Chiloquin - 2S7

The fall ceilings were starting to look like we’d have to cancel the trip due to fog over the valley, but as the morning progressed, the skies opened up over KSLE as seen in this photo during a south-bound climb-out from Salem.

Once airborne, the weather turned out as forecast with the fog extending south to Eugene and then clear towards Klamath Falls. There were no concerns for the return trip as the fog was expected to clear well before our return arrival to KSLE. The flight down to 2S7 was beautiful and we passed just West of Crater Lake for some photo opportunities.
Our route this day was to head South East towards Creswell (77S) and then loosely parallel V452 until Crater Lake and Klamath Lake were in view, then proceed to 2S7. For those who haven’t flown to Chiloquin before, the airport’s location is deceiving as it’s between two ridges and not next to Agency Lake as it appears on the sectional. The landing was uneventful and we taxied to the parking area near mid-field adjacent to Highway 97.

Everyone was hungry and as our anticipation grew for a traditional café breakfast, much to our surprise after crossing the highway, was that the restaurant was closed. By the look of things, apparently the café has been INOP for a while (note to self, call ahead before flying 148 miles to get breakfast). Thanks to modern technology, we punched in our location on the smart phone and discovered that we were only a short walking distance into the town of Chiloquin. So, we trudged across the airport and followed a path that led to the main road into town. From there we spied a roadside diner and after all was said and done we walked about 20 minutes from the tie down area. The diner grub was excellent, and think everyone had the pulled pork, but their burgers and other fare looked really good too. After filling our bellies, we walked back to the airport and performed our pre-flight duties and departed for home. Since there were some pretty strong headwinds forecast for the return flight, we opted to stop at 77S for fuel on the way back in order to not have to worry about arriving at KSLE near or below fuel minimums.

Reno Air Races

We departed on Wednesday morning and planned on a fuel stop in Klamath Falls (KLMT) enroute to Reno (KRNO). The morning was overcast so we departed IFR and after a climb through 4000’ we broke out on top for the sunny flight southbound. KMTH was reporting VFR but there was a cloud layer right in our descent path to runway 14. The controller asked us to report the airport in sight, but that wasn’t possible, so we requested a clearance for the RNAV 14 and that approach got us down to a point where we could see the airport and land. We took on fuel and switched pilots for the next leg to KRNO. An interesting site while we were getting fuel was the taxiing and departure of about eight F15’s from the Kingsley Air Guard Base at KLMT.

The leg from KLMT to KRNO was via V452 and the IFR minimum enroute altitude (MEA) is 11000’, and there is no radar coverage for most of the 182 nm flight so we elected to file a VFR flight plan so that someone would come searching for us if we encountered a problem and had to land in the Nevada desert. The other kink in the route to KRNO was the fact that there was a fire TFR adjacent to V452, the air race TFR just north west of KRNO, and another fire TFR north east of KRNO. About 30 miles from Reno, NorCal Approach was able to see us on Radar and asked us to join the runway 16R localizer into KRNO. Coincidentally the two TFRs are on opposite sides of the localizer so this flight path kept us out of restricted airspace. About 10 miles out we contacted Reno tower and they cleared us to land on 16R. Since this is a fairly busy commercial airport, listening to ATC for how they were spacing our 172 with 737’s was entertaining. The 737 in trail to us, requested s-turns for spacing and was initially denied and told to either slow it down or execute a missed approach. Turned out fine for the 737 as they were granted s-turns and we kept blazing along until short final to help out with spacing. After taxing to Atlantic Air, we unloaded, put in a fuel order for the return trip and boarded a shuttle to our hotel.

Thursday morning, we headed over to Stead (KRTS) for a day at the air races. If you haven’t been to Reno for the air races, there are static displays, merchandise vendors, and always some type of aircraft in the air throughout the day. They alternate all day between race heats and aerial performances. Some of the highlights of the day we’re STOL drag races. This event pits two STOL aircraft head-to-head and they take off, land, come to a complete stop, pivot 180 degrees and do the same in the opposite direction. They are confined to specific landing spots and the race is timed. More info here: http://www.stoldrag.com

Another highlight was the Thunderbirds’ arrival. They didn’t perform their full show on Thursday,

but still showed off their precision flying skills with some formation flying and high-speed passes. After a day in the sun and lots of junk food, we headed back to the hotel for some rest for the return flight the next day. On Friday we arranged for the FBO shuttle to pick us up at the hotel and return to KRNO. After a pre-flight inspection we started up and got our VFR clearance for departing the KRNO class C airspace. After departure ATC gave us some vectors away from the KRNO 16R final approach course and we proceeded on course for our fuel stop at KMTH. After landing at Klamath Falls, we fueled up the airplane and grabbed some snacks from 

the vending machine for the flight to KSLE. The skies from Reno to Eugene were clear VFR, but north of Eugene the ceilings were MVFR to IFR. Our plan was to depart VFR from KMTH and pick up an IFR clearance around Eugene for the descent into KLSE.  We contacted cascade approach over Creswell and negotiated a pop-up clearance direct to KSLE for the ILS 31. We encountered about 15-minutes of IMC conditions during the descent and vectors into Salem. All-in-all total Hobbs time for the round trip was 8.7 hours and 76 gallons of 100LL consumed.

Erikson Aircraft Collection - Madras, OR. (S33)

Made the trip to Madras, OR. (S33) to view the Erickson Aircraft Collection. Madras is 80 nm from Salem and the weather had been VFR all week leading up to Saturday, but in typical Willamette Valley fashion the ceilings at KSLE were MFVR Saturday morning while across the cascades at Madras, the conditions were VFR.

On top headed to S33

After a short IFR climb to on top, it was a beautiful flight over the Oregon Cascades. We entered the pattern about an hour later for landing on runway 34. After securing the airplane on the ramp, the museum was a short walk to the north end of the airport. The museum is actually a large hangar and houses about 20 aircraft and most of them are still in flying condition. The museum also had lots of WWII memorabilia such as uniforms, newspaper clippings, etc. One of the unique items was the once top-secret Norden Bombsite.

Norden Bombsite

After taking lots of photos and exploring the airplanes, it was time for lunch and we elected to make the short flight to KBDN for bbq at the Pickled Pig. After devouring some competition grub, we fueled up and departed home for Salem.

Has prop and jet engines

Pancakes at Mulino

Made the annual hop over to Mulino for their pancake breakfast, hosted by the local EAA chapter.

Sisters, OR. (6K5)

The morning started out MFVR with 1800’ ceilings all around the valley, but the cloud cover only extended east to Stayton and and west to Independence so we climbed up over Independence for the climb eastbound over the cloud layer. After landing at 6K5 the pattern got really busy. Several more planes entered the area, including a 

Cessna 170 and Malibu after watching the two airplanes jockey for position we secured the airplane and headed into town.

Taxiing back to parking

With more than 23 restaurants in Sisters, we ended up at the Depot Café. The food was good and would recommend stopping when passing through Sisters. After breakfast we walked back to the airport and over the time we had been at breakfast, the temperature had risen and the automated weather was reporting 5100’ density altitude (the airport’s published altitude is 3168’). We departed runway 02 which is 3500’ long but has a displaced threshold for some extra take off distance. The runway also slopes down so plenty of runway to get airborne on this hot day.

Parked on the ramp at 6K5

Looking down runway 02

WAAAM - Hood River

Flew over to hood river (4S2) to visit the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM). The museum is a short walk from the west end of the airport and we arrived just in time to catch the airplane restoration tour. After the tour we took some time to browse the 3.5 acres of hangar space housing 130 cars and a similar number of airplanes. The day we were at the museum was also the “second Saturday” which is when they offer rides in some of the antique cars and airplanes.  

After the museum we walked across the street to the Twin-Peaks Drive-in for burgers and shakes. If you are looking for a $100 hamburger destination then 4S2 and the Twin-Peaks diner are for you!