YKM-S98 (Kennewick, WA) and back to YKM

[Pete D]

Went on a fun little adventure yesterday, thought I would tell a little about it.

I'd been to S98 (Vista Field, Kennewick, WA) once or twice before for pancake breakfasts but never been off the airport there before. I wanted to go to REI but didn't want to drive, so thought I would fly down, walk to REI (3.8 miles) and back to the field and fly home.

Had a great flight down, tail winds, averaged about 115 mph ground speed (in a S2/S3). Wind was just down the runway about at about 8. Nice and quiet at the airport, a couple other airplanes parked there, one of which I recognized from YKM but nobody around.

Knowing it was going to be quite a walk I secured the plane and set off at a good pace. Google maps walking put the time to REI at 1:15. I did it in 55 min but that was with a little jogging too. Kennewick is a nice place to walk, lots of sidewalks and an impressive number of bike lanes as well.

Not finding what I was looking for at REI (a tent-but I'm picky), after some fun browsing (those Vibram five finger shoes look interesting..... lol) and picking up a couple of small items I headed back to the airport.

Right next to the airport is a big strip mall and a huge indoor mall as well as some restaurants. I decided to walk through there on the way back to the plane and found a really cool store (Wholesale Sports) I could have spent hours in. It was as least as big as the CCI main production hanger, if not bigger and carried every fishing, hunting, or camping item you could want. Didn't take me long to load up with a perfect tent and a couple of smaller items, but I'm definitely headed back!

After a short walk back to the airport and a quick stop in a nice, clean pilot lounge to use the facilities I headed west back to YKM. Of course winds were just as strong as before so I had a ground speed of around 85 MPH, but that is not too bad considering I was flying behind an O-200!

Nice quite evening in YKM, landed on 27 right after a P-3 departed the pattern and right before someone else departed in a Carbon Cub.

Maybe next trip somewhere I'll be able to use that new tent.... :-)

[Pete D]

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What could be better than this! Great flying weather....

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Flag pole dedication near the pilot lounge.


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Snow!? Walked around the corner of a building and almost ran into this pile of "snow" I think it is the scrapings from an ice rink. There were several more piles of similar size.

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Quiet ramp with lots of tie downs. Ropes included.

[randylervold]

Aha, food at Kennewick, I'm on it. Since moving to Yakima I've had trouble finding places to fly for lunch around here. I didn't know there was an REI store there either, I've been driving to Seattle for that.

Thanks Pete!