Tonight we executed plans to fly to the coast and to Salem for dinner. I took Tammy and Lisa in N62407 to Tillamook, south along the coast to Pacific City, then inland to Salem for dinner. It was a hot and windy day, with the density altitude at 2500 feet and winds at 14 knots at the time of departure. We began a slow climb to the southwest and experienced some light turbulence as we approached the coastal range, so I began a circling climb over Haag Lake to attempt to reach smoother skies. Once we were above 5,000 feet the air was completely smooth, so we continued the climb to 6,500, cruised for a few minutes, then began a descent when we had Tillamook in sight.
We had a laugh at the way the Tillamook AWOS mispronounced “Tillamooke”, and we got a good look at the three rocks from the movie “Goonies”. The coast was a beautiful sight, and our time there seemed too short as we turned inland towards Salem.
Salem tower instructed us to enter left downwind for runway 31, and we followed a Piper Cherokee for landing. We taxied right up next to the restaurant and ordered dinner. We had a great view of the runway from our seats, but unfortunately there wasn’t much traffic so we didn’t see any airplane landings. After dark we hopped back into the airplane and climbed towards Hillsboro to 3,500 feet. The return flight would have been much more enjoyable without the constant punishment of the rough air. The winds were blowing at 15 knots when we entered the traffic pattern, and Lisa seemed horrified by the fact that we seemed to be flying sideways; I think it was her first experience crabbing into the wind.
We were landing on runway 30-12, and as we were about to touch down we heard “478ER crossing runway 12″. My heart leaped—that’s the runway we were about to land on, and another pilot reported he was taxiing across it! The instructor’s voice immediately corrected the student: “8ER is crossing runway 20″. That’s better. It was definitely a flight to remember.
(More pictures here)
Update: I previously mistook the stretch north of Pacific City for Cannon Beach, and the rock formations off the coast to be Haystack rock. My very observant Aunt Dianne even attempted to correct my mistake months ago.
August 2nd, 2007 - 12:28 pm
I keep saying this, but great photos! I’ve never seen the coast from those perspectives before except for a few rare occasions where I’ve hiked up high and looked out, but still never quite like that. It looked like a beautiful day to be at the beach.
August 2nd, 2007 - 1:30 pm
That was such a fun flight, next time we should open up the window completely because I can tell which ones we took through the window.
August 2nd, 2007 - 2:08 pm
That was a great flight. There was a lot less haze yesterday than there had been on the last few flights, and we paid for the clear view by suffering through all that turbulence! I think the return flight to HIO would have been smoother if we had climbed to 4,500.
August 2nd, 2007 - 10:23 pm
Boisterous Cinder Dust = Great Photo Delights
August 3rd, 2007 - 4:43 pm
I love the big picture you chose, it looks like a painting to me.