My solo cross-country flight ended up being much more interesting and fun than I had anticipated. It started with two interesting destinations. I was kind of surprised when my instructor told me to plan a trip from Twin Oaks, to Sunriver, to The Dalles and then back to Twin Oaks. Sunriver sounded fun although I had not previously landed at an airport with an elevation around 5,000 feet. I had also not flown higher than 5,500 feet. To get to Sunriver I would need to fly at 9,500 feet while crossing the Cascades. Although finding strange airports, landing at a high density altitude, and flying over the Cascades at 9,500 feet sounded challenging, landing at The Dalles is what I was really nervous about. I can't remember driving through The Dalles when it was not windy. The Dalles is thought of as one of the best places in the world to wind-surf due to the consistently strong winds. The idea of landing a taildragger at a strange, windy airport did not sound like much fun. However, I assumed Ron (my instructor) knew what he was doing so I went ahead and planned the trip. As it turned out Ron did know what he was doing because I had a fun educational trip.

The weather forecast for the morning/day of my trip looked perfect all week - clear skies and low winds. Since it was early October, I considered this a real blessing. However, when I called the morning of the flight to get a weather briefing the weather had changed for the worse. According to the briefer a layer of clouds had come in overnight with a base of around 4,500 feet. She expected the layer to be up against the Cascades so I would not be able to fly over between Salem and Portland as I had planned. She was pretty sure I could fly down towards Eugene and cross the mountains once I'm out from under the cloud layer. She said the best rout to Sunriver would be through the Columbia Gorge as it would be clear all day. I didn't want to fly over through the Gorge because that was the rout for my return trip. So, I decided I would fly South down the Cascades until I was clear of clouds, then over to Sunriver where the weather briefer said it would be clear.

Shortly after takeoff I could see there was no way I was going to be able to fly my planned rout. Instead of climbing to 9,500 feet and flying East, I was at 3,500 flying south. I plotted my new position on the chart hoping not to get lost in the process. As you can see from the above picture, I could tell the briefer was correct in that the skies were clear to the south. The cloud bank actually ended near Salem. Near the edge of the cloud bank I made a climbing turn and eventually ended up at 9,500 heading east. As you can see from following the photos, to my north it was cloudy but to my south it was clear as I flew along the edge of the cloud bank towards Sunriver. It was a beautiful flight!

By the time I crossed the Cascades I was only about fifteen miles south of my original course. The landmarks on the chart were quite easy to spot so verifying my position was a piece of cake - until I approached Sunriver. The town of Sisters is shown on the chart by name but is not depicted in yellow as other medium sized cities are. The city of Sunriver is depicted on the chart in yellow just south of the airport. I could see an airport ahead of me in the general position I had expected to find the Sunriver airport. However, to the south of the airport there was no city - only scattered vacation homes. As I flew closer to the airport I began to wonder if I was lost? All of the landmarks were in place with the exception of the city of Sunriver - which according to the map was easily spotted from the air. As I over-flew the airport I decided it must be Sunriver because the runway numbers were lining up with what was shown in my Flight Guide. I now know not to always trust the chart because the city of Sisters looked much larger than Sunriver from the air although the opposite is depicted on the chart.

I flew the right hand pattern staying west of the river per the flight guide and made a near perfect landing. I didn't really need to go to the bathroom but figured I might as well park the plane and get out. I walked over to the pilot's lounge and used the john. There were three pilots and one person manning the desk in the lounge who I smiled at and said good morning to. I wanted to tell them all about my solo flight but could see they were in the middle of their own conversation. So, I headed back out to the 170 and departed to the north.

My flight from Sunriver to The Dalles went as planned as far as rout but not as far as altitude or airspeed. I had planned to fly at 6,500 feet at 115mph. Due to low clouds I flew much lower and due to a lighter plane and dense air I was only going 97mph. Instead of the clear sly forecasted earlier in the morning, I had low ceilings with occasional light rain. As with my earlier leg, I was finding it easier than expected to locate my position on the chart.

The weather improved when I got to The Dalles - there was no sign of rain and the ceilings were broken. I overflew the airport to verify the ATIS broadcast and found a slight crosswind which was much better than what I was expecting. I entered the pattern on left crosswind and proceeded to make another great landing. I would love to say it was a great cross-wind landing but the winds died down a little as I came in on final - maybe 5mph.

I decided to get gas although I was pretty sure I could make it home on what was in the plane. I figured getting gas at a different airport would be a good experience. As it turns out, they don't allow pilots to pump their own gas at The Dalles. I enjoyed taking with the attendant, went to the bathroom again, and departed to the west. Don't ask me why but I didn't think to have anyone take my picture at Sunriver or The Dalles. I wish I had at least thought to get a picture of the 170 parked on the ramp.

As you can see from comparing the above picture to the following pictures, the return leg through the Gorge looked quite pleasant but quickly turned ugly. As I flew west it became quite bumpy. As the ceiling dropped the air became much more turbulent. Due to the added weight of the additional fuel, the 170 was now flying at 115mph. The yellow arc starts at 120 in the 170 so I felt comfortable flying at 115 in the turbulence. Then all of a sudden the plane dropped more than I had ever dropped in a plane. Had it not been for my seatbelt, I'm sure I would have hit my head on the ceiling. At this point the cloud layer was lower than the edges of the Gorge. It felt strange seeing the edges of the Gorge ascend into the cloud layer over my head. Knowing I was under the designed weight of the 170 I decided to slow down to 110mph (to be 10mph under the designed operating speed) and fly a bit lower (500 feet) to try and avoid some turbulence.

The ride was smother at the lower altitude. However, as I continued to fly down the Gorge the ceilings continued to drop. As I approached Portland and the Portland Class C airspace I was wondering if I was going to be able to make it out of the Gorge. I could see a wall of mist ahead of me that may force me to turn around and land at Cascade Locks to wait out the weather. At this point I was really glad I had added gas back at The Dalles. With everything else I was thinking about I would hate to also have to keep an eye on my fuel.

Shortly after the last photo was taken I was lucky enough to have the south side of the Gorge drop to an altitude that I could fly between the low ceilings and the ground and still maintain VFR minimums. Before heading south, I was a little worried about visibility becoming worse but instead it improved. Once through the mist/light rain shown in the above photo the conditions resembled what I saw earlier in the morning when I departed but with lower ceilings.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. However, for the first time during my flight I had a tough time finding my exact location on the chart. Due to low ceilings, I had flown much further down the Columbia than I had planned before heading southwest. This slight loss of position along with continuous suburbs under me made me a little unsure of my exact position. I knew my location within ten to twenty miles but until I reached the Willamette and I-5 I did not feel as sure as I had earlier in the day.

When I returned to Twin Oaks I once again made a nice cross-wind landing. I probably should not be so surprised but making three good landings in a row with very little practice during the past month surprised me. Not only were they good landings but I really enjoyed making them. In fact, the whole trip was enjoyable. It was by far the most fun I have had flying to date. I was expecting it to be interesting but also a bit boring. I would guess I had a ten minute stretch between Sunriver and The Dalles where I was a bit board. However, the rest of the trip was pure joy!


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