My nemesis.

All during my flight training I had always wanted to land at Nehalem Bay's runway (runways 33/15, 2350' in length, traffic pattern altitude 1000' MSL). The first time I attempted it, with a previous trainer, I had to give the controls up because she fixated on the treetops below us as we came in from the north. I then acquired a new instructor...he allowed me to call the shots on my attempts at Nehalem. I would always give up controls and let him land. One time we headed to the coast for a lesson with the intention to see what the wind sock was doing there. When I flew over there was a Cessna on its top at the end of the runway. The turbulence and winds were quit significant that day. My instructor and I returned at a later date and he let me go around and around in the pattern to land as many times as I wanted to so as to become comfortable with it. So now you may understand why I have always had a burning desire to conquer the wind, water and narrow runway at Nehalem completely solo. One day Bruce emailed me a picture of he and the plane parked at Nehalem. Boy, he did not see, my rather immature, reaction coming to his adventure he had had on his way to work in Salem. I was upset that he had done it alone before I had landed there. Well, my time finally came the other day. It was sunny all around the state of Oregon but not hot enough to create turbulence. The winds were minimal getting over the coast range. So I thought I would take the 45 minute run there and check the conditions out with no huge expectations. The winds were from the north/northwest but only at 5 to 8 knots. Not a big deal. I set up to make the approach from the south over the bay. I made the landing on my first attempt! Wahoo! I then spent 45 minutes walking out to the beach and back, enjoying the fresh ocean air. Part of the runway is shielded from the wind so you arrange to be off the pavement before the trees break or it can get dicey. Once off the ground it was smooth. When arriving back to my home airport I was able to set up for a straight in landing, a 4 mile final, without having to do the normal rectangular pattern over the strip. That was the icing on the cake! So, finally, I can close this chapter in my flying adventures, but I will always have great respect for the elements that make Nehalem Bay so exciting to land on.


The coast range at 6500'.


Nehalem Bay. The little spot of brown in the center of picture is the runway (looks like a backward lower case "r").


The approach over the bay. The runway is in the reflection of the planes' window.


Downwind leg.


The winds when landing.


Tied down.


The beach.


Wide open waters.