Phooey with all the dissention in the world (and on POA), I went flying yesterday!

Ghery

Ghery

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Ghery Pettit
The visibility wasn't the best (over 50 miles, but still hazy), but I grabbed one of the club's planes yesterday afternoon and made a run down to Mt. St. Helens. Smooth flight down and most of the way around the mountain. Got bounced around a bit as I flew through the lee of the mountain (look at the dust coming off the mountain for an idea of what the wind was doing), but otherwise not bad.

Now, going home was a completely different game. I dropped down from 9500 MSL to 8500 MSL for part of the trip back home and got bounced a little. When I came back down to 3000 MSL just before KCLS it got very sporty. And stayed that way most of the way back to KOLM. Shot two T&Gs before landing. It had been a little windy before I left, but was almost dead calm on the surface until after I put the plane back in the hangar. Then the wind popped up again. Weather guessers could say almost anything and be right around here yesterday.

BTW, how do I know the visibility was greater than 50 miles? We can see Mt. Rainier from our house and it is 55 sm from the house. I could see it yesterday. :D

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Nowhere near as many cars in the parking lot at Johnson Ridge Observatory as when we drove up there earlier this summer.

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I've seen Mt. St. Helens and Rainier from a SWA 737 several times, so it must REALLY be great to do so in a small plane (unless one decides to blow its top at that particular moment :D).
 
Was doing some OEI approaches and landings at your airport yesterday around lunchtime. Loved it, you have really chill tower controllers. They let us get away with all sorts of shenanigans on their runway. :D
 
I flew just West of Mt. St. Helens on May 24th, the day before it blew up the second time. The air East of the mountains was a dark orange color and full of glass fragments.

West of there, along Interstate 5 was mostly clear and you could almost see Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. The whole area was full of ash the next day and for weeks after. I missed it by that much!
 
schmookeeg said:
Was doing some OEI approaches and landings at your airport yesterday around lunchtime. Loved it, you have really chill tower controllers. They let us get away with all sorts of shenanigans on their runway. :D
Click to expand...

We do have some wonderful controllers at OLM. I was talking with the airport manager a number of years ago and he was saying that customer focus is something they look for. Contract tower, so they get to pick. My experience over the past 19 years is that customer focus is definitely a serious consideration.
 
Sounds like a nice flight!
 
IK04 said:
I flew just West of Mt. St. Helens on May 24th, the day before it blew up the second time. The air East of the mountains was a dark orange color and full of glass fragments.

West of there, along Interstate 5 was mostly clear and you could almost see Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. The whole area was full of ash the next day and for weeks after. I missed it by that much!
Click to expand...
Flew over it in an airliner (which descended to give us a better look) in August 1980, three months after the big bang. What a mess. Trees knocked down as far as one could see, ash everywhere, the mountain still smoking.
 
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