HOOD RIVER, OREGON FLY IN 2015 by Mike
Davenport
It was early, real early. 5 am and the Oregon sky still full
of stars but showing just a trace of light forming on the mountain tops to the
east. The wind had been gusting all night, causing the tent to flap and interrupt
my sleep.
A look at the large American flag on the north side of the
hangers showed it to be straight out in a steady westerly wind. That meant that
flying the gorge this morning would be a rough ride. I had planned to leave
around 11 so maybe it would calm down by then.
An hour later after a shower but no coffee as it was still
too early for the breakfast crew, it was daylight and that confirmed what I had
feared; the westerly winds had pushed in the marine air from around Portland
and had plugged the gorge from near the surface to about 4000 ft. OK, I’ve got
lots of time to wait for it to clear. Local pilots tell me that it should be
gone by 10 or 11, so I can probably leave then as planned.
Around 10:30, the clag in The Gorge had dissipated so I
called for a weather briefing. Portland was clear and 4000. The Seattle area to
the north was IFR but trending clearer as was most of the Puget Sound area. I
figure with an 11:00 departure and a fuel stop in Chehalis, my route east of
Seattle should be clear by 13:00.
11:10 and I’m just off runway 25 into a gusting 30 degree
left cross wind. A quick call on Unicom to say thanks for the great weekend and
I’m into the gorge.
It is rough from Hood River to well past Cascade Locks. The
“g” meter bounces between “O” and plus “2’ and I can smell fuel spilling from
what now are the too full tanks. Up until now, I thought there was no such
thing as having too much fuel. 3500 feet in the centre of the gorge, the ride
smooths out a bit but the ground speed varies between 69 and 90 mph, indicating
gusting head winds of 20 to 41 mph!
Once around the corner of the valley and headed north
towards Kelso, Washington, it is smooth flying all the way to Chehalis, my
planned lunch and fuel stop. Listening out on the Unicom tells me that 16 is
the active and I have a Cub ahead of me in the circuit and a Fairchild 24
behind me. I set up on downwind behind the Cub, staying wide to give her time
to get down as she is on a full stop landing. My God, Cubs are slow in the air
and even slower on the ground. So I over shoot as it was going to be too close
for comfort.
The next try got me down after a 2 bounce arrival. Hope no
one saw that.
Fuel and a quick lunch later, I’m back in the air heading
east and notice that the GPS, my ever faithful Garmin has not started up – no
satellites! Who knew? Well it eventually found enough of them to show me that I
really was headed the right way. I need to stay out of Seattle’s class B air
space as, after listening to Seattle Approach, I figure that they were way too
busy to deal with a VFR Stinson today. A quick call to Seattle Radio opened my
flight plan and generated the necessary transponder code for the border
crossing.
The visibility and ceilings were good from Chehalis to Thun
Field but started to drop by Crest Air Park.
North of Crest around the ridges at Issaquah, it hasn’t
cleared quite as I had hoped. Note to
self: “hope is not a plan”. So the further north I went, the lower the
clouds were and my comfortable 3500 ft. of altitude is slowly eroded to a
ceiling of about 1300. Still legal but not as comfortable. A check of the AWOS
frequencies at Arlington and Bayview shows 4,000 and 10 miles so decide to persevere.
Sure enough, I break out at Snohomish just as predicted. I climb back up to
3000 and once past Bayview, dial in the Abbotsford ATIS.
The wind is favouring 19 but it’s closed to landing aircraft
as the Air Cadets are using it for glider training. Landings are on 25 with a
gusting 30 degree left cross wind.
As I near the field I call in for landing expecting 25 as
noted but was told to extend my base leg to the north of the centerline for a
Convair on an instrument approach to 07. Hmm, downwind landings, OK for big
airplanes, I guess.
So I did as requested and then doglegged back to 25 with a
caution about turbulence from the Convair. After he departed, I touched down
well short of where he had departed, bounced again twice – this is getting to
be a habit – then got caught in a gust from the crosswind or turbulence from
the Convair or something. I swerved hard right, yoke back, so much pressure on
left rudder that my leg hurt for two days, swung equally hard to the left but
on one wheel, rolled the width of the runway. Thank goodness for the 200ft
width. No harm – no foul.
Cleared customs after a couple of aborted tries at dialing
the phone; something to do with shaky hands.
Departed Abbotsford for Langley and again executed my by now
“patented” two bounce landing with a complete lack of finesse. However, I did
succeed in getting the airplane back in the hanger in a useable state.
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| Stinson Inn - Home away from home |
Three days before, I had flown the reverse of that trip to
the annual Hood River Fly In at the WAAAM Museum[1] located at the Hood River
airport. If you care to look it up, the airport can been found on the Seattle
chart and the proper name is the Ken Jernstedt Airfield and the identifier is
4S2. Hood River is a sleepy little city on the Oregon side of the Columbia
River. It is noted for its vineyards, wineries and of course its access to the
Columbia River Gorge for the wind surfing.
The museum, in its 8th year of operation, has
hosted a fly in each fall providing camping for several hundred fly in
aircraft. This year a record 380 visiting aircraft were on site. While the museum’s
focus is on antiques, all are welcome with homebuilts, classics and warbirds all
vying for space on the manicured lawn. The overflow goes to a somewhat less
manicured and dustier area.
On site meals are provided by local service clubs. The Lion’s Club served a great pancake breakfast each day while the Awards Dinner was catered by the “West Side Volunteer Fire Department”. Several vendors also catered to pilots and looked after their aviation wants and needs. Spencer Aircraft of Puyallup, WA had a significant presence and display of parts and accessories. For the camper’s personal needs on field, showers and porta potties were provided. If you prefer a more luxurious accommodation than a tent, there are numerous, if somewhat pricey hotels and B & B’s nearby.
The entertainment on Friday night following the now traditional
spaghetti dinner, was a well-attended movie projected on the hanger doors. This
year’s choice was the eminently forgettable comedy, Those Magnificent Men in
their Flying Machines starring Robert Morley.
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| WAAAM's classic Taperwing Waco Mike Davenport Photo |
On Saturday, there was plenty to keep one amused. There were
book signings, gyrocopter and biplane rides, and seminars on fabric work, air
traffic control and pilot medicals and of course, touring the museum itself.
The largest hanger contains displays of aircraft, cars and trucks of all eras,
military vehicles and small arms and models of all of the above. The complete
front wall of Wally Olson’s hanger from the old Evergreen Airport[2] has been installed inside
as the entrance to one of the many display areas.
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| Grand Champion Antique & Peoples Choice 1930 Stearman Speedmail Jr. Tom Reeves Photo |
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On Saturday, the museum team of
aircraft judges circulated around the field of 380 aircraft, selecting the
winners of various classes to be awarded trophies at the dinner on Saturday
night. Biplanes took the majority of the awards with a Stearman E-75 winning
Best Warbird, a Waco INF Best Antique and another Waco winning Best Biplane,
this time a YQC-6.The Grand champion and The People’s Choice Award both went to
Ben Scott for his 1930 Stearman Speedmail Jr. Best Homebuilt went to a Carbon
Cub. My personal favourite, a Luscombe 8A won Best Classic.
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This Luscombe is owned by
Angelo Lombardo and is based at Fraser Lake Airpark, east of Monterey in
central California. This aircraft, purchased by Angelo in 1978 and completely
restored in 1990 has been lovingly maintained by him to show standards ever
since.
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Throughout the weekend, WAAAM had
130 hardworking volunteers doing all of the usual and necessary tasks to make
the fly in the success that it was. They were parking cars and airplanes,
cleaning showers, emptying garbage cans, setting up and tearing down fences,
hosting forums and guiding visitors through the extensive museum facility.
Without this dedicated group, it would not have happened. Congratulations and
thanks to all who worked so hard. Mark your calendars, the 2016 Fly In is
September 11 & 12. See you there?
[1]
The museum’s full name is Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum. See
also their web site at WWW.WAAAMuseum.org
[2]
Evergreen Airfield, Washington, long a favourite of west coast antiquers,
closed in 2006 after 50 years of operation
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