Nehalem Bay State Park

I have been to this state park a handful of times by car and every time have said to myself "I need to fly into here sometime". As it turns out, we were looking for a family destination to fly to on a Sunday afternoon and we wanted to visit the beach so Nehalem fit the bill perfectly. Nehalem Bay (3S7) is located between Tillamook and Manzanita adjacent to the beach but sheltered by woods. The airport can be challenging as the typical coastal winds create turbulent conditions on approach to runway 33

but as you cross the bay and enter the opening in the trees at the runway threshold, a shear is created making for a challenging landing. Also, the woods around the airport are home to deer and elk, so you have to be prepared to go around if these critters are lingering on the runway. In fact when we departed in the early evening there was a family of deer wandering around the airplane.

The beach is a 15-minute walk from the airport and the Nehalem Bay inlet is accessible by walking down to the end of runway 33. The airport has campsites on the field for fly-in campers, but there are numerous reservable campsites across the street in the state park. If you are visiting for the day, the town of Manzanita is about a two mile walk from the airport.

Deer Crossing

Scenic Flight Around Mount St. Helens

I had a client who wanted to fly a relative around Mount St. Helens so we decided to turn it into a dual cross country by landing at an airport greater than 50 miles from our point of departure along the way. It was beautiful June day with light winds so we were able to fly around the mountain without getting bounced around as one typically would on a warm summer day.

Circling
Mount St. Helens

Short Hop Across the Oregon Cascades

I have been trying to fly over to Bend this winter, but the weather hasn't cooperated on the days that I'm free to fly. A clear day finally arrived and  we loaded up the club's 182 and departed for KBDN. As we climbed to 7,500, we pointed the airplane between Mt. Washington and Three-Fingered Jack, which kept us clear of two wilderness areas and offered one of the lower eastbound mountain crossing altitudes. As we got closer to the pass, we climbed briefly to 8,500 to increase our margin for terrain clearance and looked for our crossing point, which was the junction of highway 22 and highway 20. There is also a state airport (8S3) at that junction that makes for an ideal landmark.

Over Santiam Junction (8S3)

After crossing the pass, we started our descent into Bend and dialed up the AWOS and started monitoring the KBDN CTAF frequency. At about 15 miles, the airport was visible and we setup for a right pattern entry to runway 16. Though the sectional and third party airport information websites sites list the pattern flow as left traffic, there is a permanent NOTAM in place that calls for right traffic to runway 16 for fixed wing aircraft as there is a high volume of helicopter training at the airport and rotorcraft fly left traffic for the same runway.

After landing, we fueled the plane and walked across the tarmac to the Pickled Pig Restaurant. The restaurant is located on the second floor of one of the FBO’s and has nice views of the airport both inside and from the outside deck. They serve breakfast all day and tout their award winning barbecue on the menu.

The flight back was slightly bumpy as the winds had picked up and the temperature had warmed since our arrival. The forecast called for a broken layer forming at 5:00 pm, but was starting to form a little earlier than expected, so we had to pick our way in between and sometimes over the cloud layer. We opted in most cases to climb above the deck instead of going under in order to keep a safer altitude above terrain to avoid turbulence and other mountain phenomena that occur when wind blows across a ridge. 

Mt. Jefferson and Three-Fingered Jack

Overall, I’d recommend the Pickled Pig as a breakfast or lunch destination if looking for a fun flying outing and mountain crossing. Though, I’d recommend going early in the morning and returning before the afternoon winds and temperatures rise as the ride could be quite bumpy (especially in the Summer).

Dinner in Chehalis

Willamette River at Sunset

One of our recent club fly-outs was to Chehalis, WA. (KCLS), to grab some dinner and get the opportunity to log some night cross country time. We departed before sunset and enroute watched the sun set and eventually see the skies darken as we crossed into Washington. The Willamette Valley had experienced some snow a day or two prior to the flight, so there were some photo opportunities for snow covered arial shots.

We arrived at KCLS in the dark and after parking, made the short walk to the Riverside Golf Club adjacent to the airport. After a nice meal, we loaded up and flew home on a cold clear night which seemed to offer unusually exceptional visibility as we were able to see the lights of Salem from what seemed like 75 miles away.