Looking for good airports in the Northwest

And Fat Freddies for great hamburgers. Be sure to check out all
information on this airport. You are literally landing downtown and it
is a short, narrow runway. You may want to give the Oregon Dept of
Aviation a call to get more airport info/tips on this one. Don't get me
wrong, it's a fun airport, but it's not (IMHO) for the beginner. I went
in there recently on a practice approach with my Dad (CFII) and I
aborted both times because my short-field ops need polishing.

Oregon Dept of Aviation:
http://www.oregon.gov/Aviation/

Phone: 503-378-4880

Terry wrote:
Don't forget Pacific City airport, walking distance to the ocean.

Also:

http://www.aviation.state.or.us/Avia...l#Pacific_City

Pacific City State Airport is a popular coastal destination. It´s only a
short walk to the beach (Bob Straub State Park), Cape Kawanda is located
about 1 mile north, and several eateries are near the airport.
Unfortunately, this airport has more than its share of accidents. The
first thing you notice about Pacific City is that it´s short. It is only
1875´ long, and the north end has a 300´ displaced threshold to allow a
reasonable approach clearance slope over the road at the end. That
leaves just 1575´ available landing to the south. Do not hesitate to go
around. If you are not firmly on the ground in the first 400´ of the
runway, go around. The sooner a go around is initiated, the more likely
it can be safely completed. Several accidents here have resulted from
down wind landing attempts, or touching down past midfield.

Normally the winds are fairly strong in the afternoons, so that helps
compensate for the short runway. The winds are not always directly down
the runway, however, and that brings up the other substandard dimension.
This runway is narrow. The pavement is only 30´ wide, which makes the
runway look deceptively long. Also, the obstructions along the sides are
fairly close in, and there is a lot of burble and low-level turbulence
during crosswind conditions. This may not become apparent until you are
near touchdown. So be very aware of the wind. A down wind landing here
will probably not be successful. Strong crosswinds can make landings
treacherous. On the south end the approach is over the sand dunes and
Nestucca Bay, so there are no significant obstructions. The north end is
another story. There is a 3´ cable fence across the end of the runway.
Then there is a city street beyond the cable. A small building sits on
the north side of the road, 120´ from the runway end. Several aircraft
have had close encounters with this building. North of that building are
assorted trees and a 40´ powerline situated 500´ from the end. In a calm
wind condition, it is preferable to land to the north.

Another unique feature of Pacific City is that on occasion the runway is
underwater. This normally happens only during extreme high tides, or
during a winter storm surge when the river is already high. These high
tides can leave trash and logs on the runway after they subside. As a
result, always be cautious for debris on the runway. There are a limited
number of tiedowns on the ramp and they often fill up on a busy weekend.
Be very cautious of the unpaved surfaces as they are often very soft. Do
not taxi off the pavement without first walking the area to make sure it
will support your aircraft. Also look for holes and hidden objects.

Chris G. wrote:
And Fat Freddies for great hamburgers. Be sure to check out all
information on this airport. You are literally landing downtown and it
is a short, narrow runway. You may want to give the Oregon Dept of
Aviation a call to get more airport info/tips on this one. Don't get me
wrong, it's a fun airport, but it's not (IMHO) for the beginner. I went
in there recently on a practice approach with my Dad (CFII) and I
aborted both times because my short-field ops need polishing.

Oregon Dept of Aviation:
http://www.oregon.gov/Aviation/

Phone: 503-378-4880

Terry wrote:
Don't forget Pacific City airport, walking distance to the ocean.

"Cirrus" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants. [...]

Define "easily get into town". I have a fairly high threshold for
walking...30-45 minutes walking time seems perfectly reasonable to me, but
I've talked to some pilots who don't want to walk more than 15 minutes.

One note on walking: if you do decide to go to an airport where the walk is
likely to be more than just a short one, make sure you have some idea of
where it is you want to walk to. The A/FD describes the airport's location
relative to the town, but in some cases the "town" is actually the
incorporated residential area, while the retail areas are somewhere else.


Also, I would skip the $100 Hamburger web site. Without rehashing all the
threads we've already had about that, I'll just point out that the pilot
input pretty much dried up when the owner decided to monetize it.
Ironically, this means the reports are very out of date, and have much less
value than they did when they were made freely available.

With that in mind...

Pretty much any of the larger airports in the San Juans are good
destinations. Roche Harbor Resort (also on San Juan Island with Friday
Harbor) has its own airport, and does great meals. There's also a building
with more casual touristy shops nearby. Eastsound, on Orcas Island, has an
airport about a mile or so north of town, with several good restaurants in
town (I'm partial to Bilbo's, a Mexican restaurant, but the A1 Drive-In is
good for burgers and shakes, Christina's is good for a fancy meal, and there
are other good options as well). On Lopez, the town is a bit on the far
side, but if you're against a long walk there's a taxi (bring a cell
phone...I don't recall seeing a public phone at the airport), or you can
just hitch a ride (last time I was at Lopez, all the drivers still waved to
each other as they passed each other).

I see you already know about Lana's at the Hoquiam airport, but you might
also check out the Ocean Shores or Westport airports. Westport is right
across the road from a coastal state park, and if you follow the road as it
heads north a little then curves west, there are a few restaurants there.
I've never actually walked to town from the Westport, but according to the
A/FD the town is only 1 mile south. You'll have to walk a little farther
from Ocean Shores, but it's not too bad IMHO.

I'll echo the recommendations for Bremerton, Jefferson County, and Pierce
County airports. Though I'll say that the restaurant a Pierce County does a
passable lunch as well. The Jet Deck at Paine Field is standard airport
fare, but they do a decent job with burgers and sandwiches, and the airport
is one of the larger ones around here so you get a wide variety of air
traffic to watch from their second-story deck while you eat.

Last I was there a year or so ago, there was still a good restaurant at
Tacoma Narrows Airport. Unfortunately, you can no longer park right in
front of the restaurant...the airport gave those parking spaces to the
maintenance shop next door (those *******s!). But the walk from the south
transient parking area isn't too bad, and you get to walk past a bunch of
airplanes doing it, so it's not all bad.

At Arlington there's the Prop Stop restaurant at the airport, nice and close
to the staging area for the glider operations if you happen to be there when
the glider club is out working (this time of year, I believe they are mostly
out in Eastern Washington though).

I also really like the restaurant up at Bay View (Skagit Regional) Airport.
When they are busy enough, they have the second floor open, which makes for
an even better view of the operations at the airport than the front-row seat
the first-floor offers.

For a good short-field challenge, I recommend either Cashmere, WA or Pacific
City, OR. At Pacific City, the airport is literally across the street from
the beach. Bring a picnic lunch, or eat at the fish & chips place. At
Cashmere, the town is quite a bit of a walk, but the town has a nice variety
and it's the home of Washington Aplets and Cotlets . Both are worthy
destinations.

This is hardly a complete list, but I think it's enough to get you started.


Pete

Cirrus wrote:
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants. Any Ideas would be much
appreciated. The 100$ hamburger book/website is nice, but for some
reason seems a little lacking in what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance!

Grants Pass, and you can use the courtesy car/van. Then take a jet boat
ride on the Rogue River for the dinner trip. boats leave around 3 and
returm aroune 8pm.
Nice trip

Felts Field in Spokane. The restaurant on the field is open for
breakfast and lunch. Great food! Downtown Spokane is a 15 minute cab
ride. No courtesy cars at SFF.

Spokane International doesn't have a restaurant but the new FBO (XN Air)
does have courtesy cars. (Careful...Spokane Airways does not.)

Al
1964 172
Spokane WA Felts Field (KSFF)

In article ,
rocky wrote:

Cirrus wrote:
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants. Any Ideas would be much
appreciated. The 100$ hamburger book/website is nice, but for some
reason seems a little lacking in what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance!

Grants Pass, and you can use the courtesy car/van. Then take a jet boat
ride on the Rogue River for the dinner trip. boats leave around 3 and
returm aroune 8pm.
Nice trip

Gold Beach is another place to get a jetboat ride, only this is from
west to east. The 50+ mile trip will take you to a restaurant. The
airport is just south of the jetboat operations by maybe a mile. (?)

Cirrus wrote:
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants. Any Ideas would be much
appreciated. The 100$ hamburger book/website is nice, but for some
reason seems a little lacking in what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance!

I would second Roche Harbor. Tricky -- best to land uphill and take off
downhill. I believe Tacoma Narrows has finally got a decent restaurant.
I have a whole list of favorites, but it is at home, of course, and I
am in the Philippines watching a typhoon (the fourth one this month --
cabin fever is beginning to set in).

I have found the Western US Pilot's Guide
http://www.pilotpub.com/id1.html to be helpful whenever I am looking
for someplace cool to fly.

How's Salishan these days? I don't think anybody's mentioned it.

Don

Cirrus wrote:
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants. Any Ideas would be much
appreciated. The 100$ hamburger book/website is nice, but for some
reason seems a little lacking in what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance!

Hi again Everyone,
Seeing as this was my first post in these forums I didn't know if
anyone would respond or what to expect. What a pleasant surprise! THANK
YOU ALL
If anyone else has ideas please keep them coming- I'm definately going
to try some of these out. By the way, I fly out of Boeing Field (KBFI)
so I can echo the great comments about Bremerton and Paine Field as I
go there frequently. As for the walking thing, I don't mind walking a
few miles, but It is always nice to be able to tie down and get to that
burger or town without a "huge" hike. Thanks again everyone!

"Cirrus" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi Everyone-
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of some of you with more
experience than myself.... Can any of you recommmend some great pilot
destinations in Washinton or Oregon? I'm aware of Friday Harbor and
Hoquiam, but would like to find other airports where a pilot can land
and either easily get into town (without renting a car....) or eat at
one of those great on field restaurants.

Salem/McNary (Oregon) has a neat little restaurant (great collection of RC
aircraft) and an outdoor deck immediately adjacent to the FBO and the
transient tiedown area.

Troutdale, KTTD, has outstanding scenery and services and you can get a cab
to various restaurants, but Hillsboro (KHIO) has both a restaurant onsite
and immediate access to transportation.

Of the airports along the northern Oregon coast, the best facilities are at
Newport and Astoria, but it's a $20 cab ride to town. Not sure about
rentals or loaner cars, and I've not seen food facilities on premises.
Astoria does have a neat pilot lounge, though.

A good airfield in northern WA is Paine Field, in Everett, which has a
restaurant onsite AND you can wander through the Boeing museum's restoration
facility for free. Last time I was there, they were working on the engine
out of a Vampire and had the cockpit of a wrecked SR-71 in the main
building, and one of the old timers said "Be sure you see the other hangar,"
took us out there, opened the door and disappeared. Me-108 Taifun, some
space capsules, and also a DeHavilland Comet outside. They pretty much
let us run amok in the hangars, which was weird.

-c