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The other weekend I had the opportunity to fly my faworite plane, the Super Cub, towing out of a very interesting little field right smack in the middle of the Cascade Mountains. As you can see, this little jewel of an airport lies right in the middle of the two premier soaring sites in the US, Ephrata to the East and Costal flying to the West. (That of course is my opinion)
The event was sponsored by the Puget Sound Soaring Association, PSSA. Normally the PSSA operates out of a little airfield called Bergseth, but once or twice a year the operation is moved to Bandera.
 As you can see from the picture on the left, Arl ington to the West and Ephrata to the East. Just a bit closer in the picture on the right, you can see how narrow the East-West Valley gets.
Zooming in just a bit closer, this is an approach from the west to the east. The strip is rising slightly to the east. Unfortunately the wind commonly blows from the west, so it is actually a better idea to land to the west downhill into the wind.
Soaring right in the middle of the Cascade is great! The view is fantastic. To the north one can see Mount Baker and to the South Mount Rainier is clearly visible. Cross Country potential is a bit challenging, especially if the conditions are marginal. As you can see from the following pictures, not too many landing places, just in case. Well, there is one very long landing strip, mostly used by cars... bad idea!
   
By the way, did you know that the PSSA has the biggest fleet of PW-5 in the Northwest? They operate 2 PW-5, one is club owned, one is privately owned.
Here are a few pictures of the PW's:
 
At altitude, the view opens up, and one can see up and down the Cascade range.
     
Landing is typical for landing on a back country mountain strip. It requires all your attention. The wind in the valley can be moderate to strong, and the surrounding trees provide plenty of turbulence to keep the pilot alert. It is a down hill landing, but the wind balances that challenge.
 
In total the club spend 3 days at Bandera, for me as the tow pilot there, it was fun. It it nice to fly out of a different airport, especially a back country strip that is as challenging as Bandera.
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