KPDX area and 4th of july fireworks & flying

It's been a few years since I did this, but my personal experience is --

1) To observe the display from the air, contact Portland approch, they will
orbit you a safe distance from the display. If you use a telephoto, you
should get some good pix. You can also fly around other displays such as
Oaks Park and Washington County. Most of the displays don't go that high,
so unless you fly directly overhead you won't have a problem.

2) To fly into Pearson, the field was open for traffic until just before the
display. During the display, it was closed... After the display, it was
closed... until about 4AM, when the FAA personel finished walking the runway
from one end to the other looking for FOD or any other kind of debris. It
was sure a long night, it would have been quicker to drive and wait in the
traffic on I5 or I205.

I got to fly out after that, departing to the west over Vancouver lake and
turning south 'thru the gap'. No problem except for low scattered clouds,
darkness, and lack of sleep.

I would recommend flying into another WA field and catching a ride in with
friends.

N29531 Cardinal


SelwayKid wrote in message
. ..
"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
Anyone know what the rules are what restrictions there are in the KPDX
area
on the 4th of July evening? I know there is a large gathering of people
at
KVUO in Vancouver I cannot find anything in the NOTAMs. a friend of mine
is
wanting to go up that night and take photos of the fireworks from a
distance.
Hi
Seems to me you should go directly to the local source and ask instead
of the guesses you'll get in this forum. The one who mentioned the
Pierson Field permit is the only one who seems to have local info. I
remember the biggest display was there near Pierson or off a barge on
the river. Of course there are others all over the PDX area but there
is also the traffic going into KPDX.
Years back I did a circuit around Disneyland in Anaheim during the 4th
and there were more than 14 aircraft in orbit...some clockwise and
some counter. There was also one damned fool who was so low he nearly
got hit by some of the fireworks and did radical maneuvering to get
out of it. I told the boss that was the last time we did that one and
he agreed.