The town of Florence.

The Siuslaw River is down there somewhere!

Looking westward to the sand dunes and the Ocean.

Flying over the Willamette Valley.

Mulino is a great little airport to visit. It is in a scenic area, has a great approach over trees and a wide river, is nearly always quiet and has a great little cafe just outside the airport perimeter. The old FBO office building (the airport is no longer attended) is always open and has a coffee machine so you can make yourself a drink, a very clean toilet (always nice to find!) and loads of comfy chairs to sit on, relax and read the masses of aviation magazines available on the coffee table. AVGAS is reasonably priced as well.

Parked up at Mulino Airport.

On the flight across the Willamette Valley to Mulino there was a layer of brown stretching across the sky, this was smoke from far away forest fires that had been burning in Washington State and the west side of Idaho……or so we thought. There were a number of fires burning in the Valley, probably controlled burns of fields ready for the planting of new crop, it was boding well for our scenic flight the next day. After landing at Mulino we walked to the cafe for some food and I just so happened to take my GPS over to look at and to charge up using their power. After switching on the GPS and looking at the TFR data from the XM Weather feed I found out that the smoke we had seen had come from a large forest fire just to the south of Sisters at Rooster Rock and that a TFR was in place to allow fire fighting aircraft to tackle the blaze. Luckily the cafe has wi-fi so I was able to look at the FAA TFR web site for more details. The Eagle Airpark at Sisters was within the TFR zone so our plans for the next day were thrown away and a quick re-plan had to be made.

Starting the climb up to Mount Hood, leaving the Valley overcast behind us.

We departed at 6:30am in the morning from a runway covered by a low overcast. However to the east, where the foothills start to climb, there was a clearer patch of sky and we used this to climb up over the clouds to the clear sky which extended all the way to Idaho. At first you can only see the very top of Mount Hood as the Cascade foothills climb very sharply up to a level of 6,000ft. As always climbing into the early morning sunshine the way ahead was hazy but this would burn off very quickly as the heat was already beginning to build. We very quickly received a 15 knot tailwind which was a suprise as the air on the ground was still, as we reached our target height of 9,000ft the tailwind was at 25 knots. We had to adjust our plan slightly due to the wind as passing around Mount Hood to the north and east would have been a bumpy ordeal, by staying to the south we would avoid the lee side of the mountain and avoid a lot of the turbulance being generated by it. As well as haze and light cloud we could also make out fire smoke settling into valleys and drifting low across the ridges below us.

Mount Adams in the distance to the north.

Fire smoke mixed in with haze and light cloud. This smoke could have been from the Rooster Rock fire 70 miles to the south or the fires raging 100 miles to the north.

Mount Hood looking very impressive in amongst the cloud and haze.

Little rotor clouds being generated by the increasing wind.

The southwest side of Mount Hood. Mount Adams can just be see in the far background to the left.

The Mount Hood ski area which is located two thirds of the way up the south side was easily visible and looked fully operational even though it was now August with temperatures in the 90′s.

The south side of Mount Hood.

Close up of Mount Hood, the groomed ski area can be clearly seen on the middle left.

9,000ft up above the lower terrain to the south of Mount Hood.

Mount St Helens and Mount Adams to the north, and Mount Jefferson to the south were all clear. Looking down to the south we could clearly see the forest fire at Sisters and it’s smoke was travelling right up the eastern side of the Cascades to the great Columbia River. It looked pretty hazy and the smell of burning pine was in the air.

Mount Jefferson to the south of Mount Hood.

We left Mount Hood behind and turned to the south east towards the town of Madras, a reasonable sized farming town 30 miles to the east of Mount Jefferson. As we could not make it to Sisters we planned on getting to Madras Airport to see what other plan we could come up with. Visibility was reduced due to the fire smoke which was formed a thick layer at around 6,000ft, we would have to descend through this to get to Madras Airport.

Descending down the east slopes of the Cascades. You can clearly see (left to right) the Sister Mountains, Mount Washington and Three Fingered Jack. Black Butte is just off the picture on the far left.

Leaving Mount Hood behind us. The deep canyons with rivers running through them are typical of the landscape to the northwest of Madras. This is serious rattlesnake country!

Wide angle view looking south, hopefully giving an impression of what the landscape looks like in real life. The wall of fire smoke can be seen stretching across the horizon to the left, the Sister Mountains can be seen to the right. Madras lays behind and underneath the smoke.

Bank of sea fog stretching into the distance.

Tillamook Bay.

Down the coast next to Tillamook Bay, looking at Cape Meares.

Cape Meares.

Cape Meares Wildlife Refuge (from 2,000ft).

Yaquina Head.

Newport, with dredger doing its stuff at the inlet.

Cape Perpetua.

Heceta Head.

Scud running along the Oregon Coast.

Low cloud (1,200ft) and a stiff headwind (24 knots) up the Oregon Coast were negotiated and after a quick fuel stop at Tillamook, 15 miles to the south of the destination, we arrived at the airport. Due to the weather the turn out was not as hoped but everyone seemed in good spirit with plenty of food on supply. After a few hours of talking and looking at aeroplanes we said our goodbyes to our friends and continued our journey, this time through the mountains of the Coastal Range. At times it looked like we would have to turn around as the cloud ceiling started lowering but every time this happened it started rising again and after 40 miles or so of heading due east we spotted blue skies. Soon we were out of the gloom and into sunshine and heading north to Chehalis for a weather check and 2nd fuel stop. We wanted as much fuel on board as possible as AVGAS prices in the San Juans are significantly more than inland, we paid $4.45/gallon, in the Islands it is currently $5.30.

Some of the 20 or so aircraft that made the Nehalem Bay fly-in. Some just so happened to be visiting at the time but this helped boost the number somewhat!

As we climbed out of Chehalis and towards the Olympic mountains the cloud base was only 1,800ft but our headwind had changed to a 12 knot tailwind which was very welcome. The weather ahead looked clear which was a relief as earlier Whidbey Island was reporting OVC003 (overcast 300ft), this had apparently burned off leaving completely clear skies.

We navigated around the restricted area P-51, a trident submarine base!, a ‘sensitive’ naval base just to the east of Port Townsend, and the Naval facilities at Bremerton Harbor by heading east and then north. The west and northwest of Seattle has more than its fair share of sensitive spots and it’s best to tread carefully when flying in this area. We were travelling through the Seattle Mode C veil but under the Class C airspace which starts at 8,000ft on its west side. I wanted to cross the water to the islands at a narrower point than that from the south and chose on coasting out from Whidbey Island which is 10 miles to the east of Lopez Island. I contacted NAS Whidbey Island Approach (on 118.2), the large airbase which is home to EA-6B Prowlers and P-3 Orions, for flight following and zone transit and even though the controller was busy he dealt with my request in good humour.

There are two MOA, a restricted area and an auxiliary airfield called Coupeville NOLF to the south of NAS Whidbey Island but these were inactive and I routed right through the area at 3,000ft. A beaver flying boat was flying the same route as us but he was a mile ahead and 1,000ft below us, it was nice to know that someone very near to us would be able to come and pick us up if the engine decided to call it a day.

NAS Whidbey Island. Their airspace stretches across the Strait to the Islands and provide an excellent flight following service for the area.

We passed by the isolated Smith Island after a few minutes and ten minutes more the controller was clearing me off his frequency as we reached the shores of Lopez Island.

Smith Island, a handy island for pilots (just in case!) in the Juan De Fuca Strait

The common San Juan Island CTAF frequency (128.25) was buzzing and I felt like a complete stranger (I was!) on the radio as I did not know any of the reporting points everyone else was using, reporting points not mentioned on the local sectional. I resorted to distance to/from airports and altitude calls hoping that everyone else was understanding where I was and what my intentions were. Our destination was to be Orcas Island (KORS) and I was unaware that many locals use the term ‘East Sound’ instead of ‘Orcas’ (the airport being Orcas/East Sound Airport!). I must say that after 4 days of flying around here you start to understand what locations are where and even to recognise all the commercial pilots who are continually flying between the islands on freight and passenger flights. I also found a map in a local tourist magazine that detailed the various island, harbor and cove names and locations which was extremely helpful.

Looking over to Mount Baker on the mainland over some of the easterly San Juan Islands.

General view across the San Juan Islands.

The approach to Orcas is a pretty route down a sound which lays between Mount Constitution, the highest point in the Islands, and more high terrain to the west of the horseshoe shaped island. The preferred approach is from the north and over the water to runway 16 and there is quite a slope up to the south. The area is busy most days with visitors, FEDEX freight Caravans and aircraft from the three airlines that provide services to the airport. Approaches are made from both north and south depending on who is flying in and how behind schedule they are. After landing we soon got our tent up and we made the short 10 minute walk into the quaint town for food and drink.

East Sound as seen from left downwind for runway 16.

Approaching Orcas Airport over the water.

Over the next few days we took things easy, got into the local way of things and flew to the neighbouring islands of Lopez and San Juan. There are many more islands, both tiny and quite large, but many are private and you need an invite from a local to visit. It’s a shame as many have their own grass airfields and Blakely Island even has its own asphalt runway which all look very inviting. Sea fog and low marine layer can always be a problem around the Islands and it is not unusual to take off and be confronted by a mass of fog covering the vast majority of the Juan De Fuca Strait, in which the Islands sit. Luckily the main Islands seem to remain relatively clear but the fog can look threatening all day jut hanging offshore.

Roche Harbor

Roche Harbor is a private airport that asks for a $10 landing fee which goes to help keep the airport open. It has a narrow, uphill, not so straight runway which is usually one-way-in/out in all but the strongest winds. It’s common to have to wait for back-tracking aircraft but there is a holding area at each end of the runway to help everyone avoid each other. It has a tricky parking area up a steep taxiway and it’s well worth remembering some chocks when visiting. A short walk takes you into the immaculate marina area which has plenty of bling to look at, some touristy shops and a good restaurant. Even for someone who isn’t really into tourist destinations there was enough things of interest to keep me occupied for a few hours.

Roche Harbor Airport.

Roche Harbor.

Roche Harbor Runway 25.

Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor is the major town in the Islands and it has a well equipped airport. Visiting aircraft have their own parking area`to the east with a very sweet smelling porta-potty and access gate which allows you to walk into the nearby town. If money is not an issue there are plenty of nautical activities available down at the harbor and some very nice looking restaurants. The roll-on/roll-off ferries which sail around the islands calls at this town and when one arrives visitors flood off in their hundreds heading, presumably to the shops and eating places.

Friday Harbor Airport.

Town of Friday Harbor.

Lopez Island

Lopez Island is one of the more quiet islands, although it has quite a large population. The airport is less busy than Orcas and Friday Harbour, presumably as it is quite a distance to the main town. It has a fair number of parks to visit but is large enough to be difficult to get around without transport. There is a decent looking nine hole golf course right alongside the airport, and an ominous golf ball warning sign pinned up on the airport terminal building wall! The best way for non-car visitors is to hire a couple of bicycles from the town, which is a three mile walk from the airport, and cycle around for a day or two.

Lopez Airport about to be covered in fog.

Here are some pictures to give you more of a flavour of the area;

One of the ferries that run between the mainland and many of the San Juan Islands.

A typical San Juan Island, Canoe Island, with a few houses on it and yachts moored up around it.

Shoal Bay on Lopez Island.

Lummi Island in amongst the Juan De Fuca Strait fog.

The journey from Florence would take nearly two hours, so we planned on overnighting up near Portland, some 60 miles to the southwest and then attempt a flight to it early in the morning….if the weather permitted. We chose to camp the night at Stark’s Twin Oaks, a great little family run airfield just to the south of the busy Portland-Hillsboro Airport. Parking and camping was free for the night, this included a hot shower!, we also filled up with their AVGAS at $3.99/gallon. Why can’t more airports be like this (?).

We were up sharp at 6:00am and quickly packed up camp. The previous few days had seen winds howling throughout Oregon as a low weather front passed through, today looked much better but winds and temperatures were to rise and with them turbulance was bound to follow. As we climbed out across the Hillsboro Airport traffic zone the weather looked superb, not a cloud insight and a very slight 5 knot wind from the north. Mount St Helens was clearly visible, along with Mount Adams to it’s east, Mount Rainier (tallest and baddest of the Cascade Mountains) to the north and Mount Hood to the southeast.

The only ‘problem’ with this type of early morning flight is the enevitable haze you get from flying into a low, rising sun. We needed to get around to the north/northest side of St Helens to get some clear photographs of it’s eruption area. However, heading towards it in a slow, steady climb (we needed to climb to some 9,500ft as there is a requirement for aircraft to remain 2,000ft clear of the ground in the area.) the sights were fantastic. I’ll let some pictures describe what we saw…..

10 miles out from St Helens. Each minute that went by the light changed and the mountains looked completely different.

Mount Adams to the east of St Helens. A thin halo of cloud could be seen encircling St Helens, and a thick layer of haze between the two mountains. The light streaks are the sun reflecting off the windscreen.

As we got nearer the devastated northern side of the volcano came into view. The top half of the volcano had been blown away leaving a grey barren area which looks like it is slowly recovering today as it is turning a more healthy color of green. There was still plenty of winter snow on St Helens and the surrounding mountains to add to the scenary, we will have to make an effort to get a look at the area during the winter as it must look spectacular then.

The northern side of St Helens. Mount Hood can be seen in the far background, the visibility was excellent.

Close-up of the northern side of St Helens. Must have been a big bang! Sometimes smoke can be seen venting out of the top but not today.

Close-up of the lower side showing how the surface is slowly regenerating.

Mount Hood behind the rim of the volcano.

Another sign of the devastation are thousands of trees that can still be seen floating in a vast mass on Spirit Lake which sits at the northeast corner of the volcano.

Spirit Lake.

Close-up of the trees floating in Spirit Lake.

A smaller lake next to Spirit Lake is also home to some of the blown down trees, they also litter all the hillsides.

To the north of St Helens is Coldwater Lake.

If you look closely you can see hundreds, even thousands of trees laying on the ground on this mountain next to Coldawater Lake.

….and to the northeast is Mount Whittier with it’s small alpine lakes.

All too soon the wind started to build (by now it was blowing at 20 knots from the north) and it was time to beat a hasty retreat back to Oregon for some breakfast, it was only just 7:30am.

The seaside town of Waldport, to the north of Florence.

Fog being driven inland after being blown up against Cape Perpetua.

The fog gets a bit thinner just past Cape Perpetua.

Heceta Head and the lighthouse completely covered. Florence gets some protection from this area forcing the fog slightly out to sea. Florence Airport is usually the last Oregon Coast airport to get fogged in…..usually!!

Climbing out of Florence over the fog covered Siuslaw River.

The fog continued many miles into the Coastal Range.

Coastal Range mountains.

The visibility was ok but there was significant haze from the low sun. Mount Hood, up towards Portland, could just about be seen in the haze but the snow covered Sister Mountains were clear and they dominated the view ahead of us and towards our destination. Our new Garmin 696 with XM Weather was proving to be useful as I could check out the weather in the valley long before it came into clear view. Many times we have crossed the mountains only to be confronted by unpredicted low laying cloud covering the valley airports, today it was totally clear with calm winds.

We avoided the highest peaks in the foothills and travelled deeper into the Willamette National Forest over the 10 mile long Lookout Point Lake, this would save an unneccessary climb to 4,500ft followed by a descent to the Oakridge airport elevation of 1,393ft. Later on in the day this route would have proved ‘interesting’ due to the winds and the route over the terrain would be much more preferable!

Cascade Mountain foothills. There mountains have an elevation of 2,500ft to 3,000ft.

Although Oregon has had a wet winter the lake looked suprisingly low.

As we approached Oakridge from the west it was difficult to identify the airport and we were only a couple of miles away before the runway was visible on a hilltop plateau above the town. Oakridge has a reputation for being a difficult airport to fly into due to the updrafts and downdrafts which can occur around it, when you see the topography you can understand why. We overflew the airport and descended to the east for a straight in approach to 27. The final approach is interesting as you have to judge the top of the plateau, clear some tall trees on the right hand side of the ridge and the descend down an incline to the 27 threshold. The runway drops down in the middle and then climbs to the 09 threshold which is handy if you get your approach speed too high.

There are a good number of tie-downs on the apron and enough grass areas to camp for the night if that is your thing. A one mile walk downhill will get you into the town where you can find food and accomodation. Next time we will spend some time having a look around the area, today we didn’t stay too long as we would be flying to the Star Duster cafe at Independence Airport for brunch.

Oakridge Airport, looking east to west. The sharp drop at the end of runway 09 can easily be seen in this picture.

Looking down runway 27 at Oakridge.

Runway 27 threshold.

Sikorsky fire fighter helicopter. Oakridge is regularly home to fire fighting aircraft and helicopters as the Willamette Forest usually suffers from massive fires in the summer. This year things have been quiet due to the cooler and wetter weather and the crew which were on standby during our visit were just sitting around drinking coffee and looking pretty bored, things may change after the 4th July fireworks though.

Videos

We were awoken early (6:00am) by the sound of a Yak or Nanchang flying fast and low along the runway while firing it’s mock machine gun!! I suppose the pilot found it funny, as we did, but I wouldn’t be suprised if he was unpopular with some of the others who had camped that night. At the same time several hot air balloons had been assembled and these took advantage of the still air to get an early morning flight in. If we had not have been woken by the Yak we would have by the balloon burners as their departure point was some 60ft from our tent!

Hot air balloons being inflated ready for their early morning flight.

As usual we had a great night sleep and we were looking forward to another day of doing nothing but looking at aircraft all day. Richard turned up at our tent looking a bit the worse for wear. Unknown to him his airbed (the 6 inch thick one that required an electric pump to get it inflated) had a slow leak in it and every 3 hours or so he had to get out the pump and reinflate it. We found this slightly amusing (actually we found it hilarious!) as it was Richard who cast doubt on the 1.5 inch self inflating matresses that we were very successfully sleeping on.

It was another glorious, sunny day and after a quick lukewarm shower we headed off to look around the static displays again. We were told that this year the number of displays and general airshow attendees were down, probably due to the bad economic situation and also the mighty Oshkosh show being so close on the calended.

We had a look at this Aviat Husky and even sat in it, unfortunately I found out that my legs are too long and my knees actually touch the bottom of the instrument panel. The sales guy explained how we could install floor panels that provided a couple of extra inches for the pilot’s lower legs but even with that it would be a type squeeze, guess I’ll not be spending the $200,000 on one after all!

Later on in the morning the temperature was up so we jumped on the courtesy bus which was shuttling people from the fly-in to the town of Arlington for them to do some shopping. A market had been organised by the town with some pretty unusual stalls, all of which we walked by without stopping, however we did pay a visit to a local cafe for some food and drink. The catering at the airport was not wonderful and was, as usual, expensive, the cafe was a much better option.

We returned to the airport for the flying display which started at 2:00pm. Later on in the evening some hot air balloons were dragged out of their trailers for a planned lighting after sunset. By now clouds where steadily building from the south and southeast and thunder and lightning could be seen and heard approaching. The weather was about to change for the worse!!

As we waited to the sun to go down a few of the vintage aircraft took to the sky and entertained us with loops and wingovers, at the same time ultralights and microlights were also taking advantage of the still evening.

Vintage aircraft taking an evening flight before the rains.

After waiting for an hour or so the balloons were successfully inflated and provided us with an impressive displays with their burners. The display probably went on a little too long and in the end became a bit embarrassing as they kept trying to come up with different ideas (including some very bizzarre ones!) on how to sequence the lighting the balloons. They probably thought that they had to use up all the donated gas but there was a danger of burning holes in the top of their

Hot air balloon lighting after sunset.

That night it rained…..it rained a lot.

12th July 2009

Today was the day we had planned on returning to Florence via a night stopover on the coast somewhere. Very low cloud and rain made us change our minds. The free internet connections provided in a dedicated tent were busy getting weather data for those pilots who didn’t leave before the rain hit. Occassionally inbetween rain showers a few aircraft would depart at low level to the north and back to Canada, or south towards Seattle and Oregon. There was an air of ‘when do we make a move’ about the airport but as we did not have a job to get to we decided to chill out and work out a plan for the day.

We phoned up a guy who we had met at the catering area and arranged to borrow his car for a trip to the Boeing Museum at Everett, some 25 miles from Arlington. What a nice chap!

When we got there we found the Boeing Museum a bit boring, in fact very boring, so we didn’t stay there long and left feeling like we had been slightly ripped off actually. Luckily there was there quality Flying Heritage Collection museum juts a short drive around the other side of the airport. An excellent collection of mostly airworthy aircraft in stunning condition, with several very rare types including a Focke Wulf Fw190D-13 Dora. Click here to see some of the pictures I took during the visit, we highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area.

By the time we arrived back at Arlington, after a stop off to get some decent food, the light was fading and we sat outside our tent having a drink and a chat. Tomorrow we would have to try and depart as the airport was being handed back to the FAA and we would have to organise alternative accommodation in a hotel somewhere.

To be continued….

An impromptu flight to Siletz Bay State Airport (S45) and the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort accompanied by the ‘usual suspects’ (Carole and Richard) in the Aeronca Champ and Brian ‘The Fireman’ with ourselves in Tango Charlie. A beautifully clear day with a light south westerly breeze and a thin layer of cumulous cloud sitting at 5,000ft over the coastal range. The Aeronca took off first and opted for the low scenic route along the shoreline, we followed and opted for a higher, 5,500ft route to explore the cloud over the mountains. I was keen on giving Brian a view of the clouds that you can only see while flying, he is thinking about learning to fly himself and by giving him a sample of what he was missing MAY help him make that definate decision. Go on Brian, you know you have to!

We started a gradual descent over Newport Municipal Airport (KONP) and started our approach to S45 along the coastline at Yaquina Head Lighthouse to give us a closer look at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and Depoe Bay.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

As the wind was from the southwest (actually 240 degrees), we descended and entered the right downwind for runway 17. The approach to 17 is an interesting one. There is a raised piece of land just to the northwest of the threshold and a standard approach takes you around this, effectively blocking your view of the runway (and blocking the view of the base leg from the threshold) until you enter the final leg over the resort golf course.

A picture I took of S45 during our last visit in October 2008.

After a half decent landing we parked up and very shortly afterwards the Aeronca arrived. The tie-down area at S45 is huge and each parking area is equipped with chains, essential due to the winds that blow regularly here. Something we did notice this trip were several campsite areas available, including firepits, next to the apron.

Siletz Bay State Airport.

We phoned the resort to arrange for their courtesy car to come and pick us up and take us the few miles to their shopping mall, they can also take you to the main lodge for accomodation or for a round of golf. The mall has a good number of quality shops offering everything from books to jewelry and toys. There is an excellent coffee shop, sandwich shop and comforatble areas to sit outside and take in the sun.

After a drink, something to eat and a lengthy look around the shops we arranged for the courtesy car to return us to the airport.

On the way back to Florence we arranged to get some aerial pictures of the Aeronca flying along the coastline, this also gave Brian the opportunity to see what he had missed on the way up. When flying along the coast it’s important to give a wide berth (2,000ft) to the numerous wildlife refuge areas that are situated on islands and the shoreline. When flying at a lower altitude this means travelling out to sea a way but always insuring that you have enough altitude to be able to glide to the beach in the case of an engine problem. It’s also important to remember that many wildlife sites are not mentioned on the sectional maps, for example Sea Lion Caves just south of the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Aeronca passing communication towers just southeast of Depoe Bay. Easily seen in clear weather but a potential gotcha when it’s IMC (Instrument meteorological conditions).

Close up.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse again.

Seal Rock just south of Newport, part of the Orergon Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Sea Lion Caves.