Flight of the Month – September

 

Renton Muni to Victoria Harbour

 

Thanks to an invitation from Ron I found myself flying into Seattle-Tacoma International (KSEA) and taking the short trip over to Renton Muni (KRNT) where I met up with Ron and his family. Together we made our way to Lake Washington for our day’s excursion to Victoria. I’d managed to hire a really classic plane for the trip, a Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian once owned by Martin and Osa Johnson when they were exploring Africa in the 1930s. Painted in Zebra stripes, they’d named it Osa’s Ark. (Pics. 1-2) For more details of their adventures there was a fascinating article in the September 2003 edition of the AOPA magazine. Since then the plane had been extensively renovated, with full overhaul of the Pratt and Whitney engines and a revised cockpit that now included a Garmin GNS530.

 

Settling in to the cockpit and cabin (complete with wicker seating) Ron and I programmed the GPS for the flight and prepared to depart. (Pic. 3) After a short take-off run we were airborne, and activating the autopilot and GPS we banked left to head for Penn Cove (CVV, 117.20) (Pic. 4) Passing over a long bridge we could see Seattle to our left. Leveling off at 2,000 ft. we headed north-west at about 100 kts. (Pics. 5-6) To our left rose the mountains of the Olympic National Forest, and below lay the waters of the Puget Sound. (Pic. 7) Flying along the west coast of Whidby Island we approached our first waypoint at Penn Cove, and off to our left we could just make out the Point Wilson Light to the north of Port Townsend. As we passed the cruise liner below, everyone waved !

 

Turning right at Penn Cove we headed north-east towards Skagit Regional Airport (KBVS) passing to the right of Whidbey Island Navel Air Station (KNUW) (Pic. 8) and over Skagit Bay. Ahead lay a range of mountains, covered in mist (Pic. 9) Over KBVS we banked left (Pic. 10) to 317* and headed for the White Rock NDB (WC, 332.0) which afforded us an excellent view of the rugged coastline to our right.  Crossing Bellingham Bay we made landfall just past Bellingham and to our right we could just make out the snow-covered peaks of the mountains.

 

As we flew past Lake Terrell we could see Blaine Muni (4W6) ahead (Pic. 11) preceded by a row of flashing beacons to give warning of some aerials. Passing Blaine Muni on our right we turned left to head out over Drayton Harbor (Pic. 12) and the Strait of Georgia towards the Active Pass NDB (AP, 378.0) (Pic. 13) Passing between Galiano Island and Mayne Island at AP (Pic. 14) we turned south towards Victoria International (CYYJ) and the Victoria NDB (YJ, 200.0) To our left and right lay a series of islands and peninsulas. (Pic. 15) Soon CYYJ appeared ahead. From here on I would be flying visually, so I disconnected the Garmin GPS when I could see the road leading down to Victoria Harbour. Passing to the left of the airport, (Pic. 16) I followed the road. With the harbour in sight I disconnected the autopilot, throttled back, and slowly descended.

 

Crossing into the Harbour, I flew to the left of the raised bridge (Pic. 17) and, with the Parliament Building in sight, banked right for my landing, (Pics. 18-19) then cruised over towards the shore where I dropped the anchor and we all disembarked for some shopping and sightseeing aboard my 1934 Garwood cabin cruiser  (Pics 20-22) that I’d obtained from my good friend Bill Lyons !