Not long after I got my IFR ticket the weather cleared up.

The next serious cross country was to the Northwest Fly-In at Arlington. The weather forecasts the night before called for low clouds and IFR conditions. I reviewed the flight logs from my student IFR jaunt to Arlington. The forecasts suggested this flight would be in actual. The closest civilian airport that had forecast weather suitable for filing as an alternate was Yakima, on the other side of the Cascades.

I decided to wait for the morning's reports before completing flight planning. Saturday dawned and the sky above was clear. A layer of fog covered valleys and bodies of water. I landed at Arlington shortly before the 8 AM opening of the temporary approach and control tower.

This year my feet were not getting along with a new pair of shoes. The sessions I wanted to see were mostly on Saturday, so I decided to fly back after the Saturday airshow. I took this picture as I departed for the south. Many of the fly-ins had departed before this picture was taken.

Last year's Oshkosh was so much fun I decided to attend this year's edition. This year I flew parts of the journey IFR. A thin layer of clouds overlaid much of the route, and I was IFR on top all the way from Hillsboro to Havre Montana (HVR). I only logged about 12 minutes of actual. I flew this segment sucking oxygen at 17000 feet.

I had filed for Cut Bank. As I crossed the Rockies I decided safety and economy would be best served by delaying my descent from 17000 until I was completely clear of the Rockies.

I received another weather briefing at Havre (pronounced "have her"). The briefing warned of thunderstorms to the east of Williston, so I filed to Williston. On the way I passed the longest runway in Montana. It's as wide as the Shuttle landing facility at Cape Canaveral, and almost as long. The photo above was hacked together from two shots to get all of this enormous runway into one picture. At 13500 x 300 Glasgow Industrial (GSG) is an ideal emergency landing site. If your GPS doesn't know about GSG I'd suggest keeping a sectional in the cockpit.

Heated hangars are available at Williston ND (ISN) for $30 per month. I pay more than that for an outside tiedown at Hillsboro. The weather at Williston was clear, and another briefing suggested I could make Fargo without difficulty. I overnighted at Fargo with a high school classmate.

The next morning I filed an IFR flight plan to Madison Wisconsin (MSN). The flight was mostly IFR on top. Over eastern Minnesota Minneapolis center confirmed that the autopilot does not track VORs satisfactorily.

I expected to shoot an IFR approach into Madison. I was looking forward to my first solo IFR approach to a strange airport. I pulled out the plate (actually a sheet of newsprint) for the ILS approach. As the flight progressed the weather at MSN improved and I pulled out the VOR approach instead. By the time I got to Madison, Truax Field (now called Dane County Regional) was VFR and I made a visual approach over Lake Mendota.

Next time I won't pull the plate until I'm closer to the destination. (Pulling the plate from an NOS set entails ripping it out of the binder.)

I spent the night at my sister's bed and breakfast in Madison. Some of her family dropped over to eat pizza and light off fireworks left over from the 4th of July. The fireworks and sparklers energized the lightning bugs.

Tuesday I flew the short hop to Oshkosh. This time the approach and landing were relatively uneventful. I was herded to a row of airplanes parked almost wingtip to wingtip, and then interleaved. There wasn't enough room to pitch my tent without bumping into an adjacent plane. In the process my air mattress received a mortal wound and would not inflate. Strangely enough, most rows did not have planes parked head to tail.

This is the first time I used my Dahon folding bike to actually go somewhere. The 16 inch wheels and small handlebars make for very sensitive steering. It takes a while to get used to. Previous excursions on this bike had been limited to a local grocery store parking lot. I pedaled a mile to the Piggly Wiggly store west of the airport. The store had no bike rack but I was able to take the bike in with me. Riding the bike sure beats walking in the oppressive heat. It doesn't take much more effort to pedal than walk, and the resulting flow of air more than makes up for the extra exertion. By the time I returned from Piggly Wiggly I had gained some proficiency with the bike's steering.

The luggage rack held a 12-pack of pop and three bags of ice on the return trip. If I had stayed the week I could have saved enough money by foraging off the airport for cheap supplies to offset a good chunk of the bike's price. If I win this year's AOPA prize "Aero SUV" I'll trade up to a full size folding bike.

A number of factors combined to make this stay at Oshkosh a short one. Number one was the killer heat wave gripping the midwest. That afternoon was unbearably hot and the forecast for the rest of the week called for worse. I could tell this was not going to be agreeable.

In addition, the EAA changed the rules for this year. Last year, one could take out a number of parking places. This allowed an ad hoc reservation system where the first of a group to arrive could arrange a mini-campsite. This is no longer allowed. The reliever airport doesn't advertise camping support facilities, and the shuttle to Oshkosh is neither fast nor cheap. For someone who flies a long way to Oshkosh just to find he can't camp as planned, this is not good. In addition to the changed rules, the parking area I was assigned to had a serious lack of porta-potties. Last year I never had to wait for one in the camping area; this year I usually did. But it is funny to see a grown man dance. Let's hope the EAA changes the rules again, until they get them right.

After more weather briefings, I planned and filed an IFR flight plan to Moline IL. My real destination was Kirksville MO (IRK), but Four Lakes Aviation in Madison didn't have the required charts and plates to get all the way to Kirksville IFR. My plan was to land at Moline and pick up the charts for the adjacent sector.

I took off and flew at the prescribed low altitude under the Ripon-Oshkosh approach area. There aren't many places where one can legally buzz along at 500' AGL. Near Juneau I was able to pick up my filed flight plan and proceeded to Rockford, Dubuque, Davenport, and Moline.

As I approached Moline, Burlington reported VFR, so I changed my destination to Burlington, Iowa. Near Burlington I was advised that Kirksville was VFR, so I changed destination again, and landed visually.

Over the last three days I had flown 10 hours on IFR flight plans but only 12 minutes or so were in IMC.

Northeast Missouri was also in the grip of the midwest heat wave, but the humidity was less and the air conditioning at my sister's was functional.

Friday I flew back to Hillsboro with stops at Newcastle, Wyoming and Helena, Montana. The flight from Kirksville overflew Omaha and Lincoln Nebraska. Flight watch suggested I detour to the left to avoid thunderstorms. This took me over Broken Bow Nebraska, then direct to Newcastle.

There was a reason to stop at Newcastle other than a place to refuel. Devil's Tower is about 40 miles on a course of 320 from Newcastle. Devil's tower is the strange looking hill where the Mother Ship came to greet our scientests and take Richard Dreyfus on an interplanetary joy ride. I spotted its unique shape almost as soon as I took off. I circled Devil's Tower and shot an entire roll to get a few good pictures between air pockets. There was no sign of alien visitation. The 1267 foot high "tower" itself is a bit alien. John tells me he has seen much larger ones in SE Asia. (Do a Lycos search on Devils Tower)

After Devil's Tower, I flew to Billings, Livingston, and Bozeman before deciding to put down at Helena. Duing this time I changed my mind a few times about where to land. I got fuel, dinner, and another briefing at Helena.

As planned, I ran out of mountains and sunshine shortly after crossing the northern Rockies. I could see Mt. Hood and a few other mountains for a while longer.

I picked up flight following for the rest of the flight. Until I was handed off to Portland Approach, things were so quiet I began to wonder if I had lost radio contact.

Anytime one is flying, any unexpected change in the ambient noise arouses intense interest. When friendly forced landing sites are not in view, any change in sound calls for immediate investigation. When the sound of hissing air suddenly changed during steady and level flight, I was, as Ross Perot might say, "all ears." It might just be a prelude to "silence". I discovered the source of the new sound after several seconds of looking around. An air vent had popped open.

I arrived at Hillsboro two hours after dark.

The details of the flight are recounted in a different frame (q.v.). Between headwinds and IFR rerouting, the total flight time was 5.5 hours, 10.3 GPH, 125 kt cruise airspeed. On this flight I made my first solo instrument approach that I had not previously flown with my instructor. On the way back Friday I flew VFR. Final altitude was 12500 where I picked up a wimpy tailwind. Flight time 4.5 hours, 10 GPH.

By Labor Day weekend I again felt the need for flight. A swap meet at Cave Junction drew me to the southern end of the state. On the way I stopped at Medford to see what the airport looked like. On the way down I experimented with the autopilot coupling to the GPS. Even in the more sensitive approach mode the autopilot was unable to hold course and avoid a mountain without manual intervention.

Medford has its own airport radar, something the much busier Hillsboro airport lacks. I am still not used to having a tower controller who can see me on radar. I am certainly not used to being seen on radar in a facility that has so little traffic the controller had no need to assign me a squawk code.

Forest Service water bombers were working out of Medford. I saw a converted P-3 Orion (4 engine turboprop) and a twin engine bomber, possibly a B-26. I stopped at Jet Center just to see what it was like. It is actually a rather nice FBO, with many amenities including free popcorn and Kodak film.

From Medford to Cave Junction I roughly followed Highways 99 and 199 to avoid climbing higher than necessary. The Illinois Valley airport just south of Cave Junction sports a mixture of warbirds, ultralights, homebuilts, and spam cans. The flying characteristics of ultralight aircraft are distinctly different from what I am used to seeing; sometimes as I watch them doing their maneuvers I wonder if I'll have to witness another ultralight crash.

The swap meet was low key and friendly. I picked up a mated pair of aircraft microphone connectors for $1.00. The most interesting widget at the swap meet was an antique fisherman's Loran receiver that looked like a Citizen's Band handy talkie with an LCD display. The owner wasn't handy and nobody at the table knew how to work it. It did not have a price tag on it.

I had originally planned on refueling at Gold Beach on the coast, another 50 miles and two landings away. Contrary to the Jeppesen information in the Flitesoft database, fuel was available at Cave Junction. The price was reasonable, and with full tanks I wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of the coast being fogged in requiring me to backtrack.

The next stop was Brookings State, at the southwest corner of the state, near the mouth of the Chetco River. The airport is on a small mesa 450 feet above the beach 1 mile distant. Approaching the airport I decided I did not wish to contemplate any possibility of undershooting the runway and impacting the edge of the mesa. I aimed for a point a few hundred feet down the runway instead of the numbers. Above: getting ready to take off to the south.

The next stop was Gold Beach. I flew up the coast at 2000 feet, just high enough to keep from bothering the wildlife. There were plenty of wet sandy beaches suitable for a forced landing should the need arise. On the way a Commander 114 passed a few hundred feet above me. I was loafing along at 22 squared (22 inches MP and 2200 RPM), a mere 63% power. By the time she reached Gold Beach she was almost out of sight. She overflew the airport and entered a very wide pattern. She lost sight of me and I nearly lost sight of her. As she came around I decided to duck way down to stay out of her way as she maneuvered for a very wide 45 degree entry to downwind. I suspect Learjets have flown tighter patterns.

The last stop was Cape Blanco, where a small fly-in was in progress. A low marine layer of clouds hugged the coastline near Cape Blanco. I called Cape Blanco unicom and asked if the airport was VFR. It was.

It is only 21 miles from Brookings to Gold Beach, and another 27 miles (nautical) to Cape Blanco. There wasn't much wind at Brookings, just enough to encourage me to take off into the wind instead of downwind. There was more wind at Gold beach, but nothing interesting. On base to Cape Blanco I realized I was setting up for an interesting landing. At 21 knots gusting to 23 the wind wasn't as stiff as I encountered on last summer's foray to North Bend, but the tall trees surrounding the airport churned the wind into a patchwork of invisible eddys. I fenced the churning fluid with pedals, yoke and throttle. A deadstick landing under these conditions would have been a character building experience. The cool sea breeze was a welcome break from the valley heat, even if it meant some exercise of the control surfaces was necessary for landing.

For me, the high point of the fly-in was the chance to hear an old air force pilot recount his experiences flying the Berlin Airlift and B-47s. With plenty of hours but virtually no twin engine time, he was pressed into flying C-54s (military DC-4) in the airlift after a rushed 10 hour check out (plus ground school).

Flying the airlift was extraordinary. An airplane took off every 180 seconds regardless of weather. Pilots were given a weather briefing, then flew two flights in quick succession. After a while there didn't seem to be any point to the weather briefing, they had to fly anyway, regardless of the weather. Pilots had to fly down narrow corridors to Berlin and back. They could not deviate even when thunderstorms were directly in their path. They worshiped the ground control approach (GCA) radar operators to whom they trusted their lives.

Later he piloted B-47s. The only navaids available to the pilot were a 4 channel VHF COMM transceiver and a tuneable low frequency receiver. (The navigator could shoot stars with a sextant.) One time when he was in the clag navigating with the LF receiver, a lady was giving weather reports on the beacon. Her voice disrupted his navigation readout. He couldn't get her to shut up.

His only FAA violation came when his B-47 lost pressurization at 40000 feet. He donned his oxygen mask and made an emergency descent with two unconscious crew members before calling Oakland Center. Rule 1: Fly the plane. Rule 2: Follow Rule 1. The FAA violated him anyway.

As we talked I described the gyrations of planes taking off and some passing low clouds. He quit flying a decade ago when his eyesight faded.

On the return to Hillsboro I flew up the coast, past Newport (peeking through a low broken layer) and up the Salmon River Highway. This route allows easy daytime passage between the coast and the Willamette Valley without climbing above 2000 feet.

Sunday morning I made my quasi-weekly flight to Flying M Ranch. This time there was a headwind on final approach, which disappeared just short of the threshold. It created a bodacious sink that required a blast of power to correct. I figured the resulting speed excursion would require much of the available runway to stop, but light braking was all I needed to make my usual parking spot. I've observed a brisk headwind at 20-50 feet when the wind at shoulder height was nearly calm, so I should have not been surprised. After breakfast I waited for break in the wind before takeoff.

6S4 Gates: Davis June a year ago I overflew this strip, shown above. What a difference a few months (plus a year) makes! From the ground it was difficult to determine the boundaries of the runway.

8S3 Santiam Junction The mountain pass and a hill just off the approach end of the runway conspired to tunnel the wind into something I didn't care to mess with Saturday.

6K5 Sisters - Eagle This tidy 3500' asphalt strip on the east foothills of the Cascades has a tremendous view to the south.

5S5 Culver: Lake Billy A low budget airpark? A number of trailer homes are adjacent to the strip. The strip was liberally populated with potholes and rocks. This is a good place to practice your soft field technique to keep the nosewheel out of harm's way. If you don't get roughed up on landing you'll get another chance on takeoff. The Deschutes River and its canyon made for an interesting climb-out.

S33 Madras: City-County From the air this reminds me of a piano.
RDM Redmond: Roberts Field I tried to buy a bag of ice here but the lineman wouldn't accept my money, he gave it to me for free.
5J0 John Day This airport is situated on the high ground above the town of John Day.
OG14 Seneca: Ponderosa No this is not the Ponderosa Ranch of TV fame. There wasn't much of anything nearby.
BNO Burns Muni If you like a little sulfur in your water, this is the place to go. I received a cash discount on my fill-up.
26U McDermitt State There is hardly anything at this strip. Some buildings are nearby.

REO Rome State Smoke from a distant fire can be seen in the sunset. There was no visible light pollution anywhere in the sky except for a possible hint of glow from Boise, 100 miles away. As far as I can tell, the only reason this 6000 foot strip was put in was to allow easy access to the adjacent VOR. Otherwise there was no sign of civilization within sight or earshot except for a nearby highway. I could hear trucks approaching for many miles. Otherwise all I heard was my slight tinnitus and a few conversations among coyotes. I did see a pair of rabbits in the bushes alongside the strip near sunset.

The only convenience is a soft gravel parking area just big enough for two small planes.

My cell phone did not work here. I fired up the HF radio and scanned 75 meters for the strongest signal. I raised AB7YB in Princeton, Idaho, 300 miles distant. She graciously relayed a message for me.
S49 Vale: Miller Memorial A gravel strip with a collection of working class aircraft.
ONO Ontario N2468R, the plane that was built just before mine, the plane that stumped Hillsboro Tower, is based here. The FBO owner has a collection of jet fighters, and is working on a supersonic Mig-23 "Flogger". Business must be good.
BKE Baker City
LGD La Grande
Left: plant in Eastern Oregon
PDT Pendleton
HRI Hermiston Muni Flying from Ontario to Boardman (and the stops in between) was primarily IFR - the Interstate in this case (IFR = I Follow Roads). Maybe next time IFR might mean I Follow Rivers.
OR33 Boardman The restricted areas around Boardman were thankfully cold this Sunday. I wish my Apollo 2001 and Arnav R30A knew that. I pushed enough buttons to make the GPS and Loran stop blinking to launch a Space Shuttle. By the time I got to Boardman there was a healthy crosswind coming off the Columbia. South of Boardman I flew over some sort of electromagnetic test facility. Click here to see the entire picture. I suppose anyone could land there. Once.
9S9 Lexington
3S9 Condon State It's hard to say "Condon State" and not have it sound like "condensate".
35S Wasco State Wasco State Airport was not in my Apollo 2001 database. Hmmmm ... it's a public airport, not a private strip. It's in the A/FD after all. It should have been in the database. If I had had to push ... the button Wasco State should have come up!

Oh well, I can read a map. Just follow the road from Condon to Wasco. I started following a fairly substantial looking road but it ended in a ranch not far from Condon. The sectional showed only one road in the area, and this wasn't it.

The sectional shows the John Day River, then a power line, then an elevator, and Wasco State beyond that. Right. Cross the river, pick up the transmission line, and follow it to an elevator. I spot a transmission line and an elevator but no sign of Wasco State. Elevators everywhere.

I had written the coordinates for Wasco State on my notepad just in case I needed them. My lat/lon showed me I was south and west of Wasco. I turned to the northeast and resumed Airport Search Mode. Soon I spotted something that looked like the airport drawing in the Flight Guide. I made an uphill landing into a breezy headwind. A number of cropdusters were parked at the airport. The wind was breezy enough I decided to take off uphill into the east wind. (The last several hundred feet are level.)

I joined the Columbia River for the flight back to Hillsboro. I announced my transit of The Dalles on the CTAF, then climbed to 4500 to pick up the Gorge Wind. I was getting a ground speed of 150 knots on 22 squared.

I didn't feel like getting vectored off my course by Portland Approach, so I double checked the altimeter with PDX ATIS and then flew 500 feet above the boundary of PDX Class C airspace lurking on the PDX approach frequency.

I started letting down as soon as I passed the West hills. Because I was only at 4500 feet I was able to get down to pattern altitude for Hillsboro without a slam dunk shock cooling descent.

The East wind was 17 knots gusting to 21 knots (25 mph). As I descended thru the leeward of the West Hills the ride became decidedly bumpy. The direct crosswind was gusting to a 14 mph component. It was an interesting landing.

Below: Near Kelso, looking west towards the coast during a late afternoon flight, Sep 29.

When I got N2469R the autopilot wouldn't couple to any of the navigation receivers. A chintzy cheap switch had been used in the initial autopilot installation. Over time the contacts bent under the strain of the wires, breaking the connection. Lonesome George in "69 Romeo" couldn't couple. My radio junkbox yielded a much sturdier replacement. The junkbox switch didn't cost me anything, but installing it certainly did.

When winter came George decided he was too cold blooded for Oregon winters. The radio shop sent the autopilot computer to S-Tec, but nothing was wrong with the electronics portion. Before returning the computer, S-Tec retweeked it so I can't see its indicator lights unless the radio lights are turned up. This has been an unwelcome nuisance.

Next the radio shop removed the roll servo motor unit and sent it to Texas for a rebuild. The way the servo is installed makes it difficult, time consuming and bloody expensive to get at. We started calling the servo motor "Tom Servo" after the character in "Mystery Science Theater".

The trials and tribulations of getting Tom Servo back into Romeo have been recounted before. In the intervening months it bacame apparent George wasn't quite what he used to be. It took a while for me to determine this because I hadn't that much experience with the autopilot before the servo was rebuilt to appreciate the subtle change in its operation. George had traded cold blood for laziness. In heading bug mode, George wasn't as lively as he used to be keeping the plane on course. When coupling to a nav receiver, George would let the CDI needle go to full deflection and still not generate a strong steering input.

It seemed as if the loop gain had been turned way down. When I started complaining about this, Hillsboro Aviation's first action was to recheck the autopilot computer. The computer checked out normally. After a conversation with S-Tec the radio shop checked the voltage output from the turn coordinator. Nothing was wrong with the turn coordinator. The next step was to check the start up voltage on the roll servo. Yes, Tom Servo, who had just been rebuilt by S-Tec themselves.

While checking voltages on the roll servo, Eric noticed it didn't take much force to overpower the autopilot. Just then a customer who had installed some autopilots on Skylanes happened by and recounted how the stall torque had to be increased on the roll servo to obtain proper operation. Soooo ... out comes the roll servo again.

It looks like the stall torque on the roll servo was set much too low. We don't know how much too low it was set because it wasn't measured before Hillsboro Aviation started tweeking it. After a few abortive attemps to measure the stall torque, we finally figured a way to set the stall torque to the value specified in the installation instructions. Eric wanted to set the stall torque somewhat higher than spec, but I suggested it would be wiser to use a value close to the factory spec. It certainly would have helped if the stall torque had been measured before adjusting it.

The radio shop was recently sold to Hillsboro Aviation Inc (HAI). HAI decided that their aircraft would have absolute priority over customers' aircraft, regardless of previous commitments or who came first. My airplane spent a week in the shop waiting to be finished while HAI cut in line with new work orders for their planes. I missed a number of flights. Once I had to spend an entire afternoon driving to and from a meeting I otherwise would have flown to in a half hour. It seemed the only way I could get work done on my plane was to hang around and supervise the time allotment myself. During the roll servo reinstallation it became apparent the installation did not agree with the S-Tec drawing. We never did determine the cause of this discrepancy.

Finally everything was back together and I was able to test the autopilot. It seems to have more authority now. I flew several course segments and this time George generally kept the VOR CDI centered within a dot. I made several approaches to the Newberg VOR, flying at 2900 feet, listening to Hillsboro Tower and Portland Approach, and carefully watching for traffic converging on the VOR. Each time George got me almost directly over the VOR in either NAV or the more sensitive APR mode. I also made two "GPS approaches" to the Flying M Ranch, and each time George got me fairly close to the strip before I changed course back to the VOR. As I approached the VOR for the last time, I decided to fly outbound on the 346 radial to see how well the autopilot could fly the HIO VOR approach. I set the course selector (OBS) and manually banked the aircraft to intercept the radial outbound to the airport. I also advised Hillsboro Tower I would be overflying the airport at 2900 feet. This was a courtesy call as I was 200 feet above Hillsboro's Class D air space.

When flying the HIO VOR approach, one normally gets established on the 346 course long before reaching the VOR. Since I was VFR and had the airport in sight, I took a short cut. In my haste I entered the wrong course in the OBS. The probability of making this error was enhanced by the false panel covering up the numbers on the top of the OBS dial. With the wrong course dialed in, the CDI simply refused to stay centered when the plane was pointed towards the airport. After the second try I spotted the error. If it has been an actual approach I hopefully would have been more careful entering the course. If not, I would have noticed the discrepancy before reaching the VOR.

By time I had identified the mistake I was far enough away from the VOR that I didn't feel like repeating the exercise. I called up Portland Approach (whom I had been monitoring much of the flight anyway) to shoot the ILS into Hillsboro. A few vectors later I let George take the wheel while I casually captured the glide slope. George kept the CDI centered within one dot, and I kept the glideslope within one dot without really trying.

The tower advised me to report 3 miles out. Shortly before reaching the 3 mile point Tower asks for my position. I give another report at 2 miles but get no instructions. I'm expecting to circle to the opposite runway and am not yet configured for landing. The runway is getting closer. The approach is still on the beam. Finally I get the order to circle to the south, as I expected. I'd flown the approach down to several hundred feet. My eyes were definitely out of the cockpit watching the traffic.

I don't plan on flying coupled approaches, but it's nice to know the capability is there in case I need it.

This was not an IFR approach. I have read some suggestions that it is better to fly an ILS approach faster than the nominal 70-90 knots even when there isn't a turbine on your tail. With a bugsmasher one can cut power at the 200' Decision Height, bleed off the speed, drop the flaps, and still use only a portion of the available runway. The faster you fly down the ILS the better your chances of making the airport if the engine quits. I could scream down the Hillsboro ILS in my Skylane within a few knots of red line without incurring higher published minima.

Meyer Riverside Airpark Airport 5S3

The 1585 foot turf runway climbs up the side of a hill. With just a lone airplane and windsock, and no obvious hangars, it is difficult to identify the airstrip from a distance. Forget about dialing it up on your GPS, it's a private strip. I calculated it was about 7 miles from the Newberg VOR on the 045 radial. I dialed 045 on the OBS and intercepted the course several miles southwest of the VOR. I called Meyers Unicom for an airport advisory, but of course there was nobody to answer. This is not a high use airport.

Outbound from the VOR I spotted a number of possible airstrips but none had a windsock, hanagers, or airplanes parked nearby. Just long driveways. As I approached the 7 mile point I spotted an airsock and a parked airplane. I'd found it!

But life was not so simple. I announced and joined the downwind. When I turned final I lost the airstrip. I flew back and picked it up again. This time I was more careful with the available landmarks and was rewarded with the sight of the airstrip painted on the side of a hill directly ahead. A slight groove had been cut in the forest south of the strip to give pilots a bit more room to land and take off without scraping their belly with pine needles.

The slope of the runway required a more pronounced flare than usual. The landing was a bit firm, and Romeo's spring steel landing gear rewarded me with a slight bounce. About two thirds of the way up the 1585 foot strip a drivway crosses the strip. With help from the incline I got Romeo stopped well short of that driveway without difficulty. I taxiied off the "active", shut down, and started wandering around the airpark. One advantage of a short strip - it doesn't take long to walk to the other end.

I had wished to drop in and say "hi" to Mrs. Meyer, but I had no idea which was her house. I came across a couple of teenagers who insisted they drive me to her house. They looked very young. I presume they were allowed to drive around the airpark as long as they stayed on private property. The airpark would be a swell place to raise kids. We didn't find Mrs. Meyer but the kinds didn't mind.

For takeoff one taxis up to the very top of the runway. A decision must be made how fast one wishes to cut across the driveway that separates the north 500 feet of the strip from the rest. Taxiing across the driveway makes the aircraft lurch, let alone take off speed. By design I had burned off most of Romeo's fuel so I would have plenty of performance for the takeoff. I decided to cross the driveway half-fast.

Shortly before I reached normal liftoff speed a rise in the runway lofted Romeo into the air. Taking off from a lumpy strip (turf usually, but sometimes paved as well) is a roller coaster event, but I wasn't expecting a ski jump. (Would you believe a small mogul?) I put the nose down to build up a little more speed in ground effect. The rest of the takeoff was uneventful, and I never did see any trees close up. Nonethless, it wouldn't be a good time to lose an engine.

Thursday I decided to take a few pictures of 5S3 and then practice some short approaches into Hillsboro. When I checked the right fuel bladder for fuel quality, the quick drain refused to close. All I could do with repeated jabs of the fuel tester was to reduce the flow to a fast drip. I taxiied over to Dirks' shop.

Fixing leaky quick drains is an art form. Dirk collected the tools and suited up. He wore surgical gloves to keep the fuel off his hands. Shop rag bracelets kept fuel from running down his arms. What appears to be a plastic rod in the picture at left is actually a stream of fuel pouring down the instant he removed the leaking quick drain. He is about to insert the plug he's holding in his left hand. The leak was caused by a staple that had come loose in the bladder.

Above: Cornelius Pass viewed from the South. Cornelius Pass lies just west of PDX Class C airspace, and is the lowest place in the West Hills to cross from the river to Hillsboro. Caddyshack (hidden behind trees) is indicated by the red rectangle.

Left: Steam plumes penetrate a ground fog layer. (Click on image for the real picture.) Indian Summer was still with us on October 24 when I flew up to Boeing Field for an AVSIG "gig" at the Museum of Flight. The flight was in doubt the night before. The weather forecast warned of icing at the altitudes I wanted to fly. But the sun made an appearance Sunday morning and there was no icing problem flying up to Seattle. I flew both directions on IFR flight plans to gain familiarity with operations in Seattle's Class B airspace. This time I didn't log any actual.

During my IFR training I din't get to watch much outside. I was either in the clouds or under the hood doing the drill. The training flights were chock full of procedures but little cruising. Now the situation is reversed, with realitively long periods with little to do but watch for traffic. Above: Ground fog