December Flyout

The December flyout to Forks began with a final weather check. Oh oh… The early morning weather didn’t look real good. Doable maybe, but maybe not. However, the forecasts looked better. We were planning to meet at the Forks airport at 12:30, and a bit before 10:00 I thought all was going to be OK. But Ernie called and said that although Forks does not report weather, nearby Quillayute was reporting 200 overcast. Dave Miller (Port Angeles verified weather at Fairchild (Port Angeles airport) was close to 2000 overcast. I called the restaurant in Forks and they said while foggy earlier, there was plenty of blue sky there. And when I looked at Quillayute again (now just past 10:00 they reported clear.

Then I phoned Jeff Smith; he lives a bit west of Port Angeles. He said it looked skuzzy to his west. The forecasts showed for good VFR by noon and even better later. We changed the Forks arrival time to 1:00 and I advised the Mill Creek Bar and Grill that 7-8 people expected to arrive for lunch about 1:15. Whew!

Six airplanes departed from Diamond Point, Rakes Glen, Sequim Valley and Port Angeles. All were slow airplanes, except for Jeff Smith. He flew an RV-8A. Our routes kept us north of the hills south of the Strait until reaching Soppho.

The overcast was 1700-1800 ft and the visibility was good. It still looked a bit iffy approaching Soppho but continuing to the coast before turning south was an option. As it turned out, following the road from Soppho the short distance through the hills was fine and we all arrived at Forks within 15 minutes of each other.

Jeff Smith with Richard Howell exited the RV-8A and found the nosewheel had a flat (or going flat) front tire. Sure enough, within minutes it was flat!

The Forks airport, especially in the winter, is not exactly a hubbub of aviation activity. But a local pilot appeared to see our gaggle, and being a good Samaritan, he helped Jeff remove the wheel after lunch and they took it downtown where the tube was repaired. They returned to Port Angeles not so very long after the rest of us returned home.

We all had a good lunch at the restaurant. Knowing we were coming they had a long table prepared. The weather on the return trip was better than the way out. The clouds each way provided a bit of mystery, and we all had a lot of fun