Working on the IR, evening flight to Scappoose

These days I have two purposes to my flying: have fun, and build cross-country hours. I am slowly working towards the instrument rating, and among other things that rating requires that the pilot build 50 hours of cross-country time. I plan to log much of that while also satisfying the requirement for 40 hours of simulated or actual instrument time (i.e., flying when you can't see outside, either by wearing a view-limiting device, or flying in the clouds). That, of course, requires that I have another pilot along who is instrument rated (for flying in actual conditions) or willing to watch for traffic and help manage workload (in simulated conditions.)

Over the weekend I logged XC time and simulated time by flying with a safety pilot (my friend Cameron, who works at Jorgensen's FBO at KOLM). We went up to Paine (KPAE) and I spent almost an hour "under the hood".

I've also been taking some lessons with Joel, and gradually improving my instrument flying.

Tonight I balanced more on the "fun" side and did a solo cross-country flight to Scappoose Industrial Airpark (sounds romantic, doesn't it) just north of Portland. It was just before dusk for the trip down, and just plain dark coming back. When I got back to Olympia I did my required 3 full-stop landings to be current for carrying passengers at night for the next 90 days.

Scappoose is a nice little airport, with a nice long runway (5100'), but it is nestled in suburbia and was a little tricky to spot until I got very close.

Flying at night is a true pleasure. The air is smooth, and the lights are gorgeous.

And maybe the weather is turning for the better...we certainly are having a better percentage of nice days. The really good stuff is not far away!