With a landing beside the motel.

I relocated to Pateros, WA today. I’d been based in Quincy, WA for about three weeks when my contracts ended. My second batch of contracts had been pushed back a week, leaving me with 2 weeks with nothing to do. But I soon found another contract — this one 50 miles (as the helicopter flies) north at Brewster. Because the motel at Brewster was supposed to be pretty bad, they set me up at the Lake Pateros Motor Inn, right on the Columbia River, between Brewster and Lake Chelan.

I flew up to Chelan to meet with my dispatcher. He’s the guy who will call me and send me to the various orchards that need drying. I used my POV.1 camera to capture the highlights (such as they were) of my flight from Quincy Airport to Chelan Airport. You can view it here:

After filling up with fuel and killing time reading about the 100 Things to Do in Chelan, my contact, Dan, drove up. After a quick chat, he told me I should move my helicopter over to an area away from the pumps. That, of course, required that I start up the helicopter and fly it over. It was about 200 yards away, in a grassy area on the other side of a bunch of hangars. I suspect that Dan just wanted to check out my hovering abilities because there really wasn’t any reason for me to move. But I moved and made a nice smooth landing on the grass.

I got into his truck and he went over the paperwork with me. There was a lot of it, but not more than I can handle. Then he drew a map to show me where the motel in Pateros was and where I should land the helicopter beside it. We talked about where the orchards were. He said he’d send Mark, another pilot, out to fly with me this afternoon to show me the orchards. And that was it.

Well, he did tell me a funny story about what his one-year-old puppy did one afternoon when he left her home alone, but I’d better not repeat it here. Let’s just say it involved dirty laundry, a doggie pool, and the UPS lady.

I climbed back into my helicopter as Dan drove away. I fired it up and turned on the camera. I then proceeded to record the video embedded below. This video features a landing on the grassy spot to the east of the hotel, right along the river.

I have to say that I’m getting better at recording these things. Although I don’t like the mount I used for these flights — I call it the “wiggle-stick” because of the way it vibrates in flight — I am getting better at narrating what’s going on. I hope some of the people who visit the blog find them interesting. If you do, please use the Comment link or form to let me know so I keep delivering them.