and from there direct to S50. I landed, topped off the tanks and put the plane to bed. All in all it was a great day for flying.

You can find more pictures from the flight at Picassa Web

Total time: 4.1 hrs.

Around and around

I booked 34H for this Memorial Day morning hoping to take my son up to poke some holes in the sky. The weather forecast wasn't looking too good however, and things weren't getting much better on the way to the airport. After we arrived I pre-flighted the plane and then watched the sky. The forecast said the ceiling was supposed to start lifting later in the day, but this morning it was sitting solidly at 1000'. Since we didn't have anything better to do we took off and just stayed in the pattern. While my son didn't get to see much, I did get in five touch and go's.

Time: .6 hrs.

Short Cross-Country

It's starting to feel like summer. Today had clear skies and it was downright hot. On the way to the airport the thermometer in my truck read 93 degrees. Though I was flying solo and had plenty of runway, I still checked the density altitude, which was not a problem. I planned this flight as a short cross-country to practice my navigation skills and learn how to use the GPS that's in 34H (a Garmin 250XL). My route was S50-W16-S36-S50. After a sweltering pre-flight I taxied out to the run-up area, where I did the run-up and programmed the route into the GPS. By this time it was getting pretty hot in the cockpit, so I was glad to lift off runway 34 and head into hopefully cooler temperatures. Unfortunately altitude didn't help much, as the temperature was still reading 88 deg. at 2,500 ft. I flew the whole flight with the window open.

After just a few minutes I had W16 (Firstair Field) in sight, and crossed mid-field to see if I could spot a windsock. I didn't see one this time either, however there happened to be a fire burning off the west end of the field showing a gentle wind blowing straight down runway 25. I entered the pattern and set up for a touch and go. There are some trees off the end of the runway, but they weren't a problem and I did a nice T-n-G.

I then turned South and headed for S36 (Crest Airpark). Along the way I decided to divert East and flew over Snoqualmie falls. I have never seen the falls raging so much. The snow-melt from the mountains turned the Snoqualmie river into a torrent. I then flew along I-90 East past North Bend and then Southwest over Rattlesnake lake and headed into the practice area, where I flew around looking at the hugely swollen rivers. Some of the rivers had been closed to the public due to dangerous conditions, and sadly, a few people died on the river that day.

I next headed to Crest for a touch and go on runway 33. There are some fairly tall trees off the end of the runway, and I find it easier to make the approach a little to the left of centerline, where the view of the runway is less obstructed. I touched down nicely and was off again to fly the remaining few miles to Auburn. I wasn't happy with my approach to Auburn, so I went around and set it down on the next try.

Total time: 1.8 hrs.
Three landings

More Practice

I had N9534H reserved from 4:30 - 7:00 PM, so I left work a little early and headed to the airport. the weather was gorgeous as a heat wave had settled in to the Northwest making for clear skies and warm temperatures. Today my goal was to practice basic maneuvers, so after take-off I headed to the practice area and worked on steep turns, stalls, and rolling on a heading. I definitely need to work on my rudder flying. It is often said that nothing teaches you how to effectively use the rudder like a tail-wheel airplane, so getting a tail-wheel endorsement is something else on my to-do list. Fortunately my instructor has a Citabria, and I look forward to doing that this summer. Made three good landings and put the plane away for the night.

Time: 1.2 hours

Ouch!

I headed out from work a little early in order to log some time. I took-off from rwy 34 at about 5:00 PM and headed north to practice and just enjoy the sky. I flew up to Firstair Field in Monroe, WA, but didn't land since I couldn't see a windsock and wasn't sure of the wind direction or strength on the field. I then headed back for an uneventful landing at S50.

Unfortunately a great flight was eclipsed by an unfortunate accident while putting the airplane in the hangar. While backing the plane in, the right elevator bumped into one of the support posts in the hangar. ARGH! I inspected the damage and there was a crack in the plastic end-cap of the elevator, and a slight bend in the corner. Fortunately I was pushing the plane in slowly, so the damage was minimal. Unfortunately this looked like something that has happened a few times before, as both elevators showed signs of previous hangar rash, and the posts on each side of the hangar had numerous scuff marks from previous altercations with airplane elevators.

I wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation, so I gave my flight instructor a call. He gave me the number of the maintenance officer, and I called him. Just as I was explaining to him what happened, another club member, who was taking the airplane out after me, arrived. He spoke with the maintenance officer and they decided that the damage was pretty minimal and nothing that some aluminum tape couldn't take care of temporarily. After a quick patch he was off and I went home. I feel doubly stupid for this since just yesterday my instructor warned me about being extra careful when putting the plane away, as the posts do not provide much clearance on either side of the tail. Doh! It wasn't until after the fact that I noticed some white markings on the tarmac in front of the hangar that are there to help line the bird up properly. This was definitely *NOT* how I wanted to end my first solo flight in a club plane! Grr...

The other pilot mentioned that typically what the club does is, at the end of the year, note whomever was responsible for any hangar rash and split the repair costs among them. It's a fair system and hopefully for the plane's sake I'm the only one who has to pay out at the end of the year!

Flight time: 1.3 hrs

Stupid mistakes this flight: 1

First Flight! (again)

I'm finally back in the air after three years. I recently joined the Valley Fliers flying club located at Auburn Airport (S50) in Auburn, Washington, and today I went up with an instructor for a Bi-annual Flight Review (BFR) and to get checked-out in one of the club's Cessna 172's. Prior to the flight I had completed a written questionnaire that went over the details of operating a Cessna 172, including important things like weight and balance, density altitude, maintenance, etc., and the instructor and I spent some time reviewing aviation regulations and discussed the details of the flight. I told him that since it had been awhile since I flew, I might be a little rusty, so we decided to take things slow and see where I needed work.

I did the pre-flight inspection and then we climbed aboard and prepared to take off. Getting back into the cockpit was like coming home. As I went through the pre-take-off checklist things started coming back to me and I quickly started to feel comfortable again. We departed runway 16 and the instructor commented that it was a great take-off. We headed out to the practice area and I performed stalls, slow flight, steep turns, and other flight maneuvers. The instructor commented that if he hadn't known, he would never have guessed that I hadn't flown in three years. After a few more maneuvers, he cut the power and I went through a simulated engine-out emergency. My instincts kicked right in and I immediately trimmed for best glide speed (65 knots) and identified a suitable place to land. I then ran through the engine-out procedures in an attempt to get the engine running again. Failing to get it cranked back up, I set the transponder to squawk 7700, tuned the radio to 121.5 Mhz, and declared an emergency (all simulated of course). I set up a downwind leg for the spot I picked out and flew the rest of the pattern. On short final, once we determined we would make the field, we increased power and started heading back to Auburn. I was happy to know that, had it been a real emergency, I would have probably made a successful landing.

Upon arrival back at the airport I entered the pattern and made three decent landings. Again, the instructor commented that I was doing a great job, with no evidence of being out of the saddle for three years. I suspect that all of the time I spent flying Flight Simulator probably had a little to do with it, plus flying has always been something that seemed to come naturally to me. I've always felt at home in the air, from the time I was a kid taking my first ride in an airplane, to the four years I spent in the Army jumping out of them, to taking flying lessons back in Colorado.

After making the final landing of the day and putting the airplane back in the hangar, we reviewed the flight and my instructor signed off on my BFR and the check-out, which meant I was legal to fly, both in the eyes of the government and in the club. I had actually planned on spending a few hours with the instructor to get back into the swing of things, however the flight went so well the instructor was confident in signing me off right there.

I plan to log a few hours solo and continue to practice and tune up my skills. I'm also going to schedule some time with the instructor to get current flying at night. I could probably do this solo, but I'd feel more comfortable with an instructor. After that, I will get checked out in the club's Cessna 182 and Piper Cherokee 180. I've never flown a low-wing, so that should be interesting. As part of taking up my hobby again I'm making a commitment to fly a minimum of 100 hours per year, and try to fly at least two to four times a month. This can be hard to do in Washington , where winter weather brings low ceilings, rain, and freezing temperatures. That means getting an instrument rating is high on my list of things to do.

The rest of the week is forecast to be sunny and clear, with temperatures in the 80's, so I've scheduled the plane for the next three days in a row.

Time this flight: 1 hr

New Blog - My Flight Log

I've been a licensed private pilot for nearly 10 years, and I did quite a bit of flying the first year after I got my license. Unfortunately, due to work schedules, finances, family obligations, etc., I wasn't able to do much flying at all since then. Now, however, I've reached a point in my life where I can turn my attention back to my greatest passion and get back into the air. I've joined a local flying club (Valley Fliers) and plan to fly regularly. I keeping this blog as a more detailed adjunct to my log book, and to note my more memorable flights and track my progress toward additional ratings. I'll also add the occasional interesting aviation link, news item, or other aviation-related thought.