Coming Home From The Airshow

This is the B-17 Sentimental Journey on the ground at Madras. At 8:30 Sunday morning, in order to fly home, we needed to get some altitude to get above the smoke from all the Warm Springs fires. We circled the airport a couple of times to get above 5500'. There was a temporary flight restriction (TFR) to the immediate west of the airport because of thick smoke. I think we might have been about 4000' off the ground when I snapped this photo. Heading directly north from the airfield I saw a CHI Helicopter at the end of the field - brought over to help fight the fires which are still going today.

The smoke created an interesting light for the camera on the ground.

CAF's B-25

Looking back towards Madras, the smoke clouds appear solid but are really opaque when you look downwards.
We ended up flying about 6500' and as soon as we cleared the TFR, flew directly west between Jefferson and Hood mountains.

Going To The Airshow

Central Oregon during the last week in August generally yields some amazing thunderhead build-ups and the subsequent lightening strikes which makes for interesting flying.

Flying East - towards Mt. Hood
You can see scattered thunderheads in thedistance

We like to go to Madras, Oregon at this time of year which gets us over to the warmer part of the state (lol). The flying season is winding down for those of us who fly open-cockpit biplanes so the Central Oregon Airshow is about the next-to-last airshow. It's also filled with hot cars, people who get flying airplanes, amazing hospitality and good weather.

If you squint - that's Mt. St. Helens in the distance - Sandy area below

 

WHAT is the name of this lake? Lost Lake? on the north side of Hood.

This year, thunderheads did a giant wham-bang over in the Bend-Redmond area sparking numerous small fires. We woke up Friday to our own thunderstorm in the Willamette Valley. The storm started passing and we were able to take off around 8:30am. We usually go NE towards the gorge, flying up to Hood River and then turning nearly straight south to Madras. The gorge was still socked in, thunderheads were still scattered around and we flew just to the north of Mt. Hood.

We only had a few fat drops of rain hit us but a headwind bringing the heat from Central Oregon kept us warm as we climbed to over 6000 feet to get over the mountains.

 We had forgotten to take our aeronautical map with us and our internal radios were fritzin' out on us so a lot of hand-gestures later, we figured out that Madras was to the east of the giant fire plume. Visibilty was still pretty good but when we left Sunday, it had degenerated to about nothing.

Warm Springs Reservation

We had to taxi to the end of the runway (5000') because we didn't have enough brakes to make the first exit off. As we were approaching the end, the voice over the radio said," Stearman? Are you going to be done with the runway soon? The B-17 would like to land."

Taxiing - missed the short taxi.

So - we are taxiing - finally off the runway when the B-17 touches down.
Just as it is going by and I am about to get the world's best photo here -
we taxi past this tied-down airplane. Whatever.

Madras puts on a great night airshow, incorporating some airplane acts before dusk and finishing with a glider gliding gently down with fireworks. This year, they really got all of the  squirrly electronic noise out of the speakers and the music with the glider was phenomenal.
Was it Vivaldi? Very emotional.

CAF B-25 - as we taxi on by

We are parked and I am getting out of my seat and I managed to get this shot of the B-17
taxiing to it's spot on the tarmac.
You can see the smoke behind him.

The B-17 and the B-25 Bombers are part of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF)

N3N

One of the originating organizers. Ron Och's N3N (not to be confused with a Stearman)

Next blog post: Leaving with no visibility

Central Oregon Airshow & Wildfires

A quick post - we just got back from the Central Oregon Airshow -- which is one of our favorite small airshows where we go to see cool planes, fabulous hot rods, a night airshow and lots of pilot friends.
I will post more about it later but I have to go water my yard now.

 Getting ready for take-off, I think I am fussing with my helmet strap.

Starting to taxi out to the runway. The plane in front of us belongs to a neighbor of ours. It's a Lockheed Electra. Not the one Amelia Earhart flew but it also has an interesting history. It was bought new by the president of Mexico (El Presidente)  who used to stand up inside the cockpit and wave through a sunroof at his admirers.
Between us, in the background, is the Commemorative Airforce's B-17.

And behind all of that is a huge wall of smoke from at least 35 wildfires raging through the Warm Springs Reservation.

Major Upheaval

I feel surrounded by major projects.
And, it is a relief to get here.
All summer, I have been surrounded by major diva dramas - I swear - my forehead has been tattooed with "Bring It On."
But we are done with those and it is on to big - "will we ever get finished?" projects.

Just a preview of recent photos:

Wedding Reception Decor

This drama? The bride looked gorgeous and was so incredibly happy. Worth it.

All these blondes in a row, ending at the flower girl (didn't quite get into the viewfinder).

Instead of flying over to Madras for my favorite airshow, the wedding took center stage.

Couch set. Bought at a garage sale for $75 (talked down from $100). Love seat, chair and couch. Recovering them is cheaper than buying one of the new pillow couches for sale in the furniture stores. We are sending these out to the upholsterer who did the seats for the airplane.
We picked the fabric and I need to go order it tomorrow at Fabric Depot.    30 yds.

So- Does all furniture have freckles? We sanded these down to get rid of the speckles and discovered a little known fact about MAPLE. It doesn't accept stain well. On some valued advice, we are starting over to bare wood, roughing up the bare wood with 200 grit sandpaper so the stain has something to adhere to.

Up-side-down ottoman from my $20 garage sale find; Chair and ottoman. This one I am reupholstering myself. Same problem with freckled wood. The chair arm claws are very worn - hence the refinishing of the wood.
The fabric arrived last week. I need to start in on the double welting.

After 20 years, we are putting in hickory wood floors. Everything comes up. Everything gets packed away. We have labs which are allowed inside and the oil in their coats creates the darker places on the carpet around the furniture.

Hopefully, this will happen in the next week. We are doing a Swedish Finish which necessitates us leaving the house for three days while the wood guy does his stuff. Want to get it done here in September while we can still leave windows open - to air out any gases.

Only 33 Million Bugs Committed Suicide

March 24, 2010
We went flying this afternoon. Just for a half-hour or so. The annual was done last weekend and the plane got buttoned back up Saturday morning. We were going to go try her out that afternoon - but then the wind picked up.
A slight delay for that first flight of the year.
We pulled the plane out and I grabbed my helmet and headset and strapped myself in.
"I should have grabbed the camera. But then I have to unbuckle and get out...it'll be okay."
A real string of random thoughts tore through my mind during the entire flight and I feel like trying to recreate the craziness of my brain.
It was quite warm - nearly 70' and I am going up in just my t-shirt. A little worried about getting cold up there but, nah, it'll be okay.
The engine starts with a huge cloud of smoke - this is from the oil that gets trapped in the bottom of the cylinders and we idle for a few minutes while the oil warms up.
Then we taxi to the end of the runway, one neighbor's backyard  over and do our run-up. This is where we run the engine up to about 1600 rpms and check our magneto function, carb. ice and assorted other little checks. We line up to take off and get about 200 yds down the runway when my hubby lowers the throttle. He forgot to pull down his goggles. Back we go to the start of the runway and this time we get airborne with an ease that never ceases to amaze me for all that the plane weighs a bazillion tons and then the airflow over the wings lifts us up. We're flying.

We climb out over the blue barn and circle back over Canbyland - over Randy's house on 10th because he expects it.

My hubby keeps the altitude about 1000 feet. I'm just in a t-shirt and it is just right. Another few hundred feet up and it would be brisk. My job is to look for other planes and they seem concentrated west over the Aurora airport doing touch and go's. Nothing else in the sky.
I'm thinking about my yard and weeding and rain tomorrow and I should transplant all those volunteer poppies tomorrow. All of the farmers have tilled their fields and my garden isn't turned over yet.
Spring green is the color against the fresh- turned dirt of the fields. Seems like all the nurseries are growing evergreens, hard to find anyone growing rhododendrons - at least nothing is blooming en masse in the fields. Rhodies and azaleas have fallen out of favor.

We turn east towards Mt. Hood. Northwards, I can see Mt. St. Helen's in a little bit of haze. Jefferson is a tad south for me to see over the horizon.
It's been warm lately, so all the snow has melted off the foothills.
Between the Ireland fields and the Canbyland fields is some similarities - animals grazing, Spring green colors, white plastic bales of manure - composting. The distinct perimeter lines of the fields show up the differences - lack of ROCKS everywhere in Canbyland. Ubiquitous in Ireland.
Rocks, rocks and more rocks there.

None of these pictures are from today - they are from August last year on the trip to Madras for the airshow. Very dry and clear weather going over to the east side of the state.

Approaching Canbyland again, we buzz the other airpark.  Except for one person out mowing, no one sees us go by - but they hear us.
A round engine, one of the loveliest sounds next to a Harley motorcycle.

I'm thinking momentarily about my latest doctor visit and the new medicine. I'm tired from it but I'm not reacting to it as much as the antibiotics. I'm also not as hungry. I had the extra cube steak this afternoon after I did a bit of yardwork and then I took a nap. I think I'll skip dinner - we'll get back around 6:30pm.
We putz around for a few more minutes and then land it back home with only a bounce in the landing to remind us to practice flying more often.

We land, taxi back to the hangar, flip the prop to horizontal and put her away.
If you want another ride in a Stearman, it's time to debug the wings and wipe the excess oil off the plane.
Done.
I can assure you that there were a thousand thoughts during that flight but they seem to have drifted out and away at 1000 feet. I can only recall a few now.
I love flying.