Aug 18-19, 2012 - POA fly-in Shelter Cove

[Jim Logajan]

Glad to hear! Would be a nice event to schedule for later in the fall when the coastal weather is perfect. Half Moon Bay would be another good one.

The fog and low clouds definitely caused frustrating problems for people attempting to travel in and out on the weekend. I'll let everyone tell their own stories - if they choose - and tell only mine.

Four planes carrying eight people managed to make it in. My wife and I departed around noon from Creswell, OR (77S) and flew out to near North Bend, OR (KOTH) and then followed the coastal fog and low clouds south down to where Shelter Cove (0Q5) should have been (arrived about 3:10 I think.) But other than seeing the homes on the hills above the fog layer that had lifted to be a low cloud layer, the only hole appeared to be over the water on the south end of the runway. I decided to divert to Garberville - but about 2/3rds of the way there I decided I gave up too easily, so flew back and took another look. This time I approached from the south and descended toward the south hole to take a good look through it at a low angle. I could just see the numbers for runway 30 by flying to the right of the extended runway center line. But that was it. Would have required some ess turning at low altitudes to line up for landing. I gave up and landed in Garberville. 3.6 hrs on the Hobbs to fly 233.5nm.

Took an hour for the shuttle to arrive and another hour to get to the hotel. $100. I suspect it is one of the few places in the U.S. where a rental plane is faster (and cheaper) to go 12.4nm.

Met John, focal_plane, Kimberly, and their significant others. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant that Kimberly had made reservations for and later we all swapped lies around the hotel's outdoor fire pit. Being an easily tired old man, I (and the wife) left the group around midnight.

On the flight back I took a more direct route back home and put 2.5hrs on the Hobbs. A head wind versus a tail wind made a difference too.

It was fun but exhausting - I regret not having arranged to stay two or three nights like John and focal_plane did.

 

[Jim Logajan]

2. The weather was not good enough when I first got to Shelter Cove and I, too, diverted to Garberville (later came back to re-attempt)

Since I didn't get into 0q5 (Shelter Cove) but did land in Garberville (o16) I can't compare their difficulties, but as we both learned, o16 was a challenge. There is a note in the AOPA airport page for o16 that suggests pilots trying to land there should have mountain flying experience. Obviously not due to altitude, but probably due to these factors: finding it among the valleys that all look similar, then descending into a pattern in hilly terrain with up and down drafts, finally handling the turbulence on final in a small valley where you lose visibility of the runway on downwind.

For others who are wondering, this picture is representative of much what it looked like down most of the southern Oregon and northern California coast:

Although at one point we actually saw a peak of ocean:

Here's a shot my wife took as we departed Garberville; I believe this is between the town of Garberville and the airport - just after I made an immediate right turn on departing 36:

 

[Jim Logajan]

My wife decided to experiment with taking videos in flight with her SLR camera, so she took this quick 30 second video of our takeoff from Garberville. This was her first (and only, so far) attempt to shoot video in a plane.