Coast Trip - Ocean Shores

Flying to the coast was something we always wanted to do, typically winds are a bit stronger out there and we really wanted to hit up Ocean Shores.  Ocean Shores is kind of unique in that the runway always has crosswinds.  Usually runways are built the same direction as prevailing winds in the area, but here I think the runway was built the only direction the land would allow, which results in constant crosswinds.  That combined with higher winds of the coast we were always cautious about heading out there.   Saturday the morning winds were forecasted to be light so we went for it.  Turned out to be fine and we landed before the winds picked up.  Took the 30 minute walk into town and hit the beach as well as a local fish and chips place.  The winds did pick up and it wasn’t very warm, so the overall experienced suffered a bit due to that, but in general we had a good time.  On departure we took off in a crazy 15 knot crosswind and flew up the beach and checked out Copalis Beach Airport which is an airport where you can actually land on the beach.   Will have to fly in there eventually as well.
 

Click the below link for a short video of our flight up the Beach

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7R_k41mdyz1b3JwbFNYeG1rRnM/edit?usp=sharing

 

Acro Practice

After work today I ran up to Paine Field and took a quick 40 minute flight to work on some aerobatics.   I am still pretty much an aerobatic rookie, but I did put together a video of my training flight.   I usually keep my videos under 5 minutes but this one stretches a bit out to 10.  Sorry about that, watch it when you have a few extra minutes.  The silver aluminum is beautiful against the Washington sky and landscape.  It was a very cool flight.

CLICK the below link for the Video ! !

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7R_k41mdyz1bG1rYnJ4UXRCd28/edit?usp=sharing

CLICK the above link for the Video ! !

Grand Canyon from the RV

On the way home from Phoenix in route to Salt Lake, we flew the “Dragon Corridor” over the Grand Canyon.  This corridor is the eastern side of the canyon which allows for a full view up the canyon from the left side of the plane.  We had the GoPro on the right, but it was still able to capture much of the canyon.  Also took some SLR shots of the canyon which are posted below.  This type of event flying over the Grand Canyon in the airplane that you built is really a life achievement.  It was quite awesome !  After seeing the Canyon, we flew the rest of the 1200 mile distance in one day and were home in Seattle by 5:00.   What a machine !

Click This Link for the Video: 
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7R_k41mdyz1R2hKTWNsT0owVUE/edit?usp=sharing