Mt. St. Helens
On May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Mount St. Helens. The bulge and surrounding area slid away in a gigantic rockslide and debris avalanche, releasing pressure, and triggering a major pumice and ash eruption of the volcano. Thirteen-hundred feet (400 m) of the peak collapsed or blew outwards. As a result, 24 square miles (62 square Km) of valley was filled by a debris avalanche, 250 square miles (650 square km) of recreation, timber, and private lands were damaged by a lateral blast, and an estimated 200 million cubic yards (150 million cubic meters) of material was deposited directly by lahars (volcanic mudflows) into the river channels. Fifty-seven people were killed or are still missing. For more than nine hours a vigorous plume of ash erupted, eventually reaching 12 to 15 miles (20-25 km) above sea level. The plume moved eastward at an average speed of 60 miles per hour (95 km/hr), with ash reaching Idaho by noon. By early May 19, the devastating eruption was over. Shown here is a close-up view of the May 18 ash plume.
Look into the eye of the volcano. Over 30 years have past, and the area hasn't changed much. A new lava dome is now appearing. It has grown 1500' since the eruption and is still growing.
These are just a few of the sights we'll see down at Mt. St. Helens. You can see it today as Nature rebuilds after the destruction and the building lava dome growing at 150-200 ft. per year.
This flight is a 2 hour flight. Includes the Mt. Rainier flight.
All flights are done in tailwheel airplanes, Available as instructional flight or aerial photography.