RV-8 and the Dam Flight

Saturday 7/25/20 was a fine clear day in the upper left hand corner of the country.  It was one of those very rare days that was both clear, not very windy and not very hot.  We get very few of those a year, even fewer on days I don't have to work.  Carl suggested an interesting  flight around the North Cascades and into Eastern Washington.  Since he was grounded due to cowling/baffle interface issues I went it alone.

Prior to departure there was a brand new, and very blue, Stearman on the ramp.  As we headed over to look at it the owner walked up to us asking where the gas pumps are (it was parked on the ramp by the restaurant).  We told him and then went over to look at it.  It had just come out of restoration in Bellingham and is on its way to its new home in Pocatello, Idaho.

The most interesting thing about this airplane is that it registered as experimental, racing and exhibition that is.  The reason for this is that it had a Lycoming R-680 on it that was fuel injected.

Just behind the cylinders all the way around you can see a bundle of wires that are for the EGT and CHT input on an engine monitor.

He said that the fuel injection made it much easier to start as well as adding a few horsepower.  I managed to get a picture as we were taxiing past each other.

The online track log can be seen here:

https://plan.foreflight.com/s/track/C39AB4BA-531F-4833-8D41-8E7EB05DB6C3

I took off about 12:30 and headed north.  I climbed to 11,500 feet and headed toward Mt. Baker.  I started by going over the top of Baker and was surprised to see people on top of the mountain.  It looked like a dozen or so people standing on the very top.  From there I headed over to Spike, known by some as Mt Shuksan. 

Spike

Spike

From there I headed toward Ross Lake, first passing Diablo Dam then Ross Dam, and followed it up to the Canadian border.  From there I headed southeast toward Lake Chelan.  From there I headed to Grand Coulee Dam.  On the way, I passed over Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport.

I was hoping to get a little lower to get some better pictures of the dam and Steamboat Rock, but it got really bumpy below 9,000 feet.  It was OK at 9,500.  I thought I had gotten some really good video, but when I got home the video from the main camera was really jumpy and jittery, I have no idea why.

I circled around the dam and headed to Wenatchee.  I climbed to 13,500 headed that way (I had the oxygen bottle with me this time).  It’s a good thing I went that high as there was a fire just to the east of Wenatchee and the smoke went almost that high.  I could see the flames through the smoke.  Unfortunately, I could also smell it.

There was another fire further east that was throwing up a huge mushroom cloud.  I'm sure that was nothing to worry about.  Right?

I climbed to 14,500 for the trip back.  The good thing about that altitude is that I got the fuel flow down to 8.6 gallons per hour.  The bad thing is that I don’t like that nasal cannula. It makes my nose itch.  Not only that, it seems to use a lot of oxygen.  In about 2 hours I pretty much drained the bottle.  I thought it was an on demand system, it would only deliver oxygen when you inhale, but I could feel it flowing all the time.

The other thing about cruising at 14,500 is that it takes a LONG time to get back down.

I was surprised at how many dams there are in this general area.  There were several more that were close to my route of flight that I didn't go directly over.

The Dam video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2CTOHLQM8s

Now that you have seen the Dam presentation and the Dam video, are there any Dam questions?