After my check ride everyone asked me what I planned to do next.

I had lunch.

From the comfort of Eddie's Restaurant I watched students bouncing and hopping down the runway as they learned how to land. Been there, done that. And so it begins....

Thursday the 16th I flew down the Columbia and up the Washington coast to Hoquiam. As usual, the clouds were low enough to keep me from flying as high as I would have liked. Here Romeo, complete with wheel pants, is parked at Hoquiam. Gray's Harbor and nautical navigation aids can be seen in the background.

I had lunch at Lana's Airport Cafe. Lana's is a Fifties' style diner whose owner must be a Betty Boop fan. (Wasn't Betty Boop a 30's thing?)

On the way back I landed at Seaside (56S), a quaint little strip adjacent to a trailer park and cement plant. From there I followed Sunset Highway back home. I wanted to see what following a highway through the mountains was like. When I reached the valley I flew by Forest Grove to avoid the HIO ILS approach.

By Friday the ceiling had risen considerably. I flew to Bend and back. The scenery was impressive, but good forced landing sites were not in abundance.

I had planned to have a $100 hamburger in Bend but wasn't hungry when I arrived. Perhaps this gorgeous cat could have helped with the leftovers. This picture doesn't do her justice.

Perhaps you've read stories about pilots landing at the wrong airport. In this case I had planned the flight to the wrong airport. When I arrived there I wasn't hungry. I didn't inquire about local restaurants at the airport, and didn't realize my mistake until after I returned home. I had Sunriver (S21) in mind, not Bend Muni (S07). The $100 Hamburger of Oregon gave the destination as "Bend, OR (Sunriver - S21)". Some time later, when I planned the flight, I remembered the Bend part but not Sunriver, which is 17 miles from Bend.

But at least I landed at the airport I filed for.

Nearby sat a 1951 Cessna 195 "Businessliner" in considerable pain from an April Fool's day accident. The CFI and his student were not injured. According to the CFI, the student, a private pilot who had recently purchased the aircraft, started drifting toward the right edge of the runway during the landing roll. When it looked like the student might soon lose control, the instructor took control and applied hard braking and almost full left rudder. At that point the left main gear leg fractured just below where it protrudes from the gear leg attach box. Note the crinkled skin near the missing left landing gear. Its engine will have to be torn down and inspected. The prop is history.

A 195 pilot from Independence Oregon said the accident was caused by a metallurgical failure of the landing gear. He suggested gear that old landing gear be re-annealed before it breaks.

Perhaps you've heard the old saw: There are two kinds of tailwheel pilots, those who have ground looped, and those who will. And then there are those who have it done to them. By May 2001 the plane was rebuilt and almost ready to fly with fresh landing gear legs.

The Grants Pass airport is quiet compared to Hillsboro, let alone Boeing Field. It was so quiet I could hear a raven in the distance. It was so quiet some pilots felt no need to announce their intentions on the radio. I double checked my own radio to make sure it was tuned to the correct frequency.

Some planes pack a sting. Others taxi anywhere.

I visited Chief's Aircraft at the airport to buy a Dahon folding bicycle. It took two salesmen, the receptionist, and me fifteen minutes to get it into its carrying bag. This 16 inch folds up to fit in Romeo's baggage compartment. It takes a while getting used to this bike if you are used to full size bikes.

Later I took the bike to a nearby parking lot to build up some proficiency. Riding the bike over its likely gross weight reminded me of taxiing planes with tired nose struts. The twitchy steering reminded me of some planes' high speed ground handling. Steering the bike along a yellow line or between two obstacles reminded me of landing on runways narrower than the wingspan. I lost power when I bumped the gearshift. I had control failure when the brake cable fell out the the left brake grip. I wanted to slow down by reversing the pedals instead of using the hand grips; the last time I rode a bike with a Bendix brake was 30 years go. Funny how learning to fly changes the way one looks at familiar situations.

In the meantime, three flights to the coast kept Romeo's engine from rusting out. I like to plan each flight to visit someplace new. Saturday May 2 I decided to fly to Tillamook (S47) to visit the museum there. Ceilings were too low for a direct VFR flight, so I flew down the Columbia to Astoria and then down the coast. Ten miles south of Seaside my way was blocked by low clouds. I could hear pilots at Tillamook talking but I couldn't join them. I was disappointed. I retraced my flight path back to HIO.

Monday May 4 I flew down to Independence Oregon (7S5) for another $100 hamburger. I also planned to track an ADF outbound, something I've done many times on the computer but never in a real airplane. As I approached the station, the ceiling was too low for me to overfly it comfortably. The station is only a few miles from the airport, and intercepting the outbound radial would have required too much looking at instruments instead of watching for traffic. Some pilots flying out of 7S5 do not announce their whereabouts on the traffic frequency, so watchful paranoia is the order of the day.

Annie's at the Airport Restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch weekdays. I had a Mexican hamburger, an interesting combination of hamburger meat and south of the border condiments. Annie's has picnic tables that provide a better view of the airport activity.

On the flight back I briefly checked the autopilot coupling to the navigation electronics. A serious checkout will require a longer flight and higher ceilings. I flew around some of the hills because, once again, the ceiling was too low to fly directly over them.

The next few weeks saw relatively little flying thanks to rotten weather. I did get in a flight to Albany (S12) and Salem (SLE) when clouds lifted a bit. Albany sports an excellent Chinese restaurant whose parking lot accommodates cars in one end and airplanes in the other. Roscoe's Landing at SLE features a glorious view of the airport and dynamite submarine sandwiches in addition to the usual fare.

On the way to Salem I used the ABATE NDB 7 miles northwest of the Hillsboro Airport to navigate to the Flying M Ranch (OR05) using Romeo's ADF (Automatic Direction Finder). Flying M is 21 miles from ABATE. Navigating outbound from the radio transmitter with an ADF is more difficult than using GPS, Loran, or VORs because the ADF does not compensate for wind drift. I flew almost directly over the airstrip, but that was partly the result of two errors I made which canceled each other out. I took several pictures of this infamous airstrip, but turbulence ruined all but one. I think I need a heavier camera.

The weather cleared up Wednesday afternoon. I've learned it is unwise for Oregonians to stay on the ground when the weather clears. Thursday I flew down Highway 6 to Tillamook County Airport (S47). The blimp hangar at Tillamook Naval Air Station, is the largest wooden structure in the country. One of two blimp hangars burned down, the remaining one is a museum. Every airport should have a prominent landmark such as this. In 1950 an AT6 was flown through the hangar, possibly inspiring the James Bond movie stunt.

Among the many planes at the Museum are a Guppy (Boeing Stratocruiser enlarged to carry missile parts), DC-3, Catalina, P-51, B-25, B-26, F4U Corsair, F-14, Spitfire, Messershmidt 109, and the Bellanca monoplane that inspired Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis. This place deserves a return trip with my SLR camera and lenses.

Even a real blimp is lost inside the cavernous hangar. This one ought to be good for some UFO reports when it flies at night with its insides lit up.

Romeo at Tillamook N.A.S. about to be beamed up by the Mother Ship.

On the way back I swung by Astoria to check out the "Mighty Mo" docked there on its way to Hawaii. The Battleship Missouri is the dark shape in the middle of the north side of the peninsula, west of the high bridge span.

My knee bothered me several years after I banged it on a bulkhead while touring the New Jersey, so 4500 feet was as close as I needed to get to the Missouri.

Astoria Regional Airport (AST) is visible at lower left. Notice how easy it is to spot the airport when you're above it instead of approaching for a landing.

I had planned a trip to Santa Maria California the next day, but Raindance said NO. Instead I flew to Goldendale Washington (S20) hoping to see stars against a clear, dark sky that night. But this is the Pacific Northwest, and only too often "there's moisture in 'dem 'dar skies" that Raindance doesn't know about. Such was the case Saturday night at Goldendale as the picture shows. (That's Mt. Adams in the distance.) Soon after Goldendale's runway lights switched on for the night I took off for Hillsboro. It was a beautiful flight back with ATC Flight Following to keep me company. I touched down at HIO just as the tower was closing for the night.

To legally and safely carry passengers at night, a pilot must have made 3 night landings in the same type of aircraft in the last 90 days. This was my first night landing in 4 months. This was my first night landing ever in a Skylane. I took my time touching down gently. There was plenty of runway available and I used some of it.

This time over I maintained contact with the highway just in case TCM decided to make me a glider pilot. A highway is not a great place for a forced landing, but forests and stump fields are worse. If there is a cleared area nearby, chances are it's next to the highway.

Sunriver has an elevation of 4159 feet. This more than doubles the sea level takeoff roll. With 5500 feet of runway, Romeo's performance was not a problem, but the higher liftoff speed caused more wheel shimmy than I'm used to. Next time I'll use flaps for takeoff at higher density altitudes even if they are not needed to get off the ground.

On the way back to Hillsboro I flew at 10,500 feet. I started the descent to Hillsboro's 1200 foot pattern altitude a long way out, about 40 miles indicated on Romeo's II Morrow Apollo 2001 GPS.

During the descent, the hills didn't seem to be in the right place. This was the first time I'd approached Hillsboro from this direction at this high an altitude. The Newberg VOR indicated I was northeast of it, suggesting I was much closer to HIO than the GPS claimed. The bearing on the ADF agreed with the bearing reported by the GPS. While I was puzzling about all this, with the GPS reading a dozen or so miles to go, I spotted an airport just a few miles ahead. According to the GPS it should have been McMinnville (MMV), but McMinnville should have been way off to my left. Besides, the airport ahead of me didn't look like McMinnville. Lo and behold, it was Hillsboro. I've never seen Hillsboro Airport from this angle!

The GPS was off by ten miles. I set the Loran to HIO and the Loran confirmed what my eyes showed me. I was not amused. With full left rudder I side slipped down at 2000 feet per minute while keeping the engine at the bottom of the green arc. Near pattern altitude I slowed down and let Romeo's barn door flaps do the rest. Shortly before landing the idiot GPS corrected itself. Earlier that day a pilot flying over Arkansas noticed both his Garmin panel mount and his Lowrance Airmap were off by some 15 miles until each independently "corrected" itself within about 4-5 seconds of each other. In each case no signal loss was flagged; GPS simply lied. With three different manufacturers' software experiencing similar errors, I think there was a systemic problem with the GPS system itself. Suspicion attaches itself to the the Selective Availability (SA) system, pseudo random navigational errors introduced by the military to prevent alien powers from using GPS for munitions guidance. SA does not specify an upper limit to the position errors it imposes on civilian users.

And we're supposed to make GPS the primary nav system in a few years???

Fans of pilotage and ded reckoning might enjoy this teeshirt graphic for retro pilots.

A goldmine of politically incorrect information on GPS, Glonass, and Loran may be found at Keith's web site.

TAF KPDX 011759Z 011818 35006KT P6SM SCT015 SCT250
     FM2000 34008KT P6SM SKC BECMG 0507 33005KT
     FM1000 33005KT P6SM SCT015 TEMPO 1012 BKN015
     FM1200 VRB03KT P6SM OVC015
     FM1700 VRB03KT P6SM BKN015

Imperfect as the VOR system is, it is reliable and robust when used properly. (Not everyone agrees with this thought!) Because VOR signals aren't weakened by a trip from outer space, a lab experiment tuned to the wrong frequency won't wipe out navigation over a large area.

I was able to verify that either VOR receiver could drive the autopilot. George is no longer lonesome. But now the primary VOR needle sticks.

On the way back I encountered a cloud deck between The Dalles and Portland. Somebody forgot to tell Thor the sky was supposed to be clear. Portland airport was reporting scattered clouds. ("Scattered" means clouds cover less than half the sky.) But the clouds below me were almost completely overcast. I was about to fly back to the clear sky behind me when ATC passed along a pilot report of clear sky northwest of Portland. I could see that area, but from my angle and distance couldn't be sure that it was clear. (From a distance the thickness of the clouds makes it impossible to see holes in the cloud deck unless the clouds are extremely thin, which is rarely the case.) I ducked under the coulds near Longview, easy as pie.

One of the area's attractions is Salishan Lodge. Salishan is a world class operation with classical background music and a free shuttle to the airstrip. I asked for crispy fries with the halibut fish and chips and for once the fries were nice and crispy. The blueberry pie with Tillamook Ice Cream was definitely worth the carbohydrate grams. In my opinion Salishan rates a 5 on the $100 Hamburger web site.

This picture of Siletz Bay was taken on the return flight near sundown.