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  #11  
Old 08-27-2013, 04:59 PM
gongreg gongreg is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: S?o Paulo Brasil
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Default LEGAL!

Muito legal, Bernardo! Cara, que motor tem seu -6? E vc est? com uma harzell CS, n??
Parab?ns e obrigado pelo trip writeup!
Gon?alo

Very cool, Bernardo! Man, what engine does your RV have? And are you flying a hartzell CS?
Congrats and thank you for the write up!
Gregg
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  #12  
Old 08-27-2013, 07:24 PM
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AirShowFan AirShowFan is offline
 
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Thank you Tim, Jeff, Jae, and Craig

Joe, how high were you exactly when you snapped those shots of Crater Lake? Thinking back to it, I was probably kind of a wimp. I should have just gone up to 14,000 for a minute so I could get a good look. I guess it had just been too many "first"s that weekend and I did not feel like breaking any more personal records (and I just wanted to get home). Seriously, though, I will probably go back and try again at some point in the future.

Fala Gregg! The engine is an O-360, and indeed the prop is a Harzell CS. Valeu!
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Bernardo a.k.a. AirShowFan
Boeing airplane configurator and 3D-printing expert, airplane design teacher and lecturer,
and occasional aviation photographer / airshow photojournalist / aerobatic pilot.
RV-6A N611RV bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.
RV-6 N130BN bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.
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  #13  
Old 08-28-2013, 08:59 AM
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colojo colojo is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AirShowFan View Post
Joe, how high were you exactly when you snapped those shots of Crater Lake? Thinking back to it, I was probably kind of a wimp. I should have just gone up to 14,000 for a minute so I could get a good look. I guess it had just been too many "first"s that weekend and I did not feel like breaking any more personal records (and I just wanted to get home). Seriously, though, I will probably go back and try again at some point in the future.
I'm guessing 10,500' because I wasn't using O2.
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  #14  
Old 08-28-2013, 10:19 AM
jchang10 jchang10 is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA
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I took this one at 14,500 on July 4th. It was late evening. I was running behind schedule, but i wish i could have done a circle. I first visited the lake almost 20 years ago. I have driven to it a few times and flown over a few times. Every time i see it, i am reminded just how amazing this planet earth is.

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Last edited by jchang10 : 08-28-2013 at 10:22 AM.
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  #15  
Old 08-28-2013, 10:27 AM
NASA515 NASA515 is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Hansville, Washington
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AirShowFan View Post


The I-90 pass is really great. Here, the ground is at 1000 to 2000 feet elevation (that's as high as the road ever gets in this pass, i.e. you're not really flying over the mountains, more like between them), the tops of the mountains are at around 5000 feet, the clouds are at around 5500 feet, and I'm at 4500 feet. So, despite the clouds and the mountains, it's VFR flight by a wide margin. And it's really safe, too: The pass is easily wide enough for a U-turn. And in case of power loss, Highway 90 is almost entirely surrounded by flat land. As a cherry on top, there is a series of airstrips along the highway. On the lower left of this picture, just left of the highway, the light-green patch is the Bandera airstrip (4W0).
Great write-up and pix, with the following caveat;

I-90 crosses Snoqualmie Pass which is 3022 ft MSL, not 1000-2000. If you indeed follow I-90, the road makes a nasty hook turn at the summit, with surrounding peaks in the 7000-8000 ft range. There are scars on the mountains there from airplanes that were scud running following the road and "missed the turn."

The area around the highway is very dense conifer forest on the west side, opening to a more benign valley on the east. I figure the best you can do is try to land on the Interstate, its median or shoulders, or someplace nearby the highway so you can walk to it --- if you survive the landing.

There are TWO State emergency fields along the road - Bandera on the west and Easton on the east - I always overfly them.

Flying the Washington Cascades is not "really safe", at least in my book, and I always treat it like I was flying to the Bahamas or some such. I really bulk up on survival gear, and plan for the worst. If you go to the State Aeronautics Commission offices, they have (actually "had" - it was bad karma, so they took it down from the lobby), a map filled with 50-100 stick pins - all airplanes that remained missing in the Cascades - some for over 50 years.

Flying the Cascades demands the utmost respect if we are all to live to become "old pilots."

I flew the I-90 Pass route last Thursday in my RV-12. Bremerton to Bandera to Easton to Cle Elum. One airport at a time......

Bob Bogash
N737G
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  #16  
Old 08-28-2013, 05:05 PM
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Vlad Vlad is offline
 
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Quote:
This was a great trip that gave me confidence as a pilot. It also showed me that I have a little more to learn about optimizing a constant-speed-prop airplane for range, and about precise fuel management. But I am motivated to learn these things so that next time goes even better.

This trip made me like my RV-6A even more. Remember learning to drive, getting your license, and going on your first long road trip, crossing a state or three... The freedom... Yeah, it felt like that. Man, it's great to have access to a 200mph airplane.

It was also really long and exhausting, my butt and back and legs were not super comfortable after 4 hours crammed in a little RV-6, and the weather was unpredictable, so I don't think I'll be doing this kind of thing on a regular basis, probably once a year at most... but I'm very glad I did it.


Well done Sir well done. Enjoyed your write up with fantastic images would love to know what hardware you used for these shots. You manage to pack so many interesting things into your trip. This is my style of flying thanks for sharing. I couldn't guess what your second longest xcountry would be...
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  #17  
Old 08-28-2013, 09:46 PM
highflight42x highflight42x is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Seattle
Posts: 104
Default PAE to RHV (Reid Hillview)

Bernardo - I flew a very similar first long XC exactly one year ago, from PAE to RHV, in San Jose. Wow, seeing your photos sure brings back the feeling of the first long one! I basically followed I-5 all the way, refuelling at Redbluff and Roseburg (to have a full tank while transiting the mountains around Medford). Forest fires are pandemic in that area in summer - I remember having to agree to go to 10,000' before the FSS guy would open my VFR flight plan due to smoke around the Mt. Shasta area (it wasn't that dense, I could see the ground the entire time). I think one of the best feelings in the world is coming back from a long one and your home airport comes into view ... "one more good landing and I can get outta this thing!". That view of rwy 34 at PAE looks very familiar - my hanger is on the west side, just off the A7 exit ramp!

- Steven
800+ RV3 hours
(one more last weekend!)
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  #18  
Old 08-30-2013, 08:35 AM
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AirShowFan AirShowFan is offline
 
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Location: Everett, WA
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Vans

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad View Post
Well done Sir well done. This is my style of flying...
Thank you very much! I'm still new to this website, but I know that you like to do a ton of traveling in your RV-9, and I appreciate your "endorsement".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad View Post
I couldn't guess what your second longest xcountry would be...
Well, like I wrote, so far my second-longest flights have been a series of trips between the Seattle area and Cavanaugh Bay. These were my first truly non-local flights, the only flights I had made where I could not quite make it there and back safely on a tank of gas.

(Even flying to Portland and back feels fairly local. On a clear day, I can see Mt St Helens almost as soon as I take off, so I just point the airplane that way, no chance of getting lost, easy to make it there and back without refueling).

But what's next? I don't know. Whatever it is, it might have to wait until next summer... Maybe Southern California? Visit my family on the East Coast? One of my friends suggested I try to make it to the Reno air races. That's certainly a thought...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad View Post
... would love to know what hardware you used for these shots.
Count me among the many people who thinks the Sony RX100 is, by a landslide, the best compact camera ever made.

I have more, larger, and pricyer cameras and lenses. (Like I wrote, I cover airshows for aviation websites an magazines as a hobby). But unless I need a super wide field of view (e.g. inside a cockpit, small or large) or a ton of zoom and super-fast focus (e.g. airborne airplane at an airshow), the RX100 takes pictures whose sharpness and color and dynamic range and low noise rival those of any other digital camera, including Micro Four Thirds cameras and Canon SLRs (both of which I have a ton of experience with. At an airshow, nothing beats a 1D with a 400mm L lens...)

Quote:
Originally Posted by highflight42x View Post
My hangar is on the west side, just off the A7 exit ramp!
Mine too! I still haven't gotten around to connecting with other local RVers. I'll send you a PM. I've spotted a few RVs in our neighborhood but not a -3...

Quote:
Originally Posted by highflight42x View Post
Forest fires are pandemic in that area in summer
No kidding! I never realized just how many fires there are until I was checking the NOTAMs the days preceding this flight. You often hear in the news about one or two bad fires (e.g. the Rim fire, fires near LA or San Diego, etc). But the truth is, during August on the west coast, there will be a handful of big fires, a handful of smaller fires big enough to get NOTAMs, and another few fires too small for that. I had no idea about this. Now I understand how these firefighting crews stay so busy all summer!

One handy website that I discovered the week before my flight is
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

Quote:
Originally Posted by jchang10 View Post
... I am reminded just how amazing this planet earth is.
Indeed. Flying around the Pacific Northwest offers plenty of opportunities for this. Mountain lakes surrounded by jagged rocks, flying down the Oregon coast, visiting the San Juan islands, circling all the volcanic mountains...

Quote:
Originally Posted by NASA515 View Post
I-90 crosses Snoqualmie Pass which is 3022 ft MSL (...) If you indeed follow I-90, the road makes a nasty hook turn at the summit (...) There are scars on the mountains there from airplanes that were scud running following the road and "missed the turn."

The area around the highway is very dense conifer forest on the west side, opening to a more benign valley on the east. I figure the best you can do is try to land on the Interstate, its median or shoulders, or someplace nearby the highway so you can walk to it --- if you survive the landing.

Flying the Washington Cascades is not "really safe", at least in my book (...) I really bulk up on survival gear, and plan for the worst.
Bob, thank you for those reminders. Indeed, looking closely at the chart, the summit is at 3000. But that's only for a very short segment. I guess all the times I have flown the pass, just before I got to the summit, I could see west over the hill that is just south of the summit, and I hopped over that hill towards Seattle, instead of going north and making the hook turn. That hill is at about 4000 feet, so indeed, if the clouds are any lower than about 5500 feet MSL, then you have to try to make the hook turn, which does not look easy.

I drove through the pass just a couple days ago (I'm at Priest Lake for the long weekend, but no RV this time) and I was looking around for places to land. You're right, some areas are dense forest outside the immediate vicinity of the highway. But even then, landing on the highway or the median looks a lot more doable than landing pretty much anywhere else on the mountains.

I also carry a survival backpack in the airplane. First aid, blankets, water, food, etc. It doesn't feel to me like I'm ever very far from civilization... but just one steep bunch of rock between you and the highway could mean a long time before responders get to you, or before you get out. And those expanses of desert around Moses Lake are probably bigger than they look from the air...

I don't think that flying over mountains, or even over hills with trees, is "really safe". (I was very surprised by the recent thread on this website full of people who would rather land in the trees than ditch. I never would have chosen trees rather than water). But the I-90 pass really feels like a "lifeline", so much lower and flatter than the mountains around it. Even if those looks are misleading, I think the bottom line is to not go through it if I feel the clouds are forcing me to fly too low. And to fly at 10500 whenever possible. And to never stop thinking "Where would I land if I lost power right now".

In any case, thank you for the cautious advice. I will keep it in mind next time I cross the Cascades.
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Bernardo a.k.a. AirShowFan
Boeing airplane configurator and 3D-printing expert, airplane design teacher and lecturer,
and occasional aviation photographer / airshow photojournalist / aerobatic pilot.
RV-6A N611RV bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.
RV-6 N130BN bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.

Last edited by AirShowFan : 09-09-2013 at 09:36 PM. Reason: Spelling
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  #19  
Old 09-01-2013, 09:59 AM
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NavyIBNFE NavyIBNFE is offline
 
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If you're ever looking for a flying partner shoot me an email!
I live right across the water on Whidbey Island, a short ferry ride to Everett.

I have been trying to figure out how to afford an RV for about 2 years now.. Slowly getting there.

Great photos!
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  #20  
Old 09-01-2013, 10:40 PM
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AirShowFan AirShowFan is offline
 
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Location: Everett, WA
Posts: 119
Default Trade flights? ;]

Jacob, if you could take me up in a P-3, I can most certainly make sure that you get a few more RV hours! ;]

I see Whidbey's P-3s fly by Paine Field often. Beautiful airplanes. And surprisingly capable. I got a tour of a Canadian one (CP-140, right?) on the ground once, and I was amazed by some of the performance specs (range, endurance, even speed) and sensors and weapons. That airplane is a lot more bad-@$$ than it looks.

Seriously, though: I'll add you to the list of people I can email when I have an empty right seat. I'll PM you.

And thank you for your service
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Boeing airplane configurator and 3D-printing expert, airplane design teacher and lecturer,
and occasional aviation photographer / airshow photojournalist / aerobatic pilot.
RV-6A N611RV bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.
RV-6 N130BN bought from the builder, thoroughly enjoyed, and then sold.
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