Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Cottage Grove

The propeller rotates sluggishly, as the altimeter winds down during our descent into the Cottage Grove airport. The sky is clear, and the wind is blowing gently out of the east. We are currently descending through 3200 ft, towards our target altitude of 2000 ft, at which we will overfly the airport in order to figure out what direction to land. Our observation determines that we will land to the north (runway 33).

I make a radio call reporting my position to any other airplanes on the frequency for Cottage Grove: " Cottage grove Traffic - Cessna Six Niner Zero One Six is over the field at 2000, to join the 45 for 33 - right traffic - Cottage Grove" This tells other pilots what I am trying to do, and where I am going, so we can try to avoid a mid-air collision.

The approach into Cottage Grove is interesting as the airport is sorrounded by hills on all quadrants - the tallest being to the east and south. There are a couple of times during the approach when you are a mere 200-300 ft from the tree tops, and right before you land, there are trees just about 100 ft to the right. Considering this, I always brief my passengers about this approach so they know ahead of time that this is normal, since most people associate proximity to trees with newspaper headlines, fires, crashes, and the likes. Todays passenger has flown with me before, so he is no longer concerned about his safety - not even when he notices something unusual (more on this later).

At this time, I am rolling out of the last turn of the approach - the one that will get me lined up with the runway. As I come out on the runway heading, I immediately get the feeling of being too high, and my brain performs some of the fastest calculations I have ever done. There are trees at the end of the relatively short runway, and I wanna initiate a go-around if necessary, as soon as possible (go-around is a maneuver in which an approach is dicontinued, and the flight circles around to try to land again under better circumstances - they can be caused by many things, from gusty winds, to a deer crossing the runway).

My mental calculations tell me that if I continue my approach, I will touch down about half the way down the runway, and even though I may still be able to stop in time, it is an uneccesary chance to take. I push the throttle in, and pull back on the yoke to bring the nose up to the take off attitude. The airplane starts climbing - Good. So, we've circled around, and now we are rolling out of the last turn again, and everything loks better. We are about 400 ft closer to the trees, and I remember this is the way its suppossed to look like at this airport! The river slides under the airplane, and 3 seconds later the wheels make contact with the ground. The nose wheel immediately follows, and the flaps come up as I simultaneously apply full breaks. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Cottage Grove.