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Today is why I bought my airplane

First, some backstory. Last year, there was an attempt at holding a fly-in for the Northwest region of the Beech Aero Club. The destination airport was Hood River, 4S2. However, the weather decided otherwise and it was cancelled. Actually it was the weather forecast, as the weather on the actual day turned out to be considerably better than predicted and may have been good enough to go ahead. However, since we had to make a decision beforehand, we decided to call it off for the time being.

A couple days ago, I received a message from John, another member of the Beech Aero Club letting me know that, given the weather forecast which predicted beautiful weather, the fly-in would be held today, and asking if I would be attending. I wanted to go, but I was concerned that Harvey Field would be fogged in for the morning as has been usual for the past couple of months. I responded that I'd see how it went and that, if there was no fog, or it lifted in time, I would try to make it down. I went to bed earlier than normal for a Friday night and set my alarm for 6:00am so I could get up in plenty of time to have coffee and breakfast, drive out to the airport, fly down there, and arrive before noon.

Well, this morning, the airport was indeed fogged in. What I've come to expect is that the fog lifts around noon with the afternoon being lovely. I checked the airport weather camera on Harvey Field's website periodically throughout the morning and, at about 10:00 or so, I decided the fog was going to follow its usual pattern of behavior. However, at about 10:30, the camera showed the fog beginning to dissipate. So I figured I'd head out and fly down there. Even if I arrived too late for lunch, hopefully there would still be some other members there that I could meet.

At this point I could go into a detailed description of my route and altitude. However, I'll spare you that and simply say that it was a lovely flight down. It is the farthest I've flown from home, and the first time I've flown to an airport in another state, though it's just barely on the Oregon side of the state line (the line being the Columbia River). When I arrived, Damon was waiting for me to show me where to park, and then he took me to where the other members were gathered.

I didn't know until a few days ago that the Hood River airport (whose name is actually Ken Jernstedt Airfield) is home to the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum. I didn't have enough time to explore it thoroughly, but it has a pretty amazing and extensive collection. Someday I want to go back, stay a couple of days in Hood River, and spend a day exploring the museum.

Today several employees of the museum were working on their latest acquisition: a Ford Trimotor. I didn't hear anyone say whether or not the plane is now owned by the museum, or is on loan, but a quick Google search indicates that they did indeed purchase the plane and the museum is its new permanent home. It looks like it's in excellent condition. They were working on the engines, and one of them told us they're getting it ready to start flying in April. What an amazing aircraft, and what an amazing acquisition by the museum.

When I got there, there were three other BAC members: the aforementioned Damon, the organizer John, and Craig. It turns out that I did make it in time for lunch, although just barely. The four of us chatted for a while, spent some time looking around the Trimotor, then it was time to head out in order to make it home before sunset.

The flight back was just as lovely as the flight down. I had no issues either way. Ariel's engine ran strong and she flew well. With today's flights, it's been almost 25 hours since the last oil change so, when I got back to Harvey Field, I went into the shop and put in a work order. They'll collect a sample for analysis and I'll send it off to Blackstone Labs. Hopefully the results will show that the amount of iron in the oil has continued to decrease and the engine will be good for some time.

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