Chehalis Flyout

By 9:00 on September 17, ForeFlight’s current and forecast weather for the day’s flyout to Chehalis was good and the “flyout is on” announcement was sent out. Overnight, enough pilots reported they planned on coming that I needed to advise the restaurant. Unfortunately, at 9:30 and 10:30 calling the restaurant resulted in no personal contact. So I left a message on the make-a-reservation telephone number saying I expected about 15 in our group would be arriving about 12:45 for lunch and headed out. I took advantage of an available seat in Rob Stephan’s new VL3. We cruised down VFR on an IFR flight plan at 5000 ft, doing about 150 kts TAS on 6 gallons/hr. Going home at 8000 ft TAS was 155 kts, still on 6 GPH. Pretty cool, huh?

Arriving at Chehalis we found a herd of flyout-ers there and waiting. A few more landed shortly thereafter. Aidan Lara, Emily Westcott and Keven Tracy (Emily’s C172), Bud Davies (C150), Scott Alair (Lancair Legacy, Harry Cook (Piper Pacer), Richard Howell (Sling 2), Ken (Brownie) Brown (RV-9A), John Ward (Pipistrel Sinus), and Rob and I in Rob’s VL3 Flew in for flyout lunch. Sid Vandiver (who is now working on his Private License drove in from Olympia. In addition to the eleven of us from Chapter 430, Tim Alentiev (RV-10) flew in from Crest Airpark, and Pat Barrett flew in with Mike Latta in Pat’s Interstate Cadet flew in from Bremerton (EAA Chapter 406). And from the Chehalis EAA Chapter 609, Jeri Mainero with husband Scotter, Curtis King, and David Vandewater joined us. Jeri is the chapter’s president. It was really cool to have the folks from neighboring areas get together with us. We all trooped over to the Riverside Bistro, taking them by surprise. My reservation message was never read, and although I was advised that the restaurant would appreciate 2-3 days’ notice they provided great service and we all had fine meals.

This flyout was the last before the Poker Run finale to be held at the Chapter 430 meeting on September 27. With the exception of Rob (who just received his airplane days ago), I believe the Chapter 430 pilots will all be participating in this event. Pat Barrett planned to join in but, after collecting the required WPA passport stamps found he ad a meeting that day. He will, however, elect a stand in so he will be represented at the game. Ernie Hansen planned to be part of our Chehalis group but he had an appointment preventing that from happening. Ernie had, however, collected the five passport stamps required for the Poker Run all in one flight on Wednesday. See, it’s never too late! The weather going home was good but the smoke from the fire west of Bremerton had increased. It spread out to the north but at lower altitudes presented no problems. We all had a good time and lots of socializing.