Tag Archives: Will Rogers–Wiley Post Memorial Seaplane Base

Cessnas Are More Interesting Without Wheels

A little floatplane activity is always fun to watch for me and, aside from Kenmore, there is also the base at Renton.  Situated at the north end of the Renton runway is the Will Rogers-Wiley Post Memorial Seaplane Base.  It can be a good place to see some floatplanes in action.  I was chatting to a guy there and he told me that he thought some of the planes had gone to land on the main runway but he was mistaken.  Just as I was getting ready to head back to the car, a Cessna came flying down the length of the runway without landing as it set up for a water touchdown.

It turned towards me a little as it descended across the end of the field.  It was behind the fence and I couldn’t get a decent shot off but I was able to pick it up as it flew out over the water and touched down.  It taxied back to the dock and disgorged its passengers.  I must try and be better prepared for an arrival like that at some point in the future.

Kodiak Floatplane Returning To Renton

A sunny Sunday afternoon had me driving past Renton so I figured I would stop off to see a few things.  I swung by the floatplane base after I had done whatI came for and things were quite quiet.  I had just missed a few planes and wondered whether I would bother hanging around.  Then a Cessna made an approach, as covered in another post, and, while it was taxiing back to the dock, I saw a Kodiak heading towards us down the lake.  Initially I thought it was going to make a straight in approach but, since the main Renton traffic was operating to the north, I guess it had to fit with that.

Consequently, it made a path that took it towards the eastern shore of Lake Washington before carving a sweeping, descending turn towards the lake.  With the hills of that shoreline behind it, things looked pretty impressive.  There were plenty of people out on the lake in boats, kayaks and paddle boards and they would have got a really good view as it came in to the lake to touch down.

They taxied back towards the base and I hadn’t appreciated what their plan was.  I figured they were tying up at the dock and I had moved away slightly but they had dropped the wheels and were coming up the slipway.  A good dose of power was needed to come up the ramp.  I wish I had shot that or, better yet, got some video.  I will have to go back to the seaplane base there.  The new fencing is not great but there are still some good photo opportunities to be had.