I moved to Seattle, WA in March for a new job and relocated the Bellanca from New Mexico over Memorial Day weekend. We tried to take the direct route, but ran into some really bad weather over the four corners area and had to return to Albuquerque. On a second attempt at leaving New Mexico, we flew to Flagstaff, Las Vegas (Henderson), Reno (Stead), Hillsboro, and Seattle. In end, GPS says we flew 1,876.35 miles at an average speed of 132.06 MPH. From just north of Crater Lake until the Seattle area we were in the clouds as frequently as not, which was fun. We were able to make visual approaches into both Hillsboro and Everett, which was nice. Overall, the plane flew really well, although it didn’t want to idle very slowly at sea level, so some fuel calibration will be needed.

I’m still deciding where to base the Bellanca, but for now it’s going to live in a shared hangar at Paine Field in Everett, WA. Paine is the home of the Boeing wide-body factory, hence the variety of 747, 777, and 787 planes in the background.