Yesterday we lucked out with a great break in the weather to have a little fun.  We arranged 6 folks in two airplanes and headed off on an adventure.  We took our flight school Diamond DA40, and a Cessna T182RG to the monthly pancake breakfast at Twin Oaks Airpark in Hillsboro (7S3).  The Dalles was high overcast on our departure and we chose to fly the gorge to Troutdale before tuning SW direct to Twin Oaks.  I was flying the DA40 and we made a scenic lap through downtown Portland on the way.  I negotiated with TTD tower first and was granted the north bank transition: This allows us to fly fairly low-level along the north bank of the Columbia, cross PDX at mid-field around 1500′, then proceed directly over the city to our destination.

This event is always popular, but great weather in February brings out a lot more people.  EAA Chapter 105 is the home wing of the Vans Air Force, so there are always plenty of RV’s.  They run one of the smoothest breakfasts around.

After increasing our personal weight & balance we blasted off back home.  This time we chose to hop up on top of the clouds to sneak a peak at the sun and Mt. Hood on the way back.  We capped off the day with the LDA/DME 25 approach and broke out at 2200.  What a neat way to start the weekend.  Thanks to Clint for some great photos!

Flying the Northwest is one of the most enjoyable experiences I have encountered in my flying career.  I have been fortunate enough to fly most of the Western states and have seen many forms of the natural beauty it portrays. But geographically, flying the Northwest is tough to beat.
I am a flight instructor based at Columbia Regional Airport (KDLS) and I want to share a flight I went on with two friends in a S35 Beech Bonanza. It was the day after Christmas and we got bored of cleaning up after a Christmas dinner. So what better way to escape the boredom than a aerial tour of the NW?

It was a gloomy afternoon due to the thick overcast clouds overhead, but this was not enough to keep us on the ground. After pre-flight, we started up, taxied and took-off westbound over the Columbia River. We planned on a short odyssey over the Columbia Gorge,  but this quickly turned into a scenic flight to Boeing Field.

Upon reaching Troutdale the skies cleared to unlimited visibility enabling us to see Mt. Hood, Rainer, St. Helens, and Adams; wow what a sight. We picked up flight following and and soon landed 13L at Boeing Field. We bought some charts, visited the restrooms, and climbed back aboard the bird that got us here.

For the flight back we decided we would fly direct to KDLS and shoot the LDA instrument approach into RW 25. 30 minutes out of KDLS I filed IFR so we could legally shoot the approach, which was IMC. After being cleared for the approach we descended into the clouds to begin the approach. This was a “fun” experience for the owner of the aircraft because he has never done one in IMC in his 30 years of VFR flying. We soon had the runway environment in sight and landed just as the day the was turning to dusk.

I can’t say enough about flying the Northwest. This region offers mountainous terrain, dessert, volcanoes,  and ocean views. It is special to have all these qualities in one area. For those of you that haven’t flown here, you’re missing out. Cheers.