A flight over Mount Rainer in the Cessna 140 (N89007 c/n 8011) in 1969. Story by Elmer Carlson
Western Washington has many scenic areas. Among them are the Olympic Mountains, the Olympic Peninsula with its magnificent rain forest and the Cascade Mountains with numerous vistas. It also has five major mountain peaks, Mount Baker and Glacier Peak to the north, Mount Saint Helens to the south, Mount Adams southeast and Mount Rainer right in the center.
We were living just west of Enumclaw, right next to the airport where we tied down our 140 Cessna. Mount Rainer looked like it was almost in our backyard. It is a very majestic looking peak with five glaciers and is still considered active, although there has not been a violent eruption for several hundred years.
My stepson Gregory had asked me several times if the 140 could climb high enough to get over the top of Mount Rainier. My reply to him was I thought so but would never know for sure until we tried it.
Finally, we decided we should make the attempt. It was a rather warm summer day, August 9, 1969, but as I recall, it wasn't unbearable. There are not many days in western Washington that are.
At that time there no fuel available at the Enumclaw airport. You had to either fly down to Auburn or over to Thun Field near Puyallup. Since Puyallup was closer I decided to go over there to start the flight. It's always better to begin an adventure with a full tank. I liked flying into Thun Field because there was always something new to see. We also took a light lunch along.
After refueling we took off from Thun Field and headed straight for Mount Rainer. Off to our right, as we climbed out, there was a good view of Mount Saint Helens. It was a beautiful sight at that time. It reminded you of Mount Fiji in Japan. It was destined to enjoy its beauty for about eleven more years when it would blow its top off in an explosive eruption. It went from the most beautiful to the most famous overnight. Mount Adams was almost straight ahead.
My thoughts went back to the errand at hand as I put the plane in a steady climb toward Mount Rainier. The closer we got to it the bigger it became. I headed toward the right (south) side as we climbed because I knew we would not be able to climb right up and over.
I told Gregory, "I'm going to stay out a ways, just in case there is turbulence in close". "That's fine with me, you're the pilot", he replied.
We continued the climb and by the time we arrived in line with the peak we were only up to 10,000 ft (3,048 m). Since the height of Mount Rainier is 14,410 ft (4,392 m) we had to gain another 4,400 ft (1,341 m) approximately. I continued to climb and started to make a circle around the peak. Little Tahoma (a secondary peak on Mount Rainier) came into view as we slowly gained altitude.
We had a camera with us just in case we got close enough to the summit to get some pictures. I decided to reverse our course so as to put Gregory on the side of the plane next to the mountain so he could take them if the opportunity presented itself. The flight so far had been pretty much routine. We were now circling the mountain in a clockwise direction and the altitude was very slowly increasing. After two circuits around the peak we reached an altitude of 12,000 ft (3,658 m). This apparently was as high as we would get, the plane would not go any higher. For the next circuit it would either go up some and then go down some, but would not go above 12,000 ft (3,658 m).
I said, "I guess this is as high as we get unless something exciting happens. It just will not go any higher."
"Well, we get a pretty good view from here anyway."
"Lets make one more round and go home."
I decided to approach the mountain a little closer when we started the next round. As we got closer in, the air was a little rougher and the plane bounced about some, but not excessive, however we entered a downdraft and started losing altitude. Although I had full power on we still went down. When we approached the other side, we started going up again and soon regained any altitude we had lost.
I announced, "I know what's the matter, it just came to me, Mount Rainier is in a standing wave."
Gregory asked, "What's a standing wave?"
"I'll tell you later, but now I think I know how to get over the top of the mountain."
I executed a 180° turn to the right. This put us closer to the mountain and back through the air space we had just came through. It also put us in the middle of the rising air that was going over the top. Our rate of climb went up to 1,000 ft (305 m)/min. It's hard to describe the euphoric feeling I felt as we drifted higher and higher. Up past 13,000 ft (3,962 m), past 14,000 ft (4,267 m) and finally at 15,000 ft (4,572 m) I lowered the nose of the 140 and tried to get it in level flight. I hoped that Gregory was experiencing the same feelings.
There was hardly any turbulence as we started circling the top of the peak. I knew that Mount Rainier was a volcano, but I was very surprised to see a crater at the very top. It just never occurred to me. After a few minutes of sight seeing which really took in a lot of territory, I looked over at Gregory and said, "Lets do it again." He nodded his head in the affirmative.
I turned and headed toward the other side of the mountain and with the plane in level flight attitude we started to go down. What a thrill it was feel the decent without touching a control except to try to keep the plane level. There was a lot of turbulence. I let it drop until we were about to the 10,000 ft (3,048 m) level, and then made a turn to the right to get out of the downdraft and turbulence.
As we were flying around the peak I asked Gregory to break out the camera. I think we were both so excited before with the rapid increase in altitude that we forgot about it.
We were now climbing slowly and after a few minutes we could feel the rising air as the plane started up again. This time I approached a little closer. As soon as we detected the up draft, I throttled back some and lowered the nose slightly. In this attitude maybe we wouldn't get such a high rate of climb and be able to enjoy the ride for a few more minutes. As we started up, Gregory was able to snap a few pictures of the side of the mountain and after we got back to 15,000 ft (4,572 m) he got a real good picture of the crater. What a sight it was and what a ride. We circled for a few minutes and decided to head for Enumclaw. I held it at 15,000 ft (4,572 m) for as long as I could, but it finally started down on it own after we left the wave. On the way back we ate the sandwiches and had a drink to go with them.
Gregory asked me again, "What's a standing wave?"
One way to explain a standing wave is to picture a stream of water coming down a mountainside. There are always rocks large and small in a stream. When the water is low it will go around the rocks, but when it gets higher it will start to build up and go over the top of the rocks forming what is called a standing wave. Water and air act the same, except air is a lot thinner than water. When the wind gets stronger, a mountain acts like a rock in a stream; the wind starts to go over the top and forms a standing wave. This is what was happening on Mount Rainier and we were given a very exciting experience.
Enumclaw was just below us as we continued a slow decent. At first I was planning to land there, but a look at the fuel level told me we should go back to Puyallup and refuel. We had been gone for about three hours. Time sure goes by fast when you are having fun.