Washington Coast at Sunset

Yesterday was a perfect day to fly...clear skies, calm winds (at least at the surface), and dry, stable air.

I launched in 75898 at 6 pm, with three goals:  (1) have a nice scenic flight, (2) continue to work on smooth landings right on the centerline, and (3) update my night currency (three landings later than an hour after sunset...8 pm last night).  So I planned a three-leg cross country, from Olympia to Hoquiam to Astoria, and told myself that I could only move on to the next airport after being very happy with each landing...and I was shooting for absolute greasers.  Just a little smooch of rubber on pavement and right on center.

The flight to Hoquiam was easy as usual...quick climb over the Black Hills west of Olympia, and follow state route 8 all the way.  There was no traffic--surprising on such a beautiful evening--and so I just made a straight-in approach to runway 24.  Greaser landing!

I used short-field technique out of Hoquiam to gain as much altitude as possible in the shortest distance, since my route westbound took me over Grays Harbor.  In the chilly air, the ship climbed like crazy and I don't think I was ever out of gliding distance from shore.  Vx (60 knots indicated) at full power feels like a straight-up climb, and is really fun.

From Hoquiam I flew direct to Westport across the harbor, then down the coast 35 miles or so to Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River.  Just as I was crossing the river into Oregon, the sun set in my 3 o'clock over a smooth Pacific, with layers of clouds far offshore hinting at nastier weather to come this weekend.

After another good landing at Astoria, I climbed above pattern altitude (1000') and then circled back over the field to gain some altitude for the river crossing.  By then (7:20 pm or so) it was really getting dark, and there are very few ground lights in the Willapa Hills on the Washington side, north of Astoria.  There was a good five minute period when I really didn't have much of a horizon, and I was regularly using the dusky sky to the west and the lights of Portland to the far east--plus the attitude indicator--to make sure I was in level flight.  By the time I leveled off at 7500 feet, I had the I-5 corridor, Centralia, and even Olympia in sight.  The trip back from Astoria took only about 20 minutes...at one point, my groundspeed on the GPS showed 148 knots, with a true airspeed of around 110.  Nice southwest wind in my six...just as forecast!  But it was still smooth as glass.

Back at the home patch, I did my three full-stop landings, and I'm now good to carry passengers at night until December 29.  The first landing was acceptable but below my standards, but landings two and three were as good as I have ever done, so it was a nice way to finish the 2.3 hour trip.

I talked to Seattle Approach and (mostly) Seattle Center the whole way for VFR flight following.  The controllers we have here in the Pacific Northwest are just terrific--competent, friendly, and always willing to help.

Mission accomplished!

Updated to link to video on youtube.

Sunset tour

Fall is one of the best times to fly in western Washington, especially in the evenings.  A big high pressure ridge has set up over the western United States and doesn't show much sign of budging.  It's producing clear skies, dry air, and calm winds.  But the other side of Fall is that night descends earlier...3 minutes earlier every day...until December when the sun comes up at 8 and sets about 4:30...

I've blogged before that I love flying at night, and as the days get shorter it will be all the more important to be night-current.  The regulations require 3 full-stop landings between the times of an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise, every 90 days, in order to carry passengers during that time period (i.e., at night).  So I decided yesterday to get current and also enjoy flying in the cool, smooth air.

I've really come to enjoy what I call the "sunset tour"...fly north from Olympia, over Bremerton, cross Puget Sound north of downtown Seattle, turn south at Bellevue, and then transition either over Seattle-Tacoma International or McChord Air Force Base, headed for home.

That's just what I did last night, but to log some cross-country time (which requires landing at least 50 miles from the departure airport) I went to Paine Field, where Boeing makes its big airplanes (747s, 787s).    It is always a treat going in there, with all the freshly-minted airliners on the ramp...though it was a little harder to enjoy them in the dark.

To count as a full-stop landing, it's necessary to bring the wheels to a stop.  In a situation like this, where there is no intent to get out of the airplane at the destination, we do what's called a "stop-and-go", where the pilot brings the airplane to a stop on the runway for a second (think stop sign on a deserted country road) and then takes off again.  It was interesting landing at Paine, on the huge runway 34L there, and stopping with almost 7000' left!  That's almost 2000' more than the entire runway length at Olympia!

After Paine I flew south over the Seattle eastside suburbs...Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, and Renton.  Seattle-Tacoma was landing north, so I was given the Mariner transition from the tower...maintain 2000', and cross westbound over the approach end of the runway.  It was much harder to do this at night than during the day...the runways are almost impossible to see until you are right up on them.  But I know KSEA pretty well and it wasn't too much of a problem.  It was cool looking out the left-side window and seeing at least six airliners, with their million-candlepower landing lights ablaze, lined up on final.

1.9 on the Hobbs, a memorable evening of sightseeing and good radio work, and 3 months of clearance to carry passengers at night.  Anyone want a ride??

Twilight over Seattle

Last night was one of the best flights ever. My friend Cameron and I met at 75898 at 8 pm and after a good preflight we launched to the north. There was not a cloud anywhere, and even though the sun was about to set it was still around 70 degrees...a beautiful evening capping our first real day of summer-like weather in the Northwest.

We picked up advisories from Seattle right after departure. We were both surprised how quiet all the frequencies were...except for the big iron traffic in and out of KSEA.

Just before reaching the recently closed prison on McNeil Island we turned east to pass just north of McChord Field (KTCM, formerly Air Force Base) to Lake Tapps, then north for a touch-and-go (and my first-ever landing) at KRNT. After Renton, we followed the eastern shoreline of Lake Washington to just north of the SR 520 bridge, then turned west to cross the lake. We overflew the University of Washington campus, and the Fremont and Magnolia neighborhoods of Seattle. The view out the left side window, of downtown Seattle, Queen Anne Hill, and the Space Needle at twilight was probably the coolest thing I've seen yet in my 83 hours of flying.

We crossed Puget Sound and headed direct for KPWT, passing the Bremerton shipyard to the south. From there we plugged KOLM into the GPS and went direct. 20 minutes later we were entering a right downwind for runway 35 at the home patch, runway and taxiway lights gleaming brightly after seven clicks, followed by a decent landing (just a little bounce).

Google Earth (kml) track of flight

It's really fun flying with Cameron--having another pilot along makes for great conversation and help with radio and transponder work, as well as navigation.

I'm sure glad the long, rainy winter seems to be over!

Bravo

On Tuesday, friend and coworker Mo (who has been my passenger before) went with me on a cross-country flight to Snohomish County / Paine Field (KPAE). It was a rare nice day during this protracted, rainy spring, with light winds and just a few puffs of cumulus here and there.

We departed Olympia and climbed above the scattered layer to 5500' where it was smooth as glass. We had to divert a little around some of the taller cumulus, but for the most part we were looking down at the tops of these beautiful cloud formations.

There was quite a bit of turbulence in the descent, but the approach and landing at Paine were uneventful. It was Mo's first chance to see the wide variety of big iron there--freshly minted aircraft from the Boeing factory. Two of the Dreamlifters were on the ground as well--it is always a treat to see them.

We headed southeast from Paine to Lake Sammamish (basically following the last leg of my long cross-country flight last summer, during training). I requested a transition through the Class B airspace (colloquially "the Bravo") across Seattle-Tacoma International (KSEA), not only since it's a shortcut, but because it provides some terrific scenery of downtown Seattle and the airport itself. I have been wanting to fly the transition since I became a private pilot in August, but Tuesday was really my first good opportunity.

The experience didn't disappoint. Mo enjoyed the scenery and captured some video; I enjoyed the challenge of handling the radio and trying to maintain altitude +/- 50 feet.

It was a lot of fun and definitely something I plan to do often in the future.

Visit to the Seattle TRACON

Yesterday, son Michael and I attended a seminar hosted by the Seattle Terminal Radar Approach Control facility (TRACON, or just "Seattle Approach"). It was a very useful and informative way to spend a Saturday morning.



Karen and Aaron from the TRACON and Gary from Seattle Center provided some valuable information on airspace, procedures, and how the controllers in each facility manage traffic. There was plenty of time for interaction and a lot of good questions from the audience.

They also had controllers from the Seattle (KSEA), Boeing Field (KBFI), and Paine (KPAE) towers to talk about surface operations, transitions, and VFR departure procedures.

The main impression I had from all of these folks is a dedication to customer service and safety. They encourage pilots to ask questions, tour their facilities, and provide feedback on service. Meeting with controllers face-to-face takes away the mystery and, for some pilots, apprehension about that voice we hear on frequency.

After the presentation part of the session, we were offered the opportunity to tour the control room. Michael and I were able to sit with a departure controller as he worked traffic. He was very generous with his time and attention, explaining what was going on and showing us some of the very cool tools he has at his disposal.

Michael thinks he might want to be an Air Traffic Controller...which would be just fine with me. Just as long as he's not working my airspace someday and gives me a 40 mile vector just to mess with me...

A little pattern work

I awoke to clear skies and calm winds this morning, looking forward to a planned cross-country flight to Paine Field. But by the time I had breakfast and was ready to drive to the airport, we had clouds at about 9000 feet and it was getting a little windy.

I called Lockheed to get a weather briefing and learned that the winds at Olympia and north were not too bad...generally around 10 knots out of the north at the surface, and easterly at around 25 at 3500 feet. Potential for turbulence, yes, but definitely flyable.

So I finished the pre-flight and decided on my usual approach when I'm unsure about winds: I dip my toe in the water to test it, by doing a couple of pattern circuits at the home patch. If I like what I'm experiencing, I depart the pattern on course; if I don't, I land.

My takeoff clearance included a wind report of 360 at 10 knots...pretty much right down runway 35. With the cold temps (low 40s) and headwind, 75898 was off in a hurry, and I was at pattern altitude just beyond the departure end of the runway. It was a little turbulent in the pattern, but not too bad. At pattern altitude, the winds were splitting the difference between the surface observation and the 3500' report from flight service...I would guess they were about 040 at 20. I had to keep a noticeable crab to avoid getting blown over the runway, in right traffic. Then the real fun began on the base leg (the leg perpendicular to the runway prior to landing). I was easily crabbed 30 degrees, which made the turn to final really easy! During the round-out and flare, there was a good bit of bouncing around and change of direction, but all of my 4 landings were greasers. It's nice touching down at a speed just a bit faster than I drive on city surface streets (the wind on my last landing was 350 at 15, giving me a groundspeed around 35 knots).

From the pattern, there was overcast as far north as I could see, with what looked like scattered showers. It was getting more and more turbulent, so I decided to scrub the mission to Paine. I'm glad I stopped...as I write this two hours later, the winds are 15 gusting to 23. Definitely beyond my comfort zone.

But the weather is getting better, slowly but surely, and more flying days are just around the corner!

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!