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.

2016 AOPA Fly-in

This year, Bremerton (KPWT) was one of AOPA’s fly-in destinations. Since I wasn’t able to attend the last fly-in in Spokane, I thought it would be fun to fly up to KPWT and attend the event. I have flown into KPWT numerous times while living in Washington, but getting to fly there from Salem was almost like a 'new’ destination, so I invited couple of fellow aviators to come along and enjoy the adventure. The main event was held on a Saturday, but Jeppesen hosted a BBQ the night before so we decided to fly up on Friday and camp out.

The unique aspect of the AOPA fly-ins is the fact that 100’s of airplanes will be converging on the airport over the two day event. So much so that there is a published NOTAM with special VFR arrival procedures and the normally non-towered airport at Bremerton becomes towered of sort by utilizing an air-boss on a special frequency (not the CTAF frequency) to handle the arriving and departing traffic. 

VFR Arrival Procedure

The flight up to KPWT went as planned and after arriving over Olympia, we followed the published procedure for south arrivals. After calling the air boss on the special frequency he instructed us to fly the procedure and after entering the terminal area instructed us to cross midfield and enter a right downwind. There were four airplanes ahead of us in the pattern and probably five more behind. We were given a clearance to land and given a turn-off point for the camping area. After setting up our tents we headed to the main event area for the BBQ and live music. The main stage was in a very large hangar and there were numerous large tents set up for the next day’s activities and vendor exhibits, as well as a static display of vendor’s aircraft. The most notable new airplane was the Piper M600 featuring the Garmin G3000 avionics suite and GFC 700 autopilot. 

This airplane also has hypoxia recognition which will automatically command the airplane into an emergency descent to a lower altitude if certain pilot inputs are not given while in the flight levels. 

Over KPWT (lots of airplanes parked on the closed runway)

Band Setting Up Around the B-17

The highlight of the evening was a U2 cover band (fake Irish accent, Bono sunglasses and all ), with an old bomber parked behind the stage for a backdrop.

Saturday started with some entertainment by listening to the airport frequency on my handheld as the air boss managed airplane after airplane as they arrived into the Bremerton area. There must have been 30 planes that landed between 6:30 and 7:30 am. After that, we headed to the pancake breakfast and scored some swag at the vendor tent. The remainder of the day continued with aviation seminars, followed by a pilot’s town hall presented by Mark Baker the president of AOPA.

We decided to return to Salem a little early in order to beat the rush of departures and took the opportunity to fly to Langley (W10) which is one of my favorite $100 destinations in the Puget Sound area. W10 is located on the South end of Whidbey Island and adjacent to the runway is Mukilteo Coffee Roasters which has some off the finest airport food and coffee around. The airport is nestled in the trees with a 2470' x 25’ North/South runway.

After enjoying a latte at the restaurant (and wishing that this place was 25 minutes from Salem), we departed for the one and a half hour flight back to Salem. The flight back was smooth and was able to get a clearance to climb through the Seattle class B airspace which allowed us to fly south over Puget Sound until having to turn toward Olympia in order to avoid the active restricted areas south west of Joint Base McChord. Overall, it was a good trip and recommend to everyone to try and attend an AOPA Fly-in in the future.

Disc Golf

I've been looking for other alternatives to the $100 hamburger and recently decided fly to an airport that had a disc golf course nearby. After some searching and looking at satellite images, I found a course near Cottage Grove, OR., (61S).  After pitching the idea to some fellow disc golfers from work, we found a free Saturday that worked for us all and planned to depart early morning, fly to 61S and play 18 holes and then grab lunch nearby.  We loaded up in the club's 182 and made the 66 mile flight to Cottage Grove. After parking the airplane, we headed out the airport property and walked about a mile to the course. The actual entrance to the course was actually a mile or two farther, but the course was accessible adjacent a nearby road so we started our round on hole #5.

http://www.cottagegrove.org/community/page/cottage-grove-disc-golf-course

Update, Version 2.0

I recently relocated from the Seattle area to another region of the Pacific Northwest (near Portland, OR.) for a new job and new adventures. Along with moving, getting settled in a new area and Winter weather a day finally opened up for a day of flying. I had joined a local flying club back in September, but my schedule and nice weather days never seemed to line up. I managed to get airplane checkout flights in the club planes out of the way but today was my first time to be able to take a plane out and explore some new territory.

The morning started out foggy but the forecast called for clearing and warming by Noon and the coastal areas were forecast to be clear all day. After getting a weather briefing for the area, I opted to head West and do some sightseeing and get in a couple of landings at KONP and S45. The main goal of the flight was to get familiar with a different cockpit layout than what I was used to and to learn some of the landmarks around my new home airport. I also wanted to take in any nuances of the KSLE tower controllers and how they did things relative to other towers that I've been to. Obviously, phraseology is consistent with all things FAA, but every ATC has it's own "personality".

Glass to the Max

After a thorough pre-flight, I departed KSLE and headed West toward KONP. The C172 that I was flying is equipped with a full Garmin glass panel, not just a simple upgrade but full-on glass PFD/MFD and dual GTN's. But, I wasn't distracted by the eye-candy and kept to the task at hand and navigated by what I saw out the windows. Soon enough KONP was in site and after getting the automated weather decided the best runway was 02. After a landing and taxi-back, I headed North and pointed the nose up the coast for Siletz Bay. The airport was easy to find and after a flyover checking the windsock, I entered the pattern and landed on 17. I understand that there is a nice eatery across the highway from the airport called the Side Door Cafe, so I'll make a trip back over to S45 and take in a meal. And besides, I don't have any favorite spots yet for Oregon so will write about this destination in a future blog entry. 

Arriving S45

After snapping a few photos on the ground at S45, I launched East and headed for KSLE. This time though, the sky had turned quite hazy and there were pockets of fog that made identifying ground landmarks difficult. So, I punched in my route on the GTN and tracked the CDI until I could at least make out the Salem area. From there it was easy to identify Independence and then the KSLE terminal area. After contacting the tower I requested some touch and goes and made a few before calling it a day. Overall, put 2.1 hours on the hobbs and am ready to get flying again on a regular basis.

So Long Niner Zero Seven

Today, after 377.9 hours as PIC of N52907, I waved goodbye to the the blue and white bird as the new owner flew her to Texas. 

Nearly eight years ago I inquired about an add in the Seattle Times for a 1/5 share of a 1974 182P.  At the time I had reached the point in many a pilots' journey that it was time to own or share the cost of ownership of an airplane. Renting was fine for day trips or short hops, but wasn't flexible for overnights or last minute getaways. So, after a few calls with the owners and a breakfast meet and greet, I bought a share of the airplane. I remember how "fast" the 182 seemed at the time compared to 172's that I'd been flying and dealing with the extra blue knob took some getting used to. But after a 10 hour insurance checkout, I was good to go. This airplane has taken me all over the Pacific Northwest, Canada and as far East as Montana. There have been failed alternators, broken valve guides, and other things that are par-for-the-course with a 40-year old airplane. The destinations and adventures in 907 are too numerous to mention (many are documented in this blog), but it was good run in this airplane and am looking forward to the next ownership opportunity that comes along.

Logbook Entry From 2006 Demo Flight In N52907

Cirrus Checkout

The flight school where I teach recently acquired an SR20. In order to be able to instruct in this airplane, one has to complete the Cirrus certified training syllabus. This checkout involves VFR and IFR operations. For VFR, along with showing maneuver proficiency, an emphasis is put on knowing the procedure for deploying the ballistic parachute. Also as part of the CFI checkout is learning which circuit breakers to pull when sitting in the right seat for simulating various failures for students in the left seat. The IFR flights involve all kinds of approaches full/partial panel. Since I wasn't planning on teaching in the SR20 initially I completed the "transition" training so that I could rent and fly the SR20 for fun. I was surprised how roomy the SR20 was inside and how easy it was to adapt to the side stick. The challenge for me was the amount of time the airplane required to slow down from 160 kts for pattern entry. In a C-172, the airplane slows nicely when 10 degrees of flaps are added along with a power reduction abeam the numbers in the downwind. The Cirrus on the other hand requires arrival planning several miles out to get slowed before entering the pattern. Once the SR20 is slowed for the pattern, the speeds are quite higher than other single engine GA airplanes. For example the final approach speed in the SR20 is 80 kts. On the IFR side, the faster speeds take some getting used to. I'm used to C-182 approaches which start at 135 kts, but in the SR20, things happen a lot faster when commencing at 160 kts. It took me several tries to get used to the higher approach speeds.

One other piece of equipment that takes some getting used to is the keypad interface to the G1000. The typical Garmin buttons are still available on the PFD/MFD, but in addition to those, the Cirrus has a keypad that allows full programming of the G1000. My muscle memory still wanted to use the PFD/MFD buttons, but after re-training myself, using the keypad is much more efficient.

G1000 w/keypad

All in all the Cirrus is a fun airplane to fly and am looking forward to taking advantage of the faster cruise speeds for some long distance flights.

Lake Tour

I recently had a chance to branch out and do some takeoff and landings at some area lakes other than Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. Thanks to Austin Watson (http://austingwatson.com/aviation) for taking a few hours this afternoon to show me some really cool lakes West of Seattle. One of the highlights was landing at Spencer Lake and being able to dock and walk to the Spencer Lake Bar and Grille.

Route:

From	To	Heading	Totals			Leg
W36	LAKELONG	249°M	15nm	1.9g	0h10m	15nm	1.9g	0h10m
LAKELONG	LAKECUSHMAN	253°M	42nm	5.3g	0h29m	27nm	3.4g	0h19m
LAKECUSHMAN	LAKENAHWATZEL	177°M	57nm	7.2g	0h39m	15nm	1.9g	0h10m
LAKENAHWATZEL	LAKEMASON	57°M	73nm	9.1g	0h49m	16nm	1.8g	9m59s
LAKEMASON	LAKESPENCER	161°M	76nm	9.5g	0h52m	4nm	0.5g	2m33s
LAKESPENCER	LAKETAPS	80°M	108nm	13.3g	1h13m	32nm	3.8g	0h21m
LAKETAPS	W36	335°M	126nm	15.4g	1h24m	17nm	2.1g	0h11m

Fore Flight Map 

Approaching Lake Cushman

On the Ramp at Spencer Lake

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