Pilot Life: Cross Country to Twin Oaks

We're getting some nice weather starting today and going forward for a couple days and I'm going to take advantage of it! For today's flight, I decided to follow up on a lead my flight instructor gave to me regarding multi-engine flight training by flying up to Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark, a privately-owned, public use, family-owned and operated airfield just south of Hillsboro! So once again, I saddled up the Skyhawk and made the trip in an afternoon. I made the trip a cross-country, my first one of the year and the first cross-country flight I've done in two months!

Taking N5174E up to a quaint little airpark!

After the usual pre-flight business, I got airborne off Runway 34 in Albany and headed north; due to some partial cloud coverage en route, I navigated by way of Independence and McMinnville (what I call the western route up the valley!) and maintained VFR. With ADS-B on hand and eyes outside the cockpit, I made my way up Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark. Tucked away surrounded by hills, I navigated around the terrain and got sight of the airfield. I crossed over midfield and set for the left downwind for Runway 2, which happens to slope uphill slightly! After an uneventful landing on the short and narrow runway, I taxied over to the ramp and parked the airplane... in the mud! Sorry uncle Alan!

After securing the airplane, I got out and looked around, talked to some people, and got some contact information. And of course, I got a good look at the multi-engine aircraft I'm interested in flying for training!

Piper PA-23 Apache/Seguin Geronimo (N1231P), the reason why I flew up to Twin Oaks for, to take a look at for potentially doing my multi-engine training in.

I gotta say, I was quite impressed with the atmosphere this particular airpark community had! After I was done, I got back in the Skyhawk I flew up in and got ready to return home southbound. After starting up the engine, I taxied uphill towards Runway 20 and held short to do run-ups. After run-ups, I got airborne and followed the airpark's noise abatement procedures before heading southbound. It was a routine VFR cross-country flight and before I returned to Albany, I headed down to Corvallis for my 50 nautical mile leg of the trip in (yes, it's another triangle route!).

Another uneventful leg followed by a direct downwind entry for Runway 35 into Corvallis, which ended with a touch-and-go. After getting back up in the air, I turned back to the northeast towards Albany, where I landed back on the same runway I departed from two hours earlier. After a quick stop to top off fuel tanks, I returned the plane back to the hangar and called it a successful outing with a few things to ponder and plan over for the future.