Car Seats -> Plane Seats

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We purchased both of The Little Dudes car seats before the plane. He was just over a year and was still rear facing. We initially put him rear facing against our rear facing second row, until the Tillamook incident, then we moved him to the third row left side away from anything he can open.

We have a Diono Radian RXT and a Britax Pavilion. They both offer easy forward facing installation with a seatbelt in the plane. We can also utilize the tether with anchors on the floor. The Little Dude sits up higher in the Britax so it is easier to see outside the plane. The Diono works fine, but not the #1 choice in the plane. We like to keep the Little Dude in the carseat for safety; in case of a hard landing and so he isn’t free to roam. Mama and Papa pilot are normally in the front. Mama pilot does go to the back to hang out with the Little Dude after we are established in flight and returns to the front for landing.

 

KBLI (Bellingham, WA) January 2017

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Getting up in the morning and looking at the weather is always how it starts. “Do we want to go flying today,” my husband and I exchange our favorite sentence. Weather looks okay, but just locally. Snow and freezing temperatures to the east and thunderstorms to the south make traveling those directions challenging. We look at weather to the north and it’s a relatively clear path for the majority of the day. Bellingham? Skagit? Arlington? We have never been to Bellingham before and initial research looks intriguing. We do the basics: Weather, Notams, Check the airport info and in no time we’re off to our airport. We pre-flight, load the car seat, and make sure that the Little Dude has everything he needs for this quick: 32 minute flight. Half tanks are more than enough for this segment, and often our plan is to purchase fuel from where we plan on borrowing a crew car.

 

The Little Dude is super cute getting ready for this trip. He grabs the instruction book for the fuel flow instrument and a pencil and tells us about our schedule. We load up The Little Dude with his essentials (I pad, Headphones) and off we go.

 

The weather is high overcast today but very VFR. We don’t get much winter flying in the PNW because of icing conditions and our lack of deicing equipment, so in our trip planning we err on the side of caution with frozen precipitation in this airplane. It is a smooth flight all the way to Bellingham with a nice path taking us over Lake Sammamish, the Skagit Valley, and nearly directly into a straight in final to runway 34 at Bellingham. The Little Dude is content playing his new paw patrol game and John and I elect not to use flight following. The best part of flying with a 3 year old is that he claps every time we land and that never gets old. After landing we taxi over to Bellingham Aviation Services / Command Aviation to being our exploration of the area. This is the first place we have been that there are 2 separate FBO’s operating out of the same building and we found this a little confusing at first. We didn’t know where the line girl who came out to park us was from. The line girl was from BAS and we found that the services and personnel at BAS were fantastic. They offered us a courtesy car and as soon as we swapped the car seat from the plane to the car, off we went.

 

Since we already had lunch, the $100 hamburger was out. Instead, we decided to head to the down town area to roam. Using Trip Advisor, we found Mallards Ice cream, I’ve never had such a difficult time deciding on a flavor. (Except for maybe at Mora’s on Bainbridge island) We walked to the Bellingham’s farmers market which was nice, but seemed a little out of season. From there we decided to drive to the Historic Fairhaven district. It was a super condensed and tiny version of the original downtown. As we passed through Fairhaven we decided to pass through Fairhaven Park, when Huxley noticed the playground. We let him play for a bit on the great equipment and friendly park visited by many. There’s a nice little river that passes through the park with trails throughout. It is funny how fast 2 hours can go, and we are often surprised how fast we have to return the crew cars! We loaded up and decided to go back to the plane as a bit of weather was moving into the Seattle area and we didn’t want to get stuck. Upon our arrival back to the airport, the FBO was super easy, already had the plane gassed up for us so we paid, pre-flighted and were back in the air to S50.

 

Our return was about 45 minutes since we did some sight seeing.

The Little Dude decided to take a nap on the flight back. We landed back home at S50 and pushed the plane back in the hangar. The Little Dude was sad, he missed the return flight due to his nap. But next weekend is looking clear, so we will see where the winds take us.

 

I tried to take more photos on this trip as we introduced Instagram in connection to our site.

 

Family Tips:

BVS has 2 courtesy cars (a old cop car and a Lincoln Continental.) We had no problem installing the Diono Radian RXT in the Lincoln.

 

 

Headsets

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Head Sets are super important in General Aviation. Unfortunately, we have not found a great option for a headset with a microphone for our son. Kids headsets are bulky and heavy. We purchased the Pilot Cadet for him and he never wears it! We have found the Baby Banz to be the best option for now. The Baby Banz doesn’t provide communication, just hearing protection. The back of the plane is relatively quiet at least; you can carry on a normal conversation with someone sitting next to you without yelling. We have traveled in other airplanes that this is definitely not the case!  Part of the problem is the Pilot Cadet is heavy, but also it is wide and with the headrest of the car seat it just doesn’t work. He once tried the David Clark headset and it was lighter than the pilot cadet, but the ears are just as bulky. I’ve been waiting to test a Bose A20 on him since it look super thin and is good quality, but who wants to give their kid a $1000 headset to pull and yank on?

Mama and papa pilot both have Lightspeed Zulu’s which are great! We love being able to steam music and the quality is great.

 

 

Baby Banz:

Pilot Cadet:

 

David Clark:

Lightspeed Zulu 2:

KSLE (Salem, OR) October 2016

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We flew  to Salem from Albany, OR (S12) October 22th. After we picked up our friend in Arlington we dropped him at the Albany Airport with tentative plans to go stay the evening in KBDN, Just on the other side of the mountains. But, Johns ever changing work schedule required us to be back home for the morning. This is aviation 101, be flexible. So we looked at the airports on the way home and decided on trying the restaurant at the Salem airport.  The flight was a quick 15 minutes and we parked right in front of The Flight deck. The Flight Deck has a great view point on the runway. We had a nice meal and there is a ton of airplane decor covering the inside of the restaurant, which Huxley loved. A quick stop at the self service fuel farm and we were back in the air to S50. Huxley has really figured out how to be a good line boy. He helps us ground the airplane and put away the cable when we are done. We didnt visit an FBO on this stop.

KAWO (Arlington, WA) October 2016

in Destinations

When a friend calls on a Saturday and asks for a “Ride” to Salem to meet his wife how do you say no? Weather is good and were always looking for a new destination. KAWO is only 50 miles from S50 and a simple 30 minute flight. We loaded up with Little Dude and headed north. We met up with our friend and visited his hangar and got a quick tour of his aircraft he is working on. We didn’t stay long at the airport before departing to our drop off location KSLE. We did notice that there is an on airport breakfast/ lunch restaurant that had an ample deck for outside dining and lots of aircraft parking out front. We did notutilize any FBO’s services at this stop.

We let the little dude free from his car seat on this leg. I was in the back with him. Normally his is in his car seat for the whole trip. We aren’t ready to trust him after the Tillamook incident. We also have 2 seats removed on this flight which gave him a ton more room to stand and move around.

 

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WA09 (Roche Harbor, WA) October, 2016

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It’s a Monday and the weather is great. Should we take some vacation to meet up with friends and go flying? YES! We meet up with our friends the Birdies at S50 and pick where to go! Since the weather is nice in the whole area its game since the weather is 10 and clear. We decide to fly to lunch at Roche Harbor. Roche Harbor is one of 2 airports on San Juan Island. The airplane is the only way to go. Before we had the plane, a trip to the San Juan’s from Seattle could be a 5 hour trip, driving to the ferry, waiting for the ferry, riding the ferry…. Its 30 minutes in the plane. Roche Harbor airport is across the street from Roche Harbor Resort including a: marina, hotel and a few restaurants. The San Juan’s are a very popular summer destination, especially for weddings, but in the off season it is almost a ghost town. We has a great quick flight and land to the north ad taxi the airplane to park on the grass and wonder over to the Lime Kiln Cafe. It is the only restaurant open. Counter service but the food was great at the portions huge! We could have shared! We wonder the property there are some lime kilns left behind from the lime factory, a church and a few shops. We loaded back up after our exploring and took off to the north. The marina and bay is not too far off the end, but off we went. We decided to do a few loops around deception pass and contacted Whidbey Approach for approval. We enjoyed our short flight and were back to S50 in no time.

 

KRDM (Redmond, WA) October 2016

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Another weekend trip to our favorite destination- Bend! We loaded up after work on Friday and used our time machine to turn our 8 hour drive into an hour flight. The flight down was clear and the mountains were all out! We get to fly by Mt. Rainer, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Jefferson. We often vary our final destination between KBDN and KRDM for various reasons, but it generally depends on the weather forecast for when we depart for which we choose. Both airports are equal distance from our usual rendezvous point with family. We check the basics and call Leading Edge to secure a last minute reservation. Leading Edge is our choice of FBOs at KRDM, and we always have great service. Since the main terminal is near by, it is never an issue calling for a last minute rental car. Our flights are so dependent on weather we are never able to book things far in advance, especially in the fall, winter, and early spring. We wanted a 4 wheel drive with hopes of doing some off-roading.

Upon our arrival car is waiting. The Little Dude always loves Leading Edge’s fresh popcorn and makes a quick b-line from the plane to the popcorn machine. A quick unload and we’re on the road before dark. We also got lucky- this weekend isn’t so popular with tourist so we get a room at the Oxford Downtown Bend. Our plans for this trip include walking  places more often. The room at the Oxford is great. We’re fine with a king bed because our little dude seems to end up in our bed anyways. But our room has a wall to wall sofa that is very wide. So we request some extra pillows and blankets and make it his bed. We have learned that  more and more rooms have good sofa beds and this has been really beneficial with kid in tow because we don’t have to bring our Guava travel crib. We try to minimize our BSE (Baby Support Gear) when flying, and have really made a concerted effort to pack as little as possible.  For road trips we  throw anything and everything in the car and go, but with the plane we have that pesky weight and space issue. Since The Little Dude is 3.5, he is potty trained, can sleep anywhere and eats normal food. Therefore we don’t have to pack like we did in days past.

After we get settled, we meet family for dinner at Pizza Mondo downtown which is always a great bet ad the food is alway super-delicious. We don’t use a lot of Trip Advisor on our Bend trips because my husband grew up there.

The next day we are excited to learn about the Bend Fall Festival which made for such a perfect time to have booked a downtown hotel. They close the main road (NW Wall) to cars. We hit the market just before it opens since we’re never seem to sleep past 8, find breakfast and meet Gramie! La Magie Bakery is close by so we get an excellent meal and roam the Festival. They also have a kid’s area with huge bouncing items, so Fun. We drop the Little Dude off with Grammies for a sleep over and mama and papa have a day and  date-night- yum sushi at 5 Fusion!

We spend the next day exploring Camp Sherman, about an hour North of Bend past the quaint town of Sisters. There are tons of places with small cabins that are normally popular in the summer, but deserted on a Sunday night! We Stayed at the Lake Creek Lodge and has a nice 2-room cabin (and nearly the whole resort) all to ourselves. The fun must end so the next morning it was back to the airport to load up and head home. After the preflight activities are complete, we call ground and taxi to runway 11 and off we go. Back to home base in a speedy hour and home in time for dinner.

KRDM (Bend, OR) September 2016

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Were heading to our 2nd home Bend for the weekend! This time we plan to stay in the downtown area and enjoy walking around. We did not know it at the time, but the Harvest Festival is going on just up the block from us. We book our room for two nights at the Oxford Hotel. The hotel is nice with fairly large rooms but it is expensive.

Our Friday night starts with dinner at Pizza Mondo and listening to street musicians. In the Morning, We have breakfast at Mothers cafe and enjoy the festival. The festival includes a kids play area, lots of music, craft vendors and of course food. a few of the downtown streets are closed for it.

After the festival, The Little Dude stays with Gramie and Mama and Papa pilot get to go on an off road adventure around 3 creeks butte and to sushi dinner at 5 fusion.

The next day is fun on Gramies farm and a stay at the lake creek lodge. It is out of season for the Lodge located in Camp Sherman, so it is very quite and they aren’t serving breakfast in the mornings. The salmon are in full swing and we take the little dude to see the fish hatchery. We have dinner at near by Black Butte Ranch before calling it a night. We fly home the next morning to Auburn.

 

KCCR (Concord, CA) August 2016

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The last stop on our big summer adventure was flying to Concord, CA to visit Grandma J. We took off from KBDN and it was about a 2.5 hour flight to KCCR. It was almost the middle of August, so it was HOT the first few minutes and right before landing, We also climbed to 11,000 feet to find some relief. It also was a little bumpy though the Mt. Shasta area. We landed at KCCR and used Concord Jet Center as a friend helped us with arrangements. Concord Jet Center does not have 100LL and typically does not welcome single engine pistons. We rented a car and were off for a few days of exploring. After spending the night, we decided to do a day trip to San Francisco. We drove to the Bart station and rode it to Powell Street. From there we hoped right on the San Francisco Cable Car and got a spot right up front. We changed trolleys and rode down to the very busy waterfront. We found an “off the beaten path” restaurant for lunch called Scoma’s, it was a little classy but the seafood was wonderful. We then wondered down to the embarcadero and visited the Boudin Bakery  to get some sourdough for dinner. We decided to finish our tour of the train like cars with a ride on the street car to Powell back to our Bart stop. We had no problems wondering the city with just us and a backpack. We finished the night with dinner with Grandma J and Mama pilots friend Ray Ray joined us. It is amazing how you can have friends all over the country!

We woke up the next to for our 770 mile trip home with clear weather the whole way. We flew north over Redding, Medford, Eugene, Portland and landed back home at S50 after being in the air for 10 days. Looking forward to next summers flying adventures!

KMYL (McCall, ID) August 2016

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After waiting in KGPI for the weather to clear and forming a plan to navigate, we enter KMYL in the Garmin. We have always heard such nice things about McCall from friends. We weren’t able to book a room or a car before arriving. We flew for about 1:30 and we started with flight following but ATC was unable to follow us the whole time because of radar coverage. We landed on runway 16 and taxied to McCall Aviation. We had already started calling a few places to stay when we walked into the FBO to arrange a car and ask for help. Sometimes FBO’s can secure rooms and help with a discounted price. They already knew the whole town was sold out and pointed us to Americas Best Value Inn. This hotel chain isn’t one of our go to chains, so we hesitated.

The FBO rented us their 90’s suburban and we decided to give it more time and explore while we called around. We went and had a drink and enjoyed the view at the mile high grill. While calling around one of Papa Pilots co-workers called. He was fishing on a small lake under the approach end of 16 and saw us land! What are the odds. We made plans to meet him in the city later to say hi. After calling every place in town, some places out of town and toying with the idea of buying a tent and renting a space as the state park. We finally said the next place with room we would book. Well, it was slightly away from the downtown and we were okay with that since the persid meteor shower was going on it might be nice to get away from the lights. Boy we were wrong. We walked into the main building of the Hartland Inn and immediately got strange vibes. It was more of a truck stop than an Inn. We were given our key after sometime and went to check out or room in the carriage house before bringing up our luggage, it was unlocked; odd. We went up to the room and looked around. The furnishing were from 1960’s and there was a strange smell. We sat on the balcony and said “We would never stay here with Little Dude.” But we were tired of searching. We then left to go meet up with our fishing friend and within 10 minutes of leaving decided we would rather sleep in the car then go back, we both had weird feelings. When papa pilot went back to leave the physical key in the room, our room was unlocked!! We locked it and double checked it. Such a strange place.

We finally listened to the FBO and secured a room at the Americas best value inn. At least it was safe and walking distance from the downtown. We explored and went out to a few places before retiring for the night. The next day we had some amazing breakfast pizza at Growlers Pizza and Grill and headed back to the airport. McCall was a bust, but seemed nice enough for a quick overnight. We will have to give it another try and a few days, but we sure learned some good lessons and it was good we didn’t have The Little Dude.