Tired of just READING about all those other Fly-Ins? Ready to get a North-West Fly-in going?
READ On!Well, I’m tired of missing out on all the fun all you’all’re having down and up there on the Least Coast, and it’s a little far to the far Southwest for some of us! I heard 5.5 hrs as the record back east! From here to Sedona is 10 hrs!
As far as a North West fly-in, I would expect Washington, Oregon, N. California, plus Idaho and W. Montana, as well as British Columbia – how many of us is that?
For several years, there has been a group site at the Arlington EAA fly-in, but the precident is for an ‘all-Beech plus friends’ event – without a couple-hundred-thousand other folks…
I’m thinking a good central location for the fly-in is at Newburg OREGON – Sportsman Airpark (2S6) (just south west of Portland,) w/ camping on the field, a BBQ, and tours of the local wineries.
More:
There is a great FBO at Sportsman Field (tiny but great and cheap gas) – they just finished a party room. They have their own fly-in and balloon stampede, too, so they know fly-ins!
Also, three hotels are just about 100 yrds away! PLUS, my Stepson and his beautiful wife who live in Newburg are GREAT Caterers for the BBQ!
A group flyby and landing at McMinnville (MMV,) would be fun, with a tour of the local Flight Service Station (yea, there are still such things) and across the road to the Evergreen Museum – home of the Spruce Goose, and lots of other neat planes. You haven’t seen BIG until you’ve seen the H-4.
Have you ever seen pictures of the X-15 under the wing of a B-52? There’s an SR-71 parked under the wing of the H-4 – just about the same scale! Also, a little secret info about the SR-71 design becomes obvious when one is parked next to the Spruce Goose!
BTW, the Spruce Goose is made mostly of Birch! My wife, the lovely Deacon Ann, thinks they should change the name of the plane to Birch Church (Cathedral is more like it!)
Second day – fly up the Columbia Gorge (4,000 feet deep in some areas!) to the Dalles (Dallesport Airport – DLS) for lunch at the airport restaurant, and then a tour of Mt. St. Helens if the TFR is lifted by then, otherwise around Mt. Hood, with a drop-in at Hood River (4S2) for those who are proud of their cross-wind landings!
More destinations:
Closer to Sportsman’s, there’s also Pearson Airpark (VUO) the oldest operating airport in the west – home to a great little museum about the Oregon Trail, and Lewis & Clark (Ft. Vancouver National Historic Site,) as well as aircraft and cars.
The Museum at Tillamook is also within range!
If I were evil, we could go right next door to Newburg and drop in to Aurora (UAO) and tour the VANS Aircraft factory.
Also nearby (~60 miles) is Bend (S07) and Redmond (RDM) home of the Lancair Homebuild and Certified Aircraft factories!
But who wants to look at inferior aircraft, when we have our Baby Beeches to look at? We could just sit around and tell stories (Tall tales?) and relax!
Want a good couple hours reading? Read all about flying in Oregon!
So, I’ve got lots of ideas of things to do & I’m ready to get this thing off the ground! It might have to wait for weather until spring, but we get some good WX in Jan-Feb, so…..
Now it’s up to all you good NorthWest BAC pilots to get onboard with suggested dates, or any other ideas on locations and fun stuff to do. I will also talk to Stan at Blue Ridge Aviation about doing some Maintenance stuff, if anybody is interested in that.
Hey, if we held the fly-in here at the Walla Walla airport (ALW) there are 24 wineries ON THE AIRPORT! AND the pattern is right over Bruce Willis’ (yea, die-hard with a Vengence) new house and vinyard!
Waiting to hear from all you great Musketeer drivers!
Bill Howard
BeechSportBill
N1927W
541*938*8314
bhoward@bmi.net