This evening I took Lisa and Miguel up in N54477 with the intention of flying to Pacific City then up the Oregon Coast to Manzanita and back to Hillsboro. We departed at 7:35 and began a slow climb to the southeast to 6,500. As we crossed the coastal range it became clear that the entire Oregon Coast was covered in overcast! The weather observation in Astoria reported few clouds at the time of departure, but Newport was overcast, and unfortunately there are no METAR reporting points between those airports. We turned northeast towards Scappoose and climbed to 7,500 to try to get any glimpse of the ocean, but there were too many clouds.
Although we didn’t make it to the coast, I think my passengers still had a good time on their first general aviation flight. Miguel took in the scenery from the back seat, and although Lisa was a little nervous at first, I think she grew more comfortable as the flight progressed. I let her take the control wheel for a few minutes while we were over the coastal range at 7,500 feet, and she kept us straight and level like a pro. They passed the camera back and forth and took lots of great pictures.
We were doing fine on time so we decided to fly over downtown, so over Scappoose I called Portland Approach and received a transponder code to enter the Class C airspace. They instructed us to maintain west of the Willamette, and we complied as we flew directly over downtown Portland. Over Lake Oswego we turned toward Hillsboro and landed straight in on runway 30 with winds from 300 at 15 knots. We all had a great time, and there was even talk of making another flight next week. Count me in!
(More pictures here)
