Well, not exactly where i flew today, but 28.7 hours on the tach in 3.5 days of flying got me from Ft Worth, TX to White Mountain, AK. And, only scared the crap out of myself a couple times .
Got to start and end the trip scud-running, but other than some spectacular wind-shear landing at Watson Lake, had clear skys and tail-winds most of the way.

The new eAPIS system was not as big of a pain as i thought it would be. Canadian customs, as usual, was very user friendly. Really enjoyed the strip-search coming back into the Country in Northway though . Got to take EVERYTHING out out the plane, including the granola bar laying on the floor in the back; probably some terrorists or bomb materials hidden under it . Really, i feel much safer and i'm happy my tax dollars are being spent well . By the way, due to budget cuts, Northway customs is closing at 1600 Alaska time this year.

I was hoping to add a few pictures, but apparently, i'm not up to the technological challenge of uploading them to my gallery. even after reading the instructions

Back to my old office. I just got my CFI contract renewed with the Flight Training Center here on base and had to do a currency flight in a T-41. Been a long time since I've flown a nose wheel. Already have a couple commercial students lined up.

slowhawk wrote:
By the way, due to budget cuts, Northway customs is closing at 1600 Alaska time this year.

WTF? They aren't planning that for summer too are they? Ridiculous.

once&futr_alaskaflyer wrote:

slowhawk wrote:
By the way, due to budget cuts, Northway customs is closing at 1600 Alaska time this year.

WTF? They aren't planning that for summer too are they? Ridiculous.

Thats what the man said. I couldn't believe it either. Going to be a lot of upset pilots this summer if he was right
Guess it will be good for the businesses in Whitehorse.

Hopefully they will amend the search process when it gets busy this spring. It took over an hour for the "search", at that rate there is going to be a long line

Stopped in monday at mexican mountain then went down to caveman. That place is going to be great once Rod finishes all his plans for it.

No pics but check out the Satellite views of the two Spot OK messages I sent over the past two days

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=12&om=1

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=12&om=1

We fly to some interesting locations for work... log more time flying for work in 6 days than I fly my own bird in 6 months... fun stuff!

Friday after work flew from Troutdale to Madras. My AP at the Madras airport changed the oil and installed the new baby bush wheel from Alaska Bushwheel.

The weather was very windy Saturday as we worked on 321TL. Gust to 40 kts. Went to the Madras Speedway, a dirt track to watch my cousin race his dwarf car. I would have liked it to be warmer and less wind. Oh well, every day can't be a 10.

This morning dawned sunny and calm, a great day to go for a morning hike. After a hour and a half hike we had some chow and headed to the airport for the flight home and to test the new baby bushwheel. Boy it works great!!



Natures landscaping

Top of Round Butte hill looking NW Mt Hood in the back ground. 11235 MSL Oregons tallest peak.

Awesome weekend of flying. Already planned to take Friday off for Caveman so when it was canceled I went flying instead of going to work.

On Saturday I headed up to Longmont to pick up some new CLAW tiedowns that Cubscout scored for me at a great price. Needed to get back to Meadowlake for a BBQ, but quicly blew that off when CS asked me to backseat from his Super Cub.

Here is the man, the myth, the legendI promised not to show too much of his face in order to not give away his secret identity.

Today I headed up to Owl Canyon to join CS for a glider ride. Made it to about 2 miles from the glider port and it was snowing. Headed back to Meadowlake. Maybe another time CS.

RobBurson wrote:After a hour and a half hike we had some chow and headed to the airport for the flight home and to test the new baby bushwheel. Boy it works great!!

Awesome to hear Rob. I just ordered the Alaskan Baby Bushwheel for my Skywagon this weekend along with the Burl's firewall battery mount ($175 w/heat shield) in order to make room for extended baggage.

RobBurson wrote:After a hour and a half hike we had some chow and headed to the airport for the flight home and to test the new baby bushwheel. Boy it works great!!

Hope this one is badger hole proof.

Pardon the less than stellar photos.

Flew down to CVO and met up with Savannah-Tom, and his friend who I can't pronounce his name let alone spell it. We were hoping to head out towards the coast but low clouds updated our plans. Instead we followed the I-5 corridor down to a grass strip next to the freeway, Daniels. Great way to start the day.



From there we popped down to Hobby (77S). Fun enough I decided to try it twice. Tom's
Savannah itching for air.



Down to Cottage Grove (61S) next. Hills get a little more interesting. There is currently no gas at CG.

We decided to overfly Dorena lake and see if we could cross the ridges to the north then head to Oak ridge rather than fly back around. Fortunately, the clouds had lifted enough. Two ridges later we were over the Lookout point reservoir on our way to Oak Ridge. This is where it gets into interesting terrain.



Up the valley and around a bend, lies Oak Ridge. The valley widens a bit but the airport is still a bit intimidating sitting on top of a bluff overlooking the town. Here's a view of Oak Ridge from the downwind leg.



Tom on short final



About to touch down



I tell you, trying to keep pace with a Savannah is a challenge. I had 20 degrees of flaps in and powered back to 2000rpm and I'm still struggling to not fly ahead. Good day of slow flight practice. Tom said he had his rubber band wound up pretty tight and couldn't give it any more power.

Overflying Falls Creek reservoir on way to Lebannon to refuel.



Lebannon has good fuel prices at $4.00/gal plus they have MoGas, which is cheaper. I don't have the STC for the 172 but it was still a savings.

Back at VUO winds were variable and a bit of turbulance. I ended up bouncing once. While I was cursing myself for such a piss poor job at landing the next guy in bounced a couple of times. At least I knew I wasn't the only bozo.

Great day nonetheless.

I flew to the Zenith West Coast Factory Fly in Cloverdale today. Was 62SM each way... nice little jaunt in my small plane. I landed a gravel bar on the way back.. it was just too tempting. This was my first off airport with my new gear... night and day difference!!

Flew to Juneau today to go to a trap shoot, shot terrible but the flying was great and the weather was truly fine.

Flew from Kelso to Pearson and picked up some friends. Hit Cascade Locks, Daybreak and Brush Prairie before calling it a day. Daybreak and Brush Prairie - freshly mowed - NICE~! The columbia gorge was about as busy with planes as the freeway below!

This was one year ago today. Greg has unlocked the video today only, as a Mother's Day tradition.
http://vimeo.com/4620979

patrol guy wrote:This was one year ago today. Greg has unlocked the video today only, as a Mother's Day tradition.
http://vimeo.com/4620979

Ha ha ha... Can I get some of those nifty guns?

Actually flew here yesterday. Pitt Lake, great weather, lesson #5 - slow flight and intro to stalls.

delete

Flew there via Jeep, but met Bill and toured the vintage aero museum at Platte Valley Airpark (18V). If you're in the area it's a great place to see.
http://www.vafm.org/

They even had lunch and a guest speaker Emily Howell,who was the first female airline pilot in the US.

Andy and Emily


Museum Pics:






The boogie man




They are having a fly in with a WWI/WWII air and ground demo on June 12 and 13. I'm going to do my best to make it.

Nice to see you again Bill.

Made a last minute decision to head up to Platte Valley to meet Matt. Probably a good thing HiCountry didn't try to come down due to weather. The gathering was pretty cool. Really neat listening to Emily tell her story.

Headed North towards Platte Valley. You're probably wondering why not just go to the left of the East moving storm? Denver Class B all the way to the ground. Had to really skirt their airspace.

Folker tri-plane on display at Platte Valley

Had to do some serious storm skirting heading back to Meadowlake. The only hole I had took me directly over the US Air Force Academy. Good thing they were closed so the airspace was uncontrolled. Flew right over TP's office. Couldn't make 00V, so waited the storms out at Colorado Springs. I bet you'll never guess which way I needed to go in the picture.