A whole new level of respect

[Carl Ellis]

This last weekend a bunch of us flew down to California for the Taylorcraft Rendezvous. There was two of us in the airplane at 190lbs each, full fuel, and enough baggage to have us at 1500lbs gross. We were able to climb out 500 fpm at 80mph and 85 F temp.

What an airplane!

- Carl -

[Forrest Barber]

atta boy see I always try to tell people what a great ship they are.... tell us a bit about the Fly-In......

[Carl Ellis]

I am including a trip report written by Mark Pearson. There were five Taylorcraft from Oregon - three from Portland and two from Medford.

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Hey everyone,



I thought I would share my observations and comments about the Columbia fly-in with everyone that flew down and those who might also be interested.


The weather was great the whole time. My wife Sandy and I left Thursday afternoon and stopped in Medford for the night. Flight time to Medford was 2:25 minutes. We parked at Medford Air Service on the west side, and they literally rolled out the red carpet for us. We were met there by Bill Warner, who I had met at Grants Pass on my very first trip down to Columbia four years ago. Bill has been flying mostly ultra-lights, but recently aquired a very nice BC12D which he showed to Sandy and I. It is cream with dark green trim and a very nice green interior. Bill then took us over to Bill Warner's hanger. Mr Warner has a very nice BC12D that is white with blue trim. It has "Simply Magic" painted on the lower cowl. Simply Magic and another plane belonging to Gene Warner flew down to Columbia.

Friday morning Sandy and I left Medford at 10:00 local and flew 1:57 to Red Bluff where we met up with Carl Ellis, Allen Harstine, and Chris Main. Carl's friend Steve Estergreen was with him. Chris carried our camping gear in a C172RG. After filling up with the $3.11 a gallon 100LL, we flew 2:17 to Columbia, arriving around 4:30 in the afternoon. The grass runway has been resodded and has a water sprinkler system. The grass was so green and lush we all took our shoes off to walk on it barefooted. There was talk of pitching our tent on it because it was so soft and cushy.

Anyone who has attended this fly-in knows that the drill is to fly over to Pine Mountain Lake airport about 15 minutes to the southeast for breakfast. We did. It was good. Then we went to Kent and Sandy Blankenship's hanger for a visual feast. I will not even try to describe the memorabilia they have displayed in these two large hangers. You have to see it to believe it. My wife got very emotional when she saw a little peddle pusher airplane just like she had when she was a kid. You just have to see it to believe it. It isn't all just airplane stuff either. It is anything and everything from the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

When we got back to Columbia after breakfast we all started looking at each others airplanes and talking about how we fixed this or modified that. It is always one of the high points of the trip for me to talk to some of these guys. As usual, I learned a couple of more tricks about how to get more power out of my engine without doing a major overhaul.

Ron and Rosemary Sawyer must like fat pilots because they kept trying to feed us really good. Ron cooked burgers for lunch on the grill there at the campsite. Later that afternoon some of the guys went up together to compare airspeeds and power settings. It is really good to be able to have a like airplane to compare yours to. Doc Meeker was showing off his really comfortable Oregon Aero seat cushions, which I liked, when I spotted a cheapy blue Pilot headset on the seat next to me. I asked him if this is what he was using for a headset and his reply was "That is my good one". Knowing he was going up that afternoon, I insisted he try one of my Lightspeed noise attenuating headsets. He converted me over to the Oregon Aero seats and I converted him to the Lightspeed headsets.

While there we met Charlie O'Brien and Bill Rogers from the Medford area. And there were many others from all over California. John Miles and Steve Austerlind were there as usual. As I was talking to Gene Warner, he looked at the N number on the tail of my plane and said, "I used to own that plane". He had owned if for about four years in Medford. He said it had always been an Oregon airplane. We chatted about what all had been done to it over the years. He told me he was glad to see it belonged to an owner that took good care of it and flew it.

As the sun leaned toward the western horizon, many of us started sipping a beer or a single malt scotch. Doc Meeker brought fancy cigars, but I didn't partake this year due to my new bride. She puts up with scotch kisses and I don't dare ask her to put up with cigar kisses on top of that. But we all mellowed out as the evening cooled down into the lower 70s, and kept the hanger talk going until dark when it was time for the spagetti feed.

A little before sundown Ron made off with all our women folk. He took them to his house to show them the five acres of roses he and his wife have. When he brought them back he had Rosemary with him and all the fixins for our annual feast.

Ron and Rosemary do this every year where they cook up a big batch of spagetti, as if they were expecting an army. Then they go around trying to get us to finish it all off. We never do. There is just no way we can eat that much spagetti. Ted Millar gave an interesting talk about the National Air Tour in which he flew a Stearman Cloudmaster around the eastern U.S. And then by that time the spagetti had settled a bit, so we slurpped down strawberries and icecream.

Stuffed full of pasta and berries we all wallowed our way to our tents and called it a night.

The next morning came early. Too early for me personally. I was awoken by hanger talk coming from the direction of the showers at 6:00 am. I would have been good for at least another hour of shut eye, but it just wasn't going to happen. We broke camp and were airborne by 8:30.

All of us from the Portland area agreed to meet again at Red Bluff for breakfast. We got there in 2:10, ate and made Medford in 2:06. We took on more gas there and said hi to Bill Warner, who had come out to meet us. Sandy and I climbed up to 8500 feet to get on top of a scattered layer and get a smoother ride on the way to Portland. We had to dodge some cumulus clouds along the way and finally around Corvalis were forced to decend. After dodging a rain shower near McMinnville we landed at Chehalem after 2:35 of flight.

Our total time for the trip down to Columbia was 6:39. On the way back we took 6:51 minutes. I used higher than normal power settings due to the heavy load we had. I have not totalled up the fuel bill, but with the prices the way they were I am very glad I don't own a gas guzzler. Even with the higher power settings, my fuel burns were always around 5 gallons per hour.

Cheers,


Mark

[Carl Ellis]

Columbia 2003 trip report

Since I posted the trip report from this year I thought I would include last year's as well.


- Carl -

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Allen, Mark, and Carl’s Excellent Taylorcraft Adventure




Every Mother’s Day weekend Taylorcraft owners, pilots, and enthusiasts rendezvous for a weekend of flying and fun in Columbia California. Columbia is a turn of the century gold rush town in the foot hills of the Sierras, now managed by the National Park Service. This is a destination favored by many in the flying community and almost every weekend is crowded with an aviation event of some type.



My friend Mark Pearson has made the trip for the past several years and being a new Taylorcraft owner I was excited by his stories and decided to attend. I invited fellow Chapter 902 member and Taylorcraft’er, Allen Harstine, to accompany us.


Friday 9, May 2003

Chehalem Airpark to Roseburg: 1.9 hours

Mark and I had planned to meet at 17S and be wheels up by 7am. After waiting for some time and leaving messages on his cell phone he finally calls. It had been a busy work week and a lot of running around getting his airplane ready to fly; a top end overhaul and other minor maintenance had just been completed. So understandably, he had overslept. A bit after 10am he arrives and we head south following I5 under a low broken layer to Roseburg.


We arrive in Roseburg around noon, no sign of Allen but his airplane is on the ramp. A quick call on the cell phone and he is there in 45 minutes, gassed up, and ready to go.


Allen had a bit of excitement on his flight down earlier in the morning. He flew over the broken layer but it was looking denser, and denser, the closer he got to Roseburg. Fortunately, a hole opened and he was able to easily descend.


Roseburg to Ashland: 1.5 hours

We depart south bound to Sexton Pass as a flight of three in a light rain. Mark tucked in tight on my left and Allen a quarter mile or so back. Mark worked for a number of years as a civilian target services pilot, flying Lear jets for the Navy and Oregon Air National Guard so he felt quite comfortable in so close. Me, I just tried to keep greasy side down and headed in the right general direction.


With his new A-65 cylinders, pistons, and rings, Mark wants to fly around 2000 rpm or 85 mph or less. This means that I have to throttle back too – I usually cruise around 95mph or 2250 rpm with my O-200. With the lower rpm and moist air, my little Continental ice maker starts working overtime. So, carb heat on and leave it on.


We are well below the ridges flying through the pass and looking down I could see that the bottom of the canyon has room for I-5 and nothing much else. Several miles north of Azalea my engine suddenly sags. A quick check of carb heat, full throttle, mags, primer, oh yeah, mixture. Leaning quickly smooths out the rough engine as either carb ice melted or carbon burned off the plugs. There is nothing like a rough engine in a canyon to get your attention.


The METAR obtained in Roseburg shows Sexton Pass to be marginal but as we approach we can see it will be clear with no problem. The ASOS station is on a 3833 foot peak which is misleading as the station may report just a 100 foot ceiling but in actuality there may be a 1000 feet of clearance below the reporting station altitude. Grants Pass and Medford are sunny with scattered clouds at 6000 feet or so. Skirting the class D airspace by flying over Jacksonville we press on to Ashland.


Over flying Ashland we see the clouds stacked up against Pilot Rock and the surrounding mountains. As we fly closer it becomes apparent that there is no chance of making it through the pass despite seeing a bit of brightness just over I-5. We make a 180 turn and return to land in Ashland into a stiff breeze from the north.


Ashland to Red Bluff: 1.7 hours

Fuel, lunch, and an hour and half wait have us ready to make another run at the pass. We can see the clouds lifting from the base of Pilot Rock so we quickly take off and can see well through the pass into the Siskiyou Valley. The clouds are just high enough to give us good clearance over the pass and we fly into bright sunshine which stays with us until Yreka.


South of Yreka the ceilings lower and we fly through light rain and turbulence which doesn’t let up until south of Castle Crags. Most of Mt. Shasta is covered by clouds but we can see fresh snow from the previous day.


Ceilings start to lift as we fly down the Sacramento River toward Shasta Lake. The Sacramento Valley spreads before us as we skirt west of Redding airspace and on to Red Bluff.


We arrive tired and hungry in Red Bluff and briefly consider how far we can press south before darkness falls. I decide I am too pooped to continue flying safely and Mark and Allen agreed they are too. As we finish refueling an older couple (Russ and Susie Greenberg) approach us and ask us about our trip. It turns out they live close to the airport and had seen (and heard) a friend’s Stearman overhead. The friend hadn’t landed but here they are. We are offered a look at their beautifully restored Stearman and a ride to a hotel and back to the airport in the morning. Their Stearman was a parts project and Susie did all the fabric work – a very nice job. Russ is an ex-air force fighter pilot who flew F106’s on nuclear alert out of Montague (Siskiyou) airport.


Dinner and a few shots of single malt have us ready to collapse into bed for a fresh start in the morning.


Saturday 10, May 2003

Red Bluff to Pine Mountain: 2.2 hours

Allen and I awake feeling rested but Mark was kept awake by the freight trains that ran all night. Russ and Susie pick us up and off we go to the airport for breakfast.


Allen decides that he needs to head back to Roseburg as he needs to be back early the next day. There is no way he can make it down to Columbia in the amount of time he has. It turns out he has a wonderful, smooth flight back to Roseburg under a high overcast.


We are off the ground by 9:30am and slowly climb to 5500 feet in hands in your lap smooth air. I call up Norcal approach just over Oroville for flight following as we fly over the eastern edge of Beale AFB’s airspace; approach drops us just south of Auburn.


Another hour and we are in the pattern at Pine Mountain. A Cherokee ahead of us in a wide pattern, plus rising terrain to the east distract me and I’m too high. Mark chops and drops and I go around.


Kent and Sandy Blankenberg’s his and her hangars have to be seen to be believed. Each must be at least 8000 square feet and stuffed with antique airplanes, motor bikes, uniforms, and other memorabilia. Kent has a Luscombe Phantom (the last airworthy example), Cessna 195, and Spartan Executive in his hangar (and a Seabee on the ramp), plus their deluxe living space in the upper part. Sandy has her Lockheed 11 and travel memorabilia in her hangar, plus Luscombe Phantom, serial number 1. The kitchen in her hangar would put many catering firms to shame.


The fly-in breakfast group from Columbia has come and gone so after browsing and dreaming for an hour or so we are off.


Pine Mountain to Columbia: 0.4 hours

Mark takes off first and I follow him for the quick flight to Columbia. I enter right base for the grass (29), turn final, look left, look right for cross traffic on 17/35 and grease it on – I love grass! If only the rest of my landings on this trip are like that.


There is already a line of airplanes, Taylorcraft, Cessnas, and Maules, so I park in the second row. It’s a little rocky in the tie-down area and the grass looks softer up in the camping area so I pitch my tent there under a tree. Camping under the wing will have to happen some other time.


The afternoon is started by walking into the historic, turn of the century gold mining town, currently managed by the National Park Service. It’s about a 20 minutes trek, fortunately, the weather is cooler this year, so it’s an easy, comfortable walk. Polish dogs from a street vendor rejuvenate us as we relax on a bench under the storefront covered wooden sidewalk.


Back for an afternoon of looking at Taylorcrafts, talking with pilots, and relaxing. The Ninety-nines are in Columbia for a convention. Some of them are camping near us and come out looking for rides in a Taylorcraft. Mark and other pilots oblige them; it’s fun to see the big grins afterwards on both pilot and passenger.


My friends Chris and Ryan who flew down from Portland in a C-172RG snag a ride in an Aztec. The pilot decides to use the grass and everyone holds their breath as he slowly accelerates in ground effect then pulls up into a steep climb. The runway rises to the west and has some pretty good sized trees off the end. Earlier in the day we watched a C-120 pilot try to take off and end up jumping on the brakes when he couldn’t get enough speed. Even after booting out his passenger he barely clears the trees on his second try.


Ron and Rosemary Sawyer put on a good spaghetti feed with strawberries and ice cream for dessert. Ron showed slides of their trip in 1983 from California to Pennsylvania, stopping in Alliance OH. Flying in the east looks very challenging with the fog and haze common in the summer time.


It’s early to bed for me after a walk and some conversation with Mark and a few other pilots.


Sunday 11, May 2003

Columbia to Red Bluff: 2.2 hours

I am up at 6:30am and the airplane is loaded and ready to go by 7:45. Mark is in no hurry so we have coffee and rhubarb pie as a quick breakfast. Everyone is moving at a leisurely pace but at least half of the crowd is already gone by 8:30am when we are ready. Chris and Ryan are gone by 8:00am.


It’s another hands in the lap calm flight back north. We pick up Norcal approach as we pass Beale AFB – they confusedly refer to us as a flight of two helicopters. Maybe it’s the 85mph that throws them. Rusty Coonfield says he often has the same problem with flight following. The snapping in my ANR headset is back. Mark notices the same problem and suggests that it’s the microwaves from the radar at Beale. I also notice the snapping around Klamath Falls but strangely have never noticed it around Portland; they must not use the same frequencies. A call to Flightcom customer service when I return to Portland confirms Mark’s theory.

Too much coffee and water before take off – I’ve been squirming for the past hour. The highest ground speed (117mph) of the trip registers on my GPS as I push the nose over on my descent into Red Bluff. A mad dash into the men’s room brings sweet relief. Mark suggests that I should have brought a bottle. The Taylorcraft cockpit is so tight I can’t imagine the contortions required to pull that off.


We eat breakfast, refuel, and regroup. Chris and Ryan check the weather and launch, they make it all the way to Grants Pass, then Portland with no problems.


Red Bluff to Yreka: 1.4 hours

We are off the ground a little after noon retracing our route across Shasta Lake and up the river. We cut the corners somewhat to the east crossing a number of high ridges. Mark politely suggests that we climb to comfortably clear the terrain.


Around Dunsmuir the lower ceilings and rain are back. So is the turbulence. Mark is getting the worst of it; he drops a wing 30 degrees with one bump. I must be lucky; it’s a little smoother up where I am. These little airplanes are a lot of work to fly when there is any turbulence; all that wing and not much weight.


Montague passes beneath and now we can see up I-5, up the canyon to the pass to Ashland. Well not really, it’s raining pretty hard and there is lots of fog up there. Too much for me! We circle back to land at Yreka/Montague.


A call to flight service and the FBO in Ashland confirms our decision. The mountains are obscured and TS are forecast for the Rogue Valley. It’s 3:00pm and we’ve made our decision; stay the night in beautiful Montague. The FBO has a bunk house for $15 a night, clean sheets and everything.


A Cessna 185 lands and a couple from Orange County get out. Dave and Julie had flown straight through and turned around after looking at the pass. We share the aging Cadillac Seville that the FBO graciously lends us for a ride into Yreka and have an early dinner at a surprisingly good Italian joint.

We are back by 6:30 or 7:00pm. What to do now? Mark figures out how to turn on the PC in the flight school. We each send email and check the weather for tomorrow.


It’s dark by 9:30pm and we’re both asleep soon after.


Monday 11, May 2003

Yreka to Klamath Falls: 0.8 hours

I am awake by 5:45am. It looks clear! A quick step outside confirms this and we quickly pack up and fire up the airplanes. Bummer – I’m getting a huge drop on the right mag; leaning and a high rpm run up don’t clear the problem. Dave from the FBO overhears Mark and I on the radio and lets me know that the mechanic will be in by 7:30am. It is 7am and he is already there! Bob Steelman pulls my plugs, cleans, and gaps them; they are a bit of a mess, probably from running cool with the low RPM. Unfortunately, it’s now 7:30 and fog is forming up the canyon.


Mark and I decide that our best bet is to try for Klamath Falls. We head for the lower land to the northeast, following the gorge over Copco, Beswick, and Keno. Occasionally we dodge clouds as we fly through a broken layer with bright morning sun shining through. Klamath Falls is calm with a 2500 foot broken layer. Conditions improve as we eat breakfast in the terminal building restaurant.


Klamath Falls to Sun River: 1.5 hours

It’s an easy flight to Sunriver over Chiloquin, Beaver Marsh, and LaPine. Crater Lake is shrouded in clouds but the view of Upper Klamath Lake and Klamath Marsh is spectacular. It’s a bit of a bumpy ride as the morning sun warms the ground and small puffy cumulous clouds try to pull us up.


100LL is all they have in Sunriver and Klamath Falls. It’s been nice running with 80 octane which was available in Red Bluff and Columbia.


Both of us are hungry again so we decide to walk to the lodge. The fuel guy says we can’t walk there because we’re not allowed to walk across the runway. It seems funny that we can fly in but not walk across the runway. It’s no problem though as a shuttle bus is available free of charge.


The big question now is where to cross the Cascades. We can try for Timothy Lake but if it’s not passable we’ll need to go all the way to The Dalles. That is not a pretty thought as it’ll add another two hours to the trip and the wind is forecast for 30 knots in the afternoon.


Sunriver To Chehalem Airpark: 1.9 hours

The only thing to do is have a look-see. Just north of Bend Mark sees what seems to be clear skies over the Cascades. We fly past Black Butte and can see that Santiam Pass is clear. Over Santiam Junction airport we turn north and follow highway 21 for a few miles, then west and fly the valleys. Mark got a number of good air to air shots and one video in this stretch. Once over the Cascades the air smoothes out allowing us to really enjoy this spectacular scenery. We pass into the sunny Willamette Valley just north of Lebanon State airport.


Mark turns right and heads for home. I push the throttle in and watch the ASI climb to 95. The airplane just feels happier at this speed. Salem passes off to my right and I round the southern end of the hills at Salem’s western boundary. From there it’s a straight shot over Independence, McMinnville, and home.



The final GPS trip computer report is 1320 miles with an average speed of 83.5 miles per hour for a total flight time of 15.8 hours, round trip.

[CraigH]

Re: A whole new level of respect

Originally posted by Carl Ellis
This last weekend a bunch of us flew down to California for the Taylorcraft Rendezvous. There was two of us in the airplane at 190lbs each, full fuel, and enough baggage to have us at 1500lbs gross. We were able to climb out 500 fpm at 80mph and 85 F temp.

What an airplane!

- Carl -

Carl, I'll sure agree with you. I'm impressed with the performance of my F21B every time I go up. It will perform just as well as my old 150hp PA22 in everything but cruise. Hauls one heck of a load for a 2 seater, and climbs like a scalded ape for having only 118hp. The later Tcrafts sure are a well kept secret.