Concrete Fly-in

[Flyhound]

Mears airport in Concrete, Washington has one of the lowest key fly-ins imaginable. In the old days, there were lots of food vendors, live music and organized activities for kids and even non-pilots. There was an airplane museum spread across multiple hangars in the old days too. A lot of transient aircraft still show up and it remains a great place to catch up with pilot acquaintances that you don't see very often, but not much else was going on.

Mears is in this mist shrouded valley, up against the mountains.

Short final for runway 25 at Mears


A beautiful old Grumman Widgeon


A trio of classics


The parking area was full of transient aircraft


A bit of nostalgia - both for the plane and for fuel prices from long ago!

 

[skyking3286]

And the usual downdraft over the river.

 

[Pugs]

Circa 1989 I’m new in my first EA-6B fleet squadron. We had the opportunity to fly the VR-1355 clean wing (no drops or ALQ-99 pods) so that means no Vne (thank you Grumman Ironworks).

We had a good INS but occasionally it lost its mind and our low level charts were timed for 420 KTS. We hopped on the route at the southern edge of WA state then up the spine of the Cascades at 200’ AGL and 580 KTS. The INS wandered and I was so far behind the jet I would have been a witness to the mishap (I was an ECMO in the right seat navigating).

20 minutes later we’re turning west down the Snoqualmie river valley and things look suspect. I realize about the time the Concrete airport goes by at the speed of heat we’re a valley too far north and in the Skagit river valley. Well, at least there was no one lower than us. . Quick climb to 5k and a call to Whidbey Approach and a solid debrief. Ah, to be young and immortal again.

 

[skyking3286]

1988 Concrete Fly-In with an old VCR based camera.

 

[Domenick]

And the usual downdraft over the river.

At both ends. It's the ice water flowing down from the North Cascades.

Sorry I missed the fly-in. The mountain loop is one of my favorite "bore holes in the sky" flights.

 

[Flyhound]

Sorry I missed the fly-in. The mountain loop is one of my favorite "bore holes in the sky" flights.

Here's a video of the mountain loop last winter with snow all around. No other traffic that day. It is a great circuit for a flight to nowhere.

 

[Domenick]

During a mountain loop flight, as you are flying east or west along the Stillaguamish Valley (Arlington-Darrington) you can play with the up- and down-drafts. The Stillaguamish valley is a classic U-shaped glacier scoured valley 2-3 miles wide. Depending on whether the winds are north or south, one side of the valley will provide a downdraft and the other side an updraft. Slow down and scoot to the downwind side and ride the updraft gaining a few hundred feet of altitude. Then slide over to the upwind side and ride the downdraft to your original altitude. Depending on your ground speed you can do this maneuver a number of times.

Do it on a day with a relatively consistent wind--not too gusty--and you'll get some comfortable experience/feel for both up- and downdrafts.