Gallery Update: Warbirds Over the West 2019 Recap

Today was Day 1 for the 2019 Warbirds Over the West, the annual, two day-long fly-in and fundraiser hosted by the B-17 Alliance Museum as part of their restoration efforts for their B-17G Flying Fortress, the "Lacey Lady." It was another good event with some notable highlights, but compared to last year, things did feel like a slight let-down, mostly due to the weather. There were supposed to be other aircraft flying in, but they never showed up most likely because the weather caused them to be stuck either at their home airport or somewhere en route due to some nasty conditions around the region; it even rained here in Salem right around when I went up to the Flight Deck Restaurant & Lounge for some lunch.

This year's star attraction was (wait for it!) a Consolidated PBY Catalina owned and operated by the Eugene, Oregon-based "Soaring by the Sea." This warbird is still a fairly new sight here as it was brought over here from France just a month ago! So despite the so-so weather and the slight lack of displays, I was excited to see an airworthy PBY Catalina here in Salem. Other featured aircraft included the Grumman FM-2 Wildcat from the Madras, Oregon-based Erickson Aircraft Collection, the Ragwood Refactory N3N "Old Glory" and Harper Farm's North American T-6 Texan, all of which flew throughout the day.

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - Static Display

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - T-6 Texan & FM-2 Wildcat

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - Stearman

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - N3N & T-6 Texan

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - T-6 Texan & FM-2 Wildcat (Round 2)

Warbirds Over the West 2019 - PBY Catalina

Salem (SLE) 26

Preview:

Static Display
As usual for an event like this, it was neat to see some static display aircraft which included some warbirds and military helicopters from the local Army National Guard unit stationed in Salem. The headliner aircraft that would fly later were also on display.

North American T-6G Texan (N4269E) on display.

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 (N61072) "Old Glory" on display. One of the four headliners for this year, owned by Kyle Bushman of Ragwood Refactory out of Creswell, Oregon.

Grumman (General Motors) FM-2 Wildcat (N58918) on display. One of the four headliners for this year, from the Madras, Oregon-based Erickson Aircraft Collection. For three years in a row now, the Erickson Collection has sent at least one of their warbirds for this annual event!

North American AT-6D Texan (N7517) on display. One of the four headliners for this year, owned by Bryan K. Harper, President of the Lane County Farm Bureau and Vice President of Harper Farms out of Junction City, Oregon.

Consolidated PBY-5A Canso-A (N9767) "Princesse des étoiles" (French for Princess of the Stars) on display. One of the four headliners for this year and the star attraction by far! Part of Soaring by the Sea, LLC out of Eugene, Oregon. This beauty of a Catalina is one of the newest warbird sightings here in the U.S. as it was brought over from France, where it's been based at for the past several years up until about a month ago!

Piper L-4J Grasshopper (NC68925) on display.

Pietenpol Air Camper on display. The Air Camper was designed to be built of spruce and plywood as a home-build. It's a late-1920s design, but plans to build one are still available as of 2015! The local guy building this is retired and therefore asking for donations to help fund the build.

Smith Miniplane CEG (N6891C) on display.

Globe GC-1B Swift on display.

Globe GC-1B Swift (N619JM) on display. This beautiful, complex tail-dragger was on display last year as well.

Boeing E75 Stearman (N58986) on display in-between giving rides.

Oregon Army National Guard Sikorsky HH-60M (S-70A) Black Hawk (10-20132) on display.

Oregon Army National Guard Eurocopter UH-72A Lakota (12-72235) on display.

Cockpit panel of the PBY Catalina!

Van's RV-9A (N421HJ) on display.

Warbird Flights
Of course, what's a fly-in event for warbirds without warbirds taking to the skies, right? Warbird flights today included the headliners, Harper Family Farms' North American AT-6D Texan, Kyle Bushman's Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 "Old Glory," and the Erickson Aircraft Collections Grumman FM-2 Wildcat, which all flew several times throughout the day. The Boeing E75 Stearman from Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation also flew several times during the day. And of course, the main attraction and headliner, Soaring by the Seas, LLC's PBY-5A Catalina "Princesse des étoiles" (Princess of the Stars) flew at the end of the day's events!

Bryan K. Harper getting airborne off 34 in his T-6 Texan up for a flight with a passenger in the backseat.

The Wildcat following the Texan in-sequence off Runway 34.

Photo pass by the T-6 Texan!

Photo pass of the FM-2 Wildcat!

Harper on landing roll-out on 34.

The Wildcat on landing roll-out on 34.

Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation's Boeing E75 Stearman airborne off 34 during one of several rides given throughout the day.

Kyle Bushman taxiing out in "Old Glory" and puffing out some air show smoke.

"Old Glory" airborne off 13 as winds shifted.

Two different military trainers, same era! Bryan Harper lowered his landing gear so he could slow down enough to fly in formation with the N3N!

Bushman taxiing "Old Glory" back in.

Bryan Harper in his T-6 on another photo pass. He did three passenger flights today!

Photo pass by the Wildcat during its second flight of the day!

"Princesse des étoiles" getting towed from the display area to the active ramp.

Both engines started up and turning!

The PBY Catalina taxiing out for departure.

"Princesse des étoiles" airborne off 16 with passengers on board. Seeing this beauty fly was the highlight of the day!

Soaring by the Sea, LLC's "Princesse des étoiles" arriving back on 16 after the flight.

Landing roll-out.

"Princesse des étoiles" taxiing back to the ramp at the close of Day 1 of Warbirds Over the West 2019.

Plane-spotting
And as usual, I got some plane-spotting in during the event. There were actually a few notable highlights throughout the day!

Taylorcraft BC12-D-MS1 (N46LB) taxiing after arriving from nearby Independence. A true Classic from the Taylorcraft B family!

Fairchild M-62A-3 PT-26 (NC58894) parked on the ramp.

Oregon Department of Forestry Partenavia P.68 Observer (N9000V) airborne off 13 for a survey flight. Only my second time seeing one of these and my first time seeing one in flight!

Ameriflight Beechcraft C99 Airliner (N7200Z) executing a missed approach over Runway 31 as AMF8018. Ameriflight usually doesn't operate into Salem on weekends, but the flight number suggests it's most likely an Instrument training flight.

Luscombe 8E Silvaire Deluxe (N45463) taxiing in after arriving from nearby Independence.

Cessna 550 Citation II (N631TS) taxiing for departure to Napa County.

N631TS departing on 13 for Napa County.

And that's a wrap for Day 1 of Warbirds Over the West 2019! We'll see what Day 2 brings tomorrow if I do decide to go again...

Gallery Update: Albany's New Gate Guard!

Airports all over the United States should have something like this! This week, I noticed that Albany Municipal Airport finally has a new "gate guard" display at the entrance, a restoration project that has been many years in the making! I figured I should take a few photos after I finished my flight lesson this morning. That aircraft is a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, one that I have seen previously every time I frequented Albany as it has been seen sitting on the airport ramp for what seems like forever.

Albany (S12) 18

Preview:

United States Navy Douglas A4D-5 A-4E Skyhawk (152012) on display. On the right side, the aircraft displays markings of VA-164 "Ghostriders" of the Navy. Originally assigned to VF-43 "Challengers" of the United States Navy as an adversary aircraft for dissimilar air combat training.

Face-to-face with the "scooter!" This restoration project was one of three Skyhawks that were trucked up to Albany from the boneyard. The original plan was to prominently display all three A-4s together as "gate guards" but this one took a lot longer (and costed more) than expected, and the other two Skyhawk frames are apparently in too poor of shape to really restore.

On the left side, the A-4E displays markings of VMA-331 "Bumblebees" of the Marine Corps. The display looks great, if I do say so myself!

Pilot Life: Local Solo Flight in the Cherokee

I did a local flight out of Salem today, and this time, I got to do it in the Valley Flyers club's Piper Cherokee; after making some inquiries with some of the higher-ups, I was given approval with a club checkout by them without having to do another checkout flight (which is the usual procedure) given that I already have over 40 hours logged in the type and I demonstrated competence during my initial club checkout in one of the Skyhawks, a privilege I certainly don't take lightly! The purpose of today's flight was to go out and practice some basic attitude instrument flying (standard rate/timed turns), staying at altitude, and working on my instrument scan, all things that I've been struggling on in my recent flights with my instructor. Plus, I haven't been done a solo flight in a Piper Cherokee since my days in Utah, so I figured I could use the flight club's plane to help me practice and "rehearse" so to speak in preparation for getting back into the Albany-based Cherokee.

Valley Flyers Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N1636H), the third Cherokee airframe to add my logbook. This Cherokee is the flight club's only non-Cessna aircraft in their fleet.

After taking a second to figure out which hangar the Cherokee was housed in, I went straight to work and got the pre-flight done before pulling the plane out of the hangar. I hopped in, got the engine started, got my taxi clearance after getting the ATIS information, and taxied the Cherokee out to the run-up pad. After a successful run-up on the engine, I got my takeoff clearance from the tower and got airborne with and departed to the south on the left downwind. I leveled off at 2,500 feet and headed to an area just east of Albany to practice the maneuvers I wanted to do. I mainly practiced timed turns, compass turns, as well as standard rate turns all while maintaining altitude; I also took the time to get a feel for this particular Cherokee.

Satisfied, I proceeded towards Albany Airport to practice some landings. Approaching from the east, I crossed over at midfield and made a direct pattern entry, left-traffic for Runway 34. From there it was like any other day of flying, as I executed two smooth touch-and-go landings, followed by a full-stop on the third landing I did. I rolled off at the end of the runway and taxied back to Runway 34, where I made a straight-out departure northwards back to Salem. After getting the ATIS information, I called up tower and requested a straight-in approach for Runway 34 there. Once again, winds were variable and they offered me Runway 31 when I was about four miles out; I accepted my new landing clearance for Runway 31 and made an uneventful landing.

I taxied off and got my ground clearance to go to the fuel pumps, where I topped off the tanks to tabs. After I got done refueling, I put the plane back in the hangar. Hopefully this flight will help me overcome the struggles I've been having recently. It was also nice to fly solo in a Cherokee for the first time in a year!

Gallery Update: Spotting on the go in Salem

I went out for a local flight this afternoon and brought my camera with me. I got a few photos worth noting both before and after my flight as I was transitioning around the ramp.

Salem (SLE) 25

Preview:

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N1636H), the plane I took up for a local flight today.

Cessna 750 Citation X (N808GG) parked on the ramp. This jet arrived into Salem just as I was about to depart and ended up parking right next to it when I returned and got fuel for myself. Hard to believe that one of the fastest jets available in the broad civilian market today is no longer in production as of last year.

Cessna 551 Citation II/SP (N551GE) parked on the ramp. The Citation II/SP is certified for single-pilot operations.

Cessna 560 Citation Ultra (N554TS) taxiing for departure.

N554TS departing on 34.

Cirrus SF50 Vision (N843MF) parked on the ramp. Arrived from Las Vegas two days ago. I photographed two SF50s last year, but this is my first time getting a really good look at one.