Across the Rocks.

Other pilots have been encouraging me to tuff it out and make the flight to the dry side. So sunday morning I hopped in 34H and departed S50 @8:45. I climbed up as far as the class b ceiling allowed, shooting thru the gapp at Tiger Mt. to I-90. Flying east now along the freeway I held 500fpm climb @ 85knts. Issaquah disapeared behind me, and I topped out over North Bend at 9500'.I could see Cle Elum aheah as Iflew over the ski summit and lake Eaaston. I spotted the grass runway at easton then both the runways at Cle elum. I had seeen the flat bowl that contains Ellensburg, and the airport soon materialized out of the haze. I was so high , and I had begun a decent as Cle Elum had passed beneath the wings. A few miles past KELN I turned back and finally made pattern altitude as ai made the call on the 45 to downwind. Runway 7 led me to the transient parking, where a lineman from a local FBO pointed out the EAA hanger down the way. The EAA guys there were real nice and showed off their aircraft. Allong with a few small fast home built singles was also a Pitenpol tandem.. nice plane. It was getting too hot for me , at 10:30 AM! So I thanked my hosts and said goodby. It took a few munuites but I programed Aubuen into the Gps then took of on 29 , with a slight cross wind from 330 at 8knts. No problem. The fields were heating uo and I could feel the rising air. They had a density alt warning and I circled the valley once to gain altitude( this is why I am the Chicken pilot, I like the safety of the extra altitude over the mountian terrain.) then coasted across getting Flight following from the summit on. I did notice that all me traffic was way below me. I might try lower altitudes next time. The GPS track took me across Stampede Pass coming back.

Nine tenths

The flying club requires each member either fly an hour per month or pay for an hour. I fly at least 3 hrs a month with that club, but with the really crappy weather her in march i have had to cancel every flight so far this month. So , today when it was rather pleasant , bright and dry all day,Chyanne & I went up for an hour. The clouds were 6 to 9 thousand feet, while we never exceeded 3. There was a lot of haze . Normally the Seattle skyline is visible from above Auburn, but not this evening. We cruised around over Auburn and south to Buckley before turning west to do a landing at Thun. After a taking off of 34 we departed the pattern NE to the valley.All the while Chyanne sings little songs to keep me entertained. I climbed a bit more than needed so I pushed the nose down till we were doing 120 knts, descending to 1500 for a straight in approach to Auburn. It was a nice controlled decent with a smooth touchdown. I knew it was not close to a hour yet and taxied back to the end of 34. By now it was dark. On the next circuit I turned to early and over flew the runway at 1000'. then next time around I extended to about where the new trains depot is and had a good approach & landing. The Hobbs meter that clock the time was hard to read with my red light. It had the last tenth number in red. Finally after 34H was tied down, with a white light, it read off .9 hours .

me

This is my first blog. I am not even sure why I am blogging. Anyway, I am Dave ,the Chicken Pilot. It is not that I am scared, well I am afraid of heights, But that I'm a Cautious pilot, and like a chicken i always come home to roost in the same coop(hangar).I learned to fly in 2007, I guess the dirt bikes finally got to much effort. I did ride the Baja 500 race course on a "trail boss tours"(.com) adventure for my 50th birthday. I wasn't the fastest guy on that ride of ten bikes, but one of the only three who were faster broke a hand on the second of 3 days and didn't finish. Doesn't that make me 3rd?So now I fly, riding the air like I once rode the trails. The bad part is that it is march in Seattle( everywhere really) & the weather sux. Clouds and wind ground the small GA aircraft I fly. I belong to two flying clubs, one at BFI,Boeing field, and one at S50, Auburn Muni. This allows me access to 8 planes, only two of which have not yet flown. All Cessna 172's& 150's. A 172 is a bit bigger faster and had 4 seats, the 150 only seats a cramped 2. But the smaller plane is more fun to fly solo , as long as I am not in a hurry to get anywhere. Like comparing an old MG to a sedan. The sedan is faster and more comfortable, but the two seater has a "fun factor". I have about 170 hours of time logged so far, and the longest trip so far was to Eugene Or.. Hopefully this yr, I can blog about crossing the mountains east & circling the Olympic Mountains. I have a lot of places to fly. Dave, The chicken pilot