Marqtholomew

This evening I rented 3555L and flew my sweetie down the Columbia River Gorge to The Dalles and back, transitioning through Portland’s Class C airspace both ways. It was a hazy evening and the winds gave us some light mechanical turbulence at low altitudes, but the haze produced a pleasant red and yellow sunset.

There was a 13 knot wind in The Dalles blowing from 300 degrees magnetic, perfectly aligned with Runway 30. The low level turbulence was enough to make the approach to landing an intense experience for my passenger, but she managed to keep her dinner internalized. It was dark by the time we entered the Class C airspace on the return flight, and we experienced downtown Portland from the air at night for the first time. We descended into Hillsboro well ahead of schedule with another Cross Country flight under our belts. It was a very enjoyable flight, but smoother, clearer air would have made it perfect.