A short Friday the 13th flight over the Cascades of Oregon

Jim Logajan

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Pacific northwest winter weather occasionally has breaks in the clouds and rain, and one such break occurred on January 13th. So I took the opportunity to fly from Creswell (S77) to Sunriver (S21) to get some sight-seeing and practice in. I also decided to take a small Sony camera along, which would be something I hadn't done before (there are two cameras in the iPad 2 I took with me, but I felt the quality too grainy.)

Here's the rather straightforward route:

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Climbing out of Creswell you can see the Three Sisters:

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As you can in this photo somewhere en-route, there was not much snow on the ground at the higher elevations for so late in the season (we've gotten dumped on since this trip):

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And there was almost no snow at Sunriver at that time, as seen here (on the taxiway, plane facing south, camera facing west):
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One thing I tried was to snap a photo or two on climb out (example below,) and while it is not a big distraction (I was not even using the viewfinder - just point and click in the general direction I was interested in,) it isn't something I intend to do again since getting a non-smeared photo would take too much away from flying.
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Once in level flight with everything trimmed (and smooth air!) en-route back, I was able to play with the zoom feature; first shot below is zoomed in (probably my best shot of the flight) and the second is zoomed out a few seconds later of the same general direction of the Sisters:

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Same as above, but with different zoom; note the Dual XGPS 150 on the dash slowly sliding to one side. It normally would do a good job of staying in place, but I think there was a bunch of dust adhering to the rubber mat so it was slippier than it should have been. Works great with the iPad 2 that was alternately on my kneeboard or on the seat next to me. There is also a corner of my Zaon MRX PCAS visible - kept from bouncing around due to turbulence or my crazy flying with the use of some blue painter's tape (I tend to reuse the same strip too often):

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I'm not sure, but I think the more distant peak in the next two photos is Mount Washington:
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One last shot of typical Oregon mountain areas, showing areas of clear-cut logging - none of which are likely any good as forced-landing areas:

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I managed to delete the picture attachments - hopefully restored now.
 
Very nice. About 2 years ago my wife and I were driving up 97 to Washington. We were both studying for our knowledge tests and I remember pointing out textbook lenticular clouds on the sides of Three Sisters. Looks like today was a lot calmer.
 
Nice pics...

How are you finding that Bluetooth GPS? I just bought it myself for foreflight but havent tested.

Do you also have a traffic awareness system on the dash?
 
Nice pics...

How are you finding that Bluetooth GPS? I just bought it myself for foreflight but havent tested.

Do you also have a traffic awareness system on the dash?

I've found the Bluetooth GPS quite nice. My wife and I traveled to England and I tried it there in a hired auto before I ever got around to using it in an airplane in the U.S. One reason I bought an iPad without GPS and got an external one was my past experience with a handheld Lowrance iFinder GPS. We had used the Lowrance a lot in cars (and hiking,) but if it wasn't mounted on the dash, it would have a tendency to lose sight of too many satellites. Based on reports on this forum by others, the iPad GPS may not suffer that problem.

The Zaon MRX PCAS works well and I find it helpful. Unlike the XRX model, the MRX only tells you relative altitude and estimated distance to traffic. (It estimates distances based on signal strength. Altitude difference determined from the altitude reported in the other traffic's transponder replies.) Provides no indication of bearing to the traffic. Turns out that the trends in distance and altitude provide some guidance on the relative danger and likely hemisphere the traffic is in.

In fact on this trip the MRX picked up a target when I was returning home, about 10 miles away from the airport in an area often used for practice. The distance dropped quickly from 2 miles to 1 mile, so I knew it was likely ahead. I did spot the traffic and banked right even though they would have passed well left anyway. There was always the possibility they might turn my way if they were out doing practice maneuvers.

Between the MRX (~$450), the iPad (~$600), and ANR headset (~$250) I think I haul around a lot of expensive gear in my flight bag. But I'm pretty sure others have more expensively stuffed flight bags!
 
I love to fly into Sunriver. I did in my 170 Cessna, and now in my 182. At first the only way I could get my wife to fly with me was to dangle 3 days in Sunriver in front of her, and then she would fly. She finally got where she will fly with me about anywhere I go. I love to fly over the Cascades also. I will add this video of a flight from Areo Acres OG30 in the Oregon City, OR. area to the Bend, Or. area.

http://youtu.be/WVJ6GRFv1Fw

 
One of my favorite trips in this area is to the Southern side of Mt Jefferson. In the Spring when the freezing level is rising there is a spectacular waterfall off the jutting basalt cliff anyone who has followed V165 is familiar with on the SW side of the mountain. It only lasts a short time while the snowline is ascending, but it is worth the time to get a glimpse.
 
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Was that flight in a 152 (saw the sticker in your photo)?

What altitudes did you fly?

Pretty photos.
 
Was that flight in a 152 (saw the sticker in your photo)?

What altitudes did you fly?

Pretty photos.

Yes it was a 152. I believe I flew 7500 there and 8500 back. Took a while to get to 8500 even with one person board and a cool day. Seattle center dropped me from flight following because they lost me on radar while I was at 7500. I did not try to pick up FF on the return leg.

(Next time I post pictures I'll make them smaller so they don't take forever to load.)
 
Yes it was a 152. I believe I flew 7500 there and 8500 back. Took a while to get to 8500 even with one person board and a cool day. Seattle center dropped me from flight following because they lost me on radar while I was at 7500. I did not try to pick up FF on the return leg.

(Next time I post pictures I'll make them smaller so they don't take forever to load.)

The highest I've been in the 152 was 6500. My trip in the 150 at 5500 took decades to get that high near max gross weight. I had to focus all my efforts on the VSI and get to the target before I started hitting all the Bravo rings and talking to ATC.

Cool what you can do in a 150. Good to see.
 
I just got around to opening this thread, and really enjoyed all those great pictures! They remind me of one of my favorite flying memories, which is one of the many flights I've taken to the Pacific Northwest. On my way home I flew the spine of the Cascades from Northern Oregon to Northern California, using what I called "volcano navigation." It was great!
 
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