The Jabiru in Oregon
October 2006
My
friend Gary Anderson, who shared much of my flying in the early 60s,
recently rekindled my love of flying with his involvement
in Light Sports aviation. So as our first
cross-country in his new Jabiru 250SP we set off from Nervino
(where he hangars) for a three-day tour of eastern Oregon, Idaho, and
Nevada..
Our first leg was to Bend, and to set the stage, here is a chart version of the whole trip as flown.
We
started by topping up at Nervino. This photo shows
the
sleek frontal profile of the Jabiru. We took off to the east to cross Beckworth Pass,
then turned north toward Honey Lake (right above).
Farther north we passed east of Eagle Lake, the southern part of which is behind the mountain.
The Warner Range from over Likely in Modoc County
The northern end of Goose Lake in Oregon, looking easterly.
Passing SE of Summer Lake, the northerly winds are blowing up dust off the alkali flats. We diverted to the right to avoid contaminating our aircraft. This picture was across the panel, so with lowered camera, here's the panel (below):
Gary's Jabiru is equipped with a "Glass Panel," which shows everything in front of him, and a radio stack on the right where I could see it (!) That's the single centered stick in his right hand; I flew with my left hand. The WAC chart that we found the most useful in the cockpit--with its GPS and other replacements for pilotage--appears to be open to Yamsay Mt., with the east side of Crater Lake showing abeam the keys.
Approaching Bend from the southeast, the typical pinon forest and farming mixture. On the right south Bend photographed through the left cockpit window; Pilot Butte, a Bend landmark, is in the middle right, and The Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson.
Now we're overflying the Bend airport, and on the horizon is Mt. Hood. Then, lined up in a gusty wind, we're landing at Bend.
The next morning we topped up again and set off toward Baker to see east central Oregon. That's me flying from the right seat.
Our course took us north of the Prineville Reservoir on the Crooked River. Great visibility again
The Ochoco Mountains from a position somewhere south of Dayville looking westward
View from about the same position as above, but looking more north westerly. Several places like this inspired us to make 360-degree circles to make panoramas. (We rarely flew "direct," but Gary's GPS was fun to use.)
Now we are approaching John Day (right, looking east); on the south side of the John Day River Valley were these typical Oregon forest practices--but there were sure a lot of trees left!
Next we came to the Sumpter Valley, famous for its gold dredging and its narrow gauge logging railroad, now being operated as a tourist attraction. Its mainline runs along the left side of the tailings, and its shops and HQ are where the white pattern is in the left middle of the tailings. Baker is down the canyon beyond Phillips Lake.
Arrivivg at Baker. The Snake River Canyon is dead ahead, over several more ridges. The Wallowa Mountains show on the left.
So once again we're on final approach, this time landing to the north at Baker. Having secured his Jabiru, we're leaving for town to find a motel with WiFi. Baker airport was typical of the good old days...they had a "courtesy car" for our use, which only cost us the gas! We decided to make this a "short day" and had a delightful time in town hangar flying and flight planning for the next day.
The next morning we decided to forego our plan to soar among the peaks of the Wallula Mountains and explore the Snake River Canyon. Although the weather on our route home was CAVU there were doubtful weather patterns behind us and we didn't want to make the mistake of trying to do too much in one day, as we did one day in 1963.
So we took off from Baker, here on a downwind departure, toward Caldwell for lunch.
As we headed southeasterly we followed the Snake River. On the left is the UPRR crossing and through the gap the town of Huntington, and on the right is the river farther upstream (south). The river is backed up at these points by the Brownlee Dam. Both pictures show the extensive lava flows in the distance that occur in this region.
As the country flattened we flew over Ontario, Oregon, with Idaho on the left side of the river.
Here we are on final for Caldwell Industrial, a favorite for General Aviation. At lunch in the Airport Cafe we admired and inquired about other pilots' airplanes.
From Caldwell we set a "direct" course for Nervino, which took us across southwest Idaho, southeast Oregon, and northwest Nevada, all off the usual main lines of travel. Here are the Jordan Craters, Upper and Lower Cow Lakes and the entrenched canyon of Cow Creek in Oregon.
At the Oregon-Nevada border we began following these typical Basin and Range Region mountains which were aligned with our course.
Beautiful desolation in fall colors
Basin and Range profiles looking toward the Smoke Creek Dessert
Here is the Black Rock Dessert over the ridge to the east, and on the right re-entering California, a view west over Frenchman Lake and the Sierra beyond
Home again, turning final at Nervino. After securing the trusty Jabiru in Gary's hangar, a final picture of the aviators!
©
Farther north we passed east of Eagle Lake, the southern part of which is behind the mountain.
The Warner Range from over Likely in Modoc County
The northern end of Goose Lake in Oregon, looking easterly.
Passing SE of Summer Lake, the northerly winds are blowing up dust off the alkali flats. We diverted to the right to avoid contaminating our aircraft. This picture was across the panel, so with lowered camera, here's the panel (below):
Gary's Jabiru is equipped with a "Glass Panel," which shows everything in front of him, and a radio stack on the right where I could see it (!) That's the single centered stick in his right hand; I flew with my left hand. The WAC chart that we found the most useful in the cockpit--with its GPS and other replacements for pilotage--appears to be open to Yamsay Mt., with the east side of Crater Lake showing abeam the keys.
Approaching Bend from the southeast, the typical pinon forest and farming mixture. On the right south Bend photographed through the left cockpit window; Pilot Butte, a Bend landmark, is in the middle right, and The Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson.
Now we're overflying the Bend airport, and on the horizon is Mt. Hood. Then, lined up in a gusty wind, we're landing at Bend.
The next morning we topped up again and set off toward Baker to see east central Oregon. That's me flying from the right seat.
Our course took us north of the Prineville Reservoir on the Crooked River. Great visibility again
The Ochoco Mountains from a position somewhere south of Dayville looking westward
View from about the same position as above, but looking more north westerly. Several places like this inspired us to make 360-degree circles to make panoramas. (We rarely flew "direct," but Gary's GPS was fun to use.)
Now we are approaching John Day (right, looking east); on the south side of the John Day River Valley were these typical Oregon forest practices--but there were sure a lot of trees left!
Next we came to the Sumpter Valley, famous for its gold dredging and its narrow gauge logging railroad, now being operated as a tourist attraction. Its mainline runs along the left side of the tailings, and its shops and HQ are where the white pattern is in the left middle of the tailings. Baker is down the canyon beyond Phillips Lake.
Arrivivg at Baker. The Snake River Canyon is dead ahead, over several more ridges. The Wallowa Mountains show on the left.
So once again we're on final approach, this time landing to the north at Baker. Having secured his Jabiru, we're leaving for town to find a motel with WiFi. Baker airport was typical of the good old days...they had a "courtesy car" for our use, which only cost us the gas! We decided to make this a "short day" and had a delightful time in town hangar flying and flight planning for the next day.
The next morning we decided to forego our plan to soar among the peaks of the Wallula Mountains and explore the Snake River Canyon. Although the weather on our route home was CAVU there were doubtful weather patterns behind us and we didn't want to make the mistake of trying to do too much in one day, as we did one day in 1963.
So we took off from Baker, here on a downwind departure, toward Caldwell for lunch.
As we headed southeasterly we followed the Snake River. On the left is the UPRR crossing and through the gap the town of Huntington, and on the right is the river farther upstream (south). The river is backed up at these points by the Brownlee Dam. Both pictures show the extensive lava flows in the distance that occur in this region.
As the country flattened we flew over Ontario, Oregon, with Idaho on the left side of the river.
Here we are on final for Caldwell Industrial, a favorite for General Aviation. At lunch in the Airport Cafe we admired and inquired about other pilots' airplanes.
From Caldwell we set a "direct" course for Nervino, which took us across southwest Idaho, southeast Oregon, and northwest Nevada, all off the usual main lines of travel. Here are the Jordan Craters, Upper and Lower Cow Lakes and the entrenched canyon of Cow Creek in Oregon.
At the Oregon-Nevada border we began following these typical Basin and Range Region mountains which were aligned with our course.
Beautiful desolation in fall colors
Basin and Range profiles looking toward the Smoke Creek Dessert
Here is the Black Rock Dessert over the ridge to the east, and on the right re-entering California, a view west over Frenchman Lake and the Sierra beyond
Home again, turning final at Nervino. After securing the trusty Jabiru in Gary's hangar, a final picture of the aviators!
©