LRH and I attended a photography workshop in Portland focusing on using wireless flash for creative lighting. We had a fun and learned a ton. Here are some results.
Catherine Creek Photography
I had another adventurous weekend, starting with my flight to Goldendale Saturday morning. I was at the airfield by 10AM for preflight and departed by 10:45 with the intention of beating the gusty winds that were forecast for the afternoon. I made it out to Goldendale and was busy practicing some ground reference maneuvers when the Gorge winds finally started to kick up. The flight home was bumpy, to say the least, and it culminated in my first solo crosswind landing with 16 knot gusts.
Sunday, LRH and I decided to take our little Fuss Nugget to Catherine Creek since the wildflowers are in full bloom. This is a incredible place for photography and portraits. The park itself is set on a plateau overlooking the Columbia River with a paved trail that forms a one mile loop. Siena had a blast with the wildflowers and foot bridges. She would excitedly proclaim “weeee!” whenever an airplane flew by, which happened several times since the Columbia River is a highway for air traffic. In fact, I had flown over this park the day before.
We arrived just a few hours before sunset, so the light was soft and filtered. Here are a few landscape shots I came up with.
Internet Explorer
IE is the work of Beelzebub. No support for semi-transparent PNGs. Not standards compliant. Bugged. Slow. Ugh… This browser is an epic pile of suck. Please download Firefox or Opera if you use Windows.
W3 keeps track of browser statistics at this site: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp According to the data, IE accounts for 35.3% of browsers on the web. In fact, IE6, the bane of all web developers has almost 10% of the browser market. WTF?! Are these people too lazy to go to Mozilla and click download? I just don’t understand.
::rant off::
Siena Loves Her Books
Siena took out all her books, placed them in a pile and spent over a half hour reading them. Apparently I did this all the time when I was a kid.
Air-to-Air Photoshoot, UFOs and Stomach Flu
This last weekend was interesting, to say the least. I originally planned a two hour solo flight for Saturday – a quick trip to Goldendale for some practice landings on their narrow strip and maybe some VOR tracking en route. However, upon arriving at the airport, they asked me to grab my camera and instead photograph the new addition to the FBO’s flight school, a beautiful Cessna 182: N34SR. I returned home in a hurry, ignoring Siena’s enthusiastic “Daddy!!!” as I walked in the door and grabbed my Nikon D700 with portrait lens and my Canon Digital Rebel with a 300mm zoom. Batteries? Check. Memory Cards? Check. Memory Cards and Batteries installed in camera? Check! After that it was back to the airport.
We departed as a flight of two and flew formation across the Cascades, passing Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams for a total of one hour. I sat in the left seat of the lead plane (a Cessna 172) and shot N34SR while my flight instructor had the controls. The windows of the Cessna open to the outside and when released will swing all the way open and stay there due to the force of the slipstream, making this particular airplane ideal for aerial photography. With one hand on the shutter button and one on the comm I verbally guided N34SR in the frame of my camera and shot away. The FBO needed photos of their new airplane to promote their scenic flights and flight school – I’m hoping they’ll be happily impressed with these:
After returning from the air-to-air shoot, I took the Cessna up for a solo flight around Mt. Hood. Pleasant, calm and uneventful described my one hour flight, that is, until I decided to land. I was at 3000 feet MSL, inbound for a 45 degree entry to the left downwind leg of the pattern for runway 25 when I noticed a shiny metallic object in an ascending trajectory directly in front of me. At first I thought it was a helicopter that had just departed from the airport, but I didn’t hear any radio calls announcing the departure prior to seeing this thing. As I approached it, I couldn’t see wings or rotors so it definitely wasn’t a manned craft. The sun was glinting off its metallic surface, which further obscured it from view. I immediately rolled to the left and the object passed by me. Whatever it was, it was fast, circular and almost hit me. I have a feeling that it was a large balloon of some kind – definitely not a party balloon. Either way, I couldn’t identify this flying object, so I can safely say that I’ve seen my first UFO.
While I was flying, one of my coworkers was entertaining guests at her housewarming party. They have a beautiful custom home right next to the runway, so I landed in front of my entire company, their spouses and significants others, and a bunch of people I didn’t know. Of course my landing was graded, as everyone knew I was the pilot of the Cessna that just touched down. I made the mistake of grabbing a beer before telling people about the UFO I spotted above the valley. After one glance at my drink, the conversation quickly transitioned into, “So, you fly drunk, huh?” or “How many beers is this for you tonight?”. Hey, at least I wasn’t trying to convince them it was a spaceship!
While my Saturday was fun, my Sunday was miserable, for myself, my wife and nugget. We all came down with the stomach flu, putting an abrupt end to our plans for post processing the pictures from the air-to-air shoot. I had forgotten what stomach flu was like, having last experienced it in Venice ten years ago. It was intense but fortunately short lived. I am finally starting to feel better and can’t wait to get up there again, maybe with a tin foil hat this time.
Requiescat in Pace
Last year on Thanksgiving Day our family received the sad news that my uncle (also Siena’s Godfather) had passed away. He was 49. I owe much of who I am today to my Uncle Patrick’s active role in my formative years. I was also named after him.
Little Red Hen and I returned to California with our one-month-old baby to attend his funeral service, a beautiful Latin Requiem Mass. Even though she didn’t understand the concept of death, Siena was able to see her Godfather for the first time and say goodbye in her own way. She also brought hope and smiles to our grieving family. We later flew to Colorado to attend his burial. Patrick finally returned home.
While Thanksgiving Day will always be tainted by this sad event, I do have much to be thankful for – such as my uncle’s influence on me, his support and his example.
I wrote the eulogy for his funeral program and I would like to share that with you:
Patrick was well known for his love of the rugged wilderness. It was here that he ventured as a young man and longed to revisit as an adult. It was here that he felt the closest to God and the most in touch with himself. Patrick was a student of American history, learning the forgotten ways of the Native Americans and survival techniques used by the early fur traders. However, just reading about these remarkable times never satisfied him. He lived his passion and used his immense knowledge of wilderness survival to venture into the mountains with a rifle and a few basic tools. In an act that would have left many frozen and starving on the mountainside, Patrick was at one with the wilderness and returned to civilization at the time of his choosing. Hunting, fishing, and exploring the Rocky Mountains are among his fondest memories, in solitude and with those he loved. The unexplored and wild reaches of our nation’s backcountry, he often remarked, was a perfect reflection of God’s majesty.
Patrick’s Roman Catholic faith was as solid as the Rocky Mountains he loved. His trust in our Lord and His Church was unwavering. From this solid foundation, he derived great strength that he drew upon throughout his life. This inner strength was reflected outward in the form of uncompromising integrity, trustworthiness, and a compassionate demeanor. These attributes echoed in everything he did, from his personal relationships to his business activities. Like his father, he was known as a man of honor who commanded respect.
Perhaps it was Patrick’s inner strength that formed a beacon of hope for so many whose lives he touched. Perhaps it was his jolly sense of humor or his limitless stories about mountain expeditions that so entranced family and friends. Whatever the reason, he was immensely likable. All those who interacted with Patrick learned about themselves in the process. Children and adults alike found their sense of adventure as he conveyed in dramatic prose his many exploits. Wayward souls found in Patrick a well of strength, a role model, and a guiding light. His life experience and great wisdom were gifts he imparted onto his friends and anyone who sought advice or needed help. His family was infinitely blessed by his kindness, love and support, knowing that they could count on him to make time for their needs. Fulfilling a promise to his father, he spent his final days caring for his beloved mother, always her guardian. Patrick was a gift to us all.
Patrick lived his life for others, often at the expense of pursuing his own dreams. He frequently spoke of his desire to return to the mountains and build a cabin on a few acres of his own. He is there now, camping on a rugged moonlit peak with his outfitters tent and a blazing fire. He is looking down on us with a smile. His spirit and his memory are that of a grizzly bear: strong and enduring. He will be sorely missed.
Rest in Peace Uncle Pat.
Happy Halloween
We hope you had a safe and happy Halloween. Here are a few pictures from our day. A year ago Siena was 3 days old! Baby’s First Halloween
Flying Over Portland at Night
What a crazy summer its been. LRH and I have been so busy we haven’t had time to blog in months. We need to change that :(
With the completion of my night flights, I’m almost done with flight training. I had to log one cross country flight at night and Aurora made a great destination. After taking off, I just flew in circles to gain enough altitude to see the Portland lights. The local airfield is set in a valley, making it somewhat dangerous on a moonless night since the ridges are cloaked in darkness. As we ascended to our cruising altitude, my flight instructor asked me if I had ever done a stall-spin at night. I replied with, “No let’s do one! In fact, why don’t we descend to 3000’AGL so there is no room for error.” Fortunately we were both joking!
After we reached 7500’MSL, we tuned Seattle Center and requested VFR flight following (asking for radar tracking). Soon after, we were handed off to Portland approach at PDX and headed west across the Cascades toward the city. En route, we listened to radio conversations between the PDX tower and 737 captains inbound for landing. The best of these conversations featured a Quantas captain complete with an Australian accent :)
It was an amazingly calm and clear night. I could see the tail lights of other air traffic as clearly as the sea of stars above us and the blanket of electric lights below us. As we approached Aurora, we descended and tuned the local CTAF in preparation for landing. There were three other airplanes in the pattern, including an experimental home-built RV. Landing at night was just as tricky as taking off at night. It’s difficult to judge distance and depth with the ground dimly illuminated by electric lights.
The return trip took us north to the gorge and we followed the Columbia River back home. As we we flew just east of the class C airspace surrounding PDX, a 737 passed under us during its descent to landing – a bit too close for [my] comfort :-)
This flight easily ranks as one of the top-ten most incredible things I’ve experienced. I can’t wait to take my wife on a night flight!
Flight to Lost Lake and First Solo
Last Tuesday’s flight lesson started out no different than all the previous lessons. I did a preflight check of the Cessna, my flight instructor joined me and we taxied out to the runway. It was a calm morning so the departure and flight were smooth. I flew to Lost Lake and Bull Run Lake, both located near Mt. Hood, taking pictures along the way. My flight instructor had just visited the lake with his wife and pointed out the available activities (boating, camping, etc.) as we performed a steep turn over the lake on our way back to the airfield. It was a perfectly windless, scenic, half-hour morning flight. Upon returning to the airport, I did a few more practice landings concluding with my flight instructor endorsing my pilot logbook and asking me to complete three patterns solo (takeoff, circle around the airfield and land). My response was simply “Oh @#$@ are you serious?” as he stepped out of the airplane.
The first solo flight is an important milestone in flight training and I reached it without a problem. After my first solo landing, my flight instructor congratulated me over the radio with “good job flyboy!” Two patterns later and I was on the ground again having my shirt cut off my back. This tradition dates back to the early days of aviation when student pilots flew in tandem trainers where the instructor would sit behind them. Without radios the flight instructor had to tug on the students shirttail to get his attention before yelling into his ear. Cutting the shirttail off is a symbolic gesture indicating that the instructor has enough confidence in his student to allow him to fly solo, thus the shirttail is no longer needed.
In fact, the removed piece of cloth is a trophy for the instructor who proudly displays it on the wall of the flight school (or FBO in my case). My instructor wrote down the date of my solo, July 28, 2009, our names, and my first words upon landing after the third pattern, “I survived!”.
Since soloing, I’ve moved into a more advanced phase of training. Earlier today I was maneuvering over the Columbia River at 5000 ft performing power on stalls. Essentially, a power on stall is a maneuver where the airplane pitches up to lose enough airspeed to stop flying and instead start falling like a rock. Fortunately, the fall lasts for only a few seconds since the maneuver concludes by recovering from the stall. Still, thats a terrifying few seconds!
Thanks GA News!
General Aviation News recognized my wife’s incredible support and posted about it on their blog. They also linked her recent post about flying with me last week. Check out the blog entry here.
General Aviation News’ Main Website is here.