CASCADE FLYERS

AUSTRALIA'S 737-700 WEDGETAIL AT BFI

During a pre-flight the other day at Boeing Field a new RAAF 737-Wedgetail AEW & C came screaming in for a landing on RWY 13R. Ironically I met someone who works for the program in Seattle and he sent some of these declassified photos. 

 

WEEKEND FLYING-McMINNVILLE, OREGON - EVERGREEN FLIGHT MUSEUM

More weekend flying - from the most recent couple of nice days. I keep checking in with Cliff Mass but improving weather does not look too hopeful.

 

Rob and his main co-pilot, Randall, flew from Seattle to beautiful McMinnville, Oregon to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. A GREAT place to go! 

The main attraction is the Spruce Goose, from Howard Hughes which was rescued from Long Beach, California by Del Smith the guy who started Evergreen Airlines.

 

This should be on your long list of destinations - it's only 1+25 from Seattle in a C-172 (no-wind).

WEEKEND FLYING- MOUNTAIN FLYING CHECKOUT & TRIP TO THE SAN JUAN ISLANDS

Milo and Craig took to the skies on Saturday - a gorgeous break from the coldest, wettest & cloudiest spring on record in the Northwest (RRrrrrg!)

Here is Milo's account:

"Hey - I flied a lot! I got my first flight to get checked out on the DA-40 and I got my mountain flying endorsement from my CFI at Galvin. We flied to Cle Elum at 8.30 am on Saturday morning... it was awesome! So awesome I decided to repeat the experience yesterday on the DA-20! I already posted some pix on FB. Let me include some in this message. Saturday afternoon, Craig and I got Stewie to FHR to have a late lazy Saturday lunch... awesome flight... and there's always something to learn from Craig!
As I told you yesterday in the afternoon I flied again to Cle Elum... going up was sweet... coming back was rougher because the wind - 20 KTS from 270 - picked up and the DA-20 was not enjoying that! :)"

Here is a great shot of Roche Harbor - and the ski slope landing strip there.

Happy pilots having fun!

Here are some photos from the public Cascade Flyers Facebook page, there is also a movie there too - check it out!

Landing and a great pose at beautiful Cle Elum airport:

 

THE iPAD FLIES TOO! WEEKEND FLYING - iPAD, MAP, REALITY, CUTE PILOT!

Matt & Cees took to the skies too over the weekend. These pilots on a mission to see if their iPad, discussed in a previous post here,  would track the aircraft's position in the air while flying using only GPS signal and not the cellular signal which was not available. 

It was proven to work! The proof is in the video here, 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4ihPcjN7fE), sorry the embed is not working for now.

(But there is a GREAT shot of a VERY cute pilot at the end of the video as a reward)

Here is another beautiful screen shot of the moving map on the iPad, real time data - WOW!!!

AIRPLANE RESCUE IN OREGON-WEEKEND FLYING/(NON-FLYING)

This photo was taken very early Sunday morning. This airplane had a catastrophic engine failure and had to land on a highway in Oregon. They waited until very early Sunday morning to put the airplane on a truck and take it back to the The Dalles airport. Members from the local area sent in these photos and a description of the event below (thank you!):

"In the hanger (near) mine the owner went out today with the flight
instructor for a bi annual they got out of the dalles almost to Biggs when a
cylinder blew up it just had 6 new jugs on it. they thought (about landing) on the freeway or (highway 14) he picked 14 the windshield was covered with oil no traffic, came in
under a power line got out and pushed the plane off the road. We will tow it
back Sunday. The flight instructor was asked if he passed his bi annual and he answered in the affirmative."

Then this account later after the rescue:

"The recovery of the plane went well I did not sleep got up at 3:00am showered
and went to the airport to get my nitrogen tank ( we use that to air up the
struts that keep planes up it is an inert gas if we put air in it would
explode) so much for the department of useless information...The first picture was taken at 540 AM when the plane was loaded on the low boy the low boy was on a recess next to
the road there was no flash that is why the picture is so grainy. They (had)
to have two flag cars up front and one in the back there was three cars
including my truck in back One state trooper showed up at 430 right on time
and he thought we would have it loaded the man with the bucket is getting
straps out to tie the airplane down it took up the entire road. I found out
at 500 AM on Sunday morning not many people are out there we got it to the
air port the send picture is on the airport road it took up the entire road
the state policeman  went ahead and got the traffic out to pull off the road
we were unloading the plane on the airport at 545 (a worker) came over and
mowed down the grass and we unloaded the plane at the side of the new
hangers. ... We did not put more nitrogen in the struts as I cautioned... that it could cause damage to
the struts as they can get bent. All in all it was an excellent adventure
and no damage to the plane... I whish you could be there it
was a good learning experience, I am easily entertained. You have to
understand that when someone who fly's has a problem they don't want the
world  to know about it but we want to be there to help them and we learn
from each problem."

 

What a morning - Mt. Hood in the background.

TIME TO BUY YOUR OWN AIRPLANE-AIRCRAFT FOR SALE AND AIRCRAFT LOANS

I was just talking with CF member, Norm, who called me by accident but offered to chat for a moment. He mentioned that not too many Cascade Flyers own their own airplane. I said that many members have come and gone who have been airplane owners, that it can be somewhat cyclical with the economy and so forth.

This got me thinking about airplane ownership. Right now many airplane valuations are down quite substantially depending on the seller's situation. Your can find some incredible performance from a used airplane out there in the marketplace for some very low prices.

Plus, aircraft financing terms are quite excellent from a historical perspective.

Aopa and Bank of America are teamed up to offer very competitive financing. The folks who run the Bank of America aircraft loans department have weathered a few dozen buyouts and mergers over the years - but they are very knowledgeable and the process remains quite straightforward for new and used aircraft financing.

 

I just called the Bank of America Aircraft Loans department for a quote. In general, for a used airplane valued from about $55,000 to $99,999 they offer 240 months (20 years), at 6.75%, with a $495 closing fee.

The loan calculator at Bankrate.com says the payment would be: $494.24/month

They also have an excellent process for re-financing - when a new engine is needed, for example. Nonetheless, Google and/or Bing are your friends for shopping the market place for aircraft financing and new and used airplanes.

A Google and/or Bing search brings up in a microsecond all the major aircraft for-sale listings.

 

So very quickly you can scan the market place for an aircraft that you may be able to enjoy and afford.

   

 

Plus, there are MANY other resources available to you, namely - us - the Cascade Flyers and NGPA.  Many in the club already own airplanes or, have owned planes in the past. These members will often be your very best resource. 

Someone once said, "Nothing will make you become more intimately involved in general aviation, piloting, aerospace, mechanics, new-products, the FAA and government over-regulation - as owning an airplane yourself", who said that? Oh yea - it was me.

AOPA on-line is another tremendous resource for looking into aircraft ownership.

So - if you have or have not been thinking about owning your own airplane - think about it! A great way to spend some surfing time while at work.

Plus, many Cascade Flyers members would like to share costs and go for a ride!

THE APPLE iPAD AND THE FOREFLIGHT APPLICATION FOR AVIATION PRE-FLIGHT PLANNING

 
 

Matt F and Cees V were lined up at the University Village Apple store twice, on the first day the iPad was released, and again the day the 3G version of the iPad was released. During a visit Matt and Cees demonstrated the ForeFlight application that they installed on their iPad(s).

OK - the iPad and ForeFlight is nothing short of INCREDIBLE! I would say this is the first giant leap in general aviation pre-flight planning capability since DUATS was made available on-line. 

 

It looks like all the information available on a typical DUATS type weather brief and flight plan are available literally at your fingertips on the iPad but in a spectacular graphic display.

Cees so graciously sent some example iPad/Foreflight screen shots of a proposed flight from Boeing Field to Orcas Island/Eastsound. 

Here is a screen shot with a radar overlay - not much to see on this day.

Here is the menu for some other possible overlays, including satellite imagery, wind charts, cielings, sky coverage, visibility, temps, ifr/vfr - even lightening!

 

Next we can look at weather information for our origin and destination. 

Of course your fingertips are simply tapping the screen to bring up this information. It's like having Duats or some other flight planning service along with AOPA's airport guide or a similar guide. 

Below is a screen shot showing the airport information that is available. Notice sunrise/sunset times are shown - so you will know when to leave the Madrona Grill in Eastsound for the walk back to the airplane - to catch the sunset after takeoff...priorities.

At your fingertips is the VFR sectional chart...

 

And the approach procedures...

 

You can check the latest and recent weather conditions, maybe at your plane at the airport.

And winds aloft information in an easy-to-read format:

If you are using the iPad Foreflight app please submit your comments via our Cascade Flyers email list. This new technology will likely have issues with cell coverage and who knows what else - but initially - it looks fantastic.

WHY WE FLY - PART TWO - OCEAN SHORES, WASHINGTON

 

On spectacular day number two, two airplanes with Cascade Flyers pilots Milo O and Craig S flew to Ocean Shores, Washington, to the beach along with their passengers, co-pilots and friends.

photo by Anthony V.

Washington State Department of Aviation does such GREAT work for our precious airports.

 

photo by Anthony V.

photo by Milo O.

Happy pilots!

 

The beautiful beach gives way to a rugged rocky coastline that you can really only see and appreciate by air!

 

These photos show "why we fly"!

WHY WE FLY - PART ONE - SIEKU, WASHINGTON

Photo by Chip G.

A gorgeous Seattle weekend, several Cascade Flyers went flying to the coast of Washington State. 

 

Photo by Anthony V.

Milo took a DA-40 airplane from Galvin Flying. The photos clearly show "why we fly".

   

Photo by E.O.

The first day they went to the northern part of the Olympics, over Crescent Lake.

Then landed at the small airport of Seiku, Washington on the Northwest Coast and the Straight of Juan de Fuca. 

 

A spectacular day and stunning scenery. This is one reason, "why we fly".

CARBON MONOXIDE AND SMALL AIRPLANES

 
This special bulletin from the FAA was issued recently because of an accident involving a pilot that became incapacitated because of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Many of us pilots spend lots and lots of money on safety equipment such as extra hand-held radios. But is "nordo" really an emergency that can kill us, our passengers and destroy our airplane?

The FAA recommends that mufflers be replaced every 1,000 hours. I'm replacing the muffler on my Cessna during the annual inspection next week.

 

The bulletin also recommend the use of a CO detector. In our club many of us pilots and passengers fly in rental aircraft or ride along in somebody else's plane - it costs less than 10 dollars to carry along your own CO detector!

   

I'm going to place these in my plane and put one in my flight bag as a back up and for riding in other planes. These can be obtained at the local pilot shop or on-line at places such as Aircraft Spruce and Specialty.

 

A very inexpensive but vital piece of safety equipment perhaps!