It's Finally Arrived!

No, not the engine for the 206...this...

Six years of hard work; I almost cried when I got it!

Foiled Again

Well, we just got word that the engine for the 206 didn't really get shipped when they said it did, so we won't be putting it in this weekend. Now the plan is next weekend.

I'm finding more and more every day how spoiled we all were at Moody. It's full of incredible people, amazing facilities, and a fleet of aircraft that are very well-maintained. It's true that sometimes you don't know how good you had it until you're gone. Here are some pictures of our Mountain Flying experience in the 206.

This one is a little asphalt airstrip tucked away in the Idaho mountains. The approach to the airport is a little interesting as you can see from the picture. You kind of have to follow the river until the runway comes into view. If you look in the center of the picture where the river bends right, the runway is just to the right of the river.

This was a really fun grass airstrip in Idaho. From the air, it looks like a dog leg, and when you takeoff you have to follow the bend (otherwise you run into the pines). And when you're landing there is no option of aborting the landing once you pass a certain point on final approach because the airplane wouldn't be able to outclimb the terrain beyond the airport. So as our instructors said, if a deer runs out onto the runway when you're about to land, let the 6 foot meat cleaver swinging out front take care of 'em. And finally, here's a short clip of one of the strips we practiced at....

A Much Needed Break

For Labor Day Weekend Joy and I were planning on going camping somewhere, but as usual, our plans changed and we decided to fly out to the coast and stay in a little town called Astoria for the night. It's only a 30 minute flight.

This picture was actually taken on the way back to Portland. Some very low clouds started blowing in off the ocean right after we took off.We couldn't help but drive out to the beach and take a quick stroll in the sand! All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend and a much needed break from routine.