2003

The first flight of summer was a hop to McMinville for the Yamhill OPA plane wash. Next stop was the Flying M Ranch for breakfast, Stark's for fuel, then back to the hangar.

Left: Rain squall on the way to Stark's.

Arlington 2003

The weather gods smiled on this year's Arlington Fly-In. For west coasters Arlington is much closer and cheaper than Oshkosh. Left: Chevy powered Skyhawk.

Below: Take a Ford engine, a stretched Piper frame, homebrew floats, and voila.

No, this is not a Lake Amphib.

Thursday evening at Arlington.

The ground fog dissipated shortly after I took this picture. This shot won the AVWEB.COM Picture Of The Week award.
I left Arligton Friday afternoon before the air show. Others had left Thursday afternoon, evening, or Friday morning. But many remained for the weekend, and the Friday and Saturday influx was just starting. I took off from the left side of 34 and stayed under a flight of RVs until well clear of the area.

Smoke from forest fires reduced visibility. I flew home at 3500 feet, constrained by the Seattle Class B airspace. Left: Mt. Ranier makes its own weather.

Mulino Fly-IN

On the way from Hillsboro (HIO) to Mulino (4S9)

Approaching Mulino from the west.

Cool Texaco thermometer (in the shade), Beech Staggerwing N1944B.

Vanity in the left door of N1944B. The camera's autofocus focused on the reflection in the mirror...

Closeup of the RV-10 prototype empennage showing "hidden" ELT antenna.

Not Scud running.

The penultimate day of July was rather hot in the Willamette Valley Oregon RainForest. It's a good excuse for a hop to Manzinata on the coast.

Left: Haystack rock near Cannon Beach. (Click on framed pics for larger)
Low clouds hovered near 3S7. It didn't look too promising. A closer look showed the bay was clear.
The clouds were not all that thick. And, there are no tall towers stuck in the bay.

Note the bench and two walkers to the right of the landing zone, visible in the full size picture.

By the time we returned from lunch in Manzinita S36 was clear. To the north, low clouds had moved in to Astoria and Seaside.

Left: clouds spilling over Angora Peak San Francisco style.
Right: The clouds dried out a few miles inland. illsboro was hot.

Aug 25th I went up for night currency. I had planned three landings, but a 172 from Hillsboro Aviation prevented me from executing a short approach by flying a large pattern more appropriate for a Learjet than a single engine spam can.

Left: Landing+Taxi light shining on the pavement.

September 7 the rains came back. A shower is visible west of the Flying M Ranch.

Sep 9th afforded a good opportunity to shoot some approaches for IFR currency.

Left: Runway peekaboo on ADF approach.
Left: Going missed on a practice ILS approach.

The flight was fairly smooth even with the clouds and misting.
Indian Summer.

The Oregon coast next to Nehalem Bay, just south of Manzanita.