Freedom Flight

Friday, June 3rd at 5:30 three planes lined up for runway 34. Judy was first in her 172, Lady Hawk; followed by Martin in his Sonarei, Molly. I watched them go as Path and I followed. One-half hour later we lined up again, to top up our tanks at Scappoose.
Oregon law requires an airport or gas station employee to pump fuel, but the old guy wasn’t eager to climb the ladder and I’m picky about my plane so he willingly allowed me to do the job. Here are the three planes. Martin built his Molly. She’s a real screamer cruising at nearly 150 knots and sipping 4.5 gallons an hour doing it. We joke that I burn that much taxiing, but can carry nearly the weight of the Sonarei.

Flying out The Gorge was as expected, beautiful and smooth. Here are a few photos we took. The mountain is Mt. Hood in Oregon. The dam is Bonneville.
Here is Lady Hawk just above the north rim of The Gorge with Mt Adams behind.
At our overnight spot, Prosser S40 (flight time 1.8) we put up our tents and appreciated the warm summer evening with a crescent moon. Two more friends arrived in their 206 so now we were four planes. They had flown a direct route and indicated the flight was about 1 hour. Slept well until a plane came in at 2:15 am for a couple touch n go’s. But hey, we are not going to complain about airplane noise.
Breakfast at the RedBarn with lots of flight stories, then as a flight of four, eastward to Martin Field (S95). Flight time was .8 over some pretty country.
Keeping four planes together, with 4 different cruise speeds was fun. We all throttled back to match the 172 and enjoyed bragging about our fuel burn. I was getting 7.5 to 8.0 at 1900 squared! Usual is 10. To 10.5 at altitude 10,000 cruise. Here is an idea of terrain in eastern WA, which has hundreds (if not thousands) of huge windmills.
The area around the Columbia River has also become wine country, with many vineyards and wineries.
I’m not a connoisseur, but have heard the quality is among the best .

The fly-in was reasonably well attended, mostly standard aircraft. A BBQ van provided a decent lunch and the local pilots were welcoming and fun to visit with. A lot of local townfolk came out for glider and Jabiru flights and to look at visiting planes. Why is it that people think they have the right to manhandle our planes? I had to mention hands off, and then explain clearly to a student pilot that he was included in that rule. No touching of another’s plane, unless approved or to save the plane from some impending doom.

Our 206 pals left around Noon, the rest of us waited out the heat of the afternoon, lifting off at 5:30. We had expected some bounce, but found smooth air. Martin, under his canopy and carrying 10 gallons of fuel, requested a stop at The Dalles (DLS).

We landed at 6:40 and after he and Judy filled up their planes, a dinner stop sounded good. With courtesy car keys, and restaurant recommendation we drove over the Columbia into the town which is on the Oregon side. Full of good food and many glasses of ice water, vote was to stay the night. The Dalles airport offers a lovely garden spot with encircling trees and soft grass.

Sunday morning a high broken overcast put interesting shadows on our view of Mt Hood (taken from the campsite). Now this is the way to start a morning!
The airport cat had greeted us as we setup camp and arrived again to help us load up. I had to bodily remove her from my plane. She sure was a sweet purring machine.
The three planes and pilots parted company after prepping for flight.
I wanted more cheap fuel at SPB, Judy and her 172 charted a direct flight NW to her home at Shady Acres (3B8) and Martin just wanted to let Molly loose after so much slow flight as he headed home to Chehalis.

Note. Many of the photos shown here were taken by Judy, who is an amazing photographer.
All in all, this trip was the perfect way to start my retirement lifestyle.