You do not need to own an airplane to fly. In Kelso, you can rent one by the hour from Cascade Air's fleet at Southwest Washington Regional Airport (KKLS) — the same aircraft students train in, kept on a maintenance program, and bookable online. If you have been searching for "aircraft rental near Kelso" or "rent a plane," here is what is available and what you need before you book.
The rental fleet
Cascade Air's fleet spans the classic training and travel aircraft:
- Cessna 150L and Cessna 152 — two-seat trainers, $110 and $115 per hour. Cheap to fly, forgiving, ideal for pattern work and short cross-countries.
- Cessna 172K and Cessna 172M — four-seat workhorses at $165 per hour. The 172 is the default rental for trips: room for passengers and bags, good useful load, and a familiar cockpit for anyone who trained in one.
- Cessna 182RG — a faster, retractable-gear four-seater for pilots who want range and speed, or who are working toward a complex endorsement.
- Beechcraft Travel Air — a twin-engine option for multi-engine training and time-building.
Rates are wet — fuel is included — and the aircraft are hangared at the same field you pick them up from.
What you need to rent
Rental requirements are standard for a flight school operation:
- A pilot certificate. At minimum a private pilot license (PPL); student pilots can fly solo in the school's aircraft with CFI signoff.
- A current flight review. A BFR — flight review, in current FAA usage — completed within the previous 24 calendar months.
- A current medical (or a qualifying alternative such as BasicMed, where it applies to your operation).
- A checkout with a Cascade Air CFI. A short flight in each make and model you want to rent, so the instructor can confirm you are comfortable with the aircraft's speeds, systems, and procedures. Every school requires this, and it is a genuinely good practice, not a formality.
If you are new to the area or returning after years away, the checkout doubles as a local-area briefing — which brings up a point worth expanding.
100LL, maintenance, and the local details
KKLS has 100LL avgas on the field, so refueling after a long cross-country is a matter of taxiing to the pump, not planning around fuel stops. Maintenance lives on the same ramp — Cascade Air's maintenance operation works on the rental fleet itself, which means squawks get addressed by the people who see the aircraft every day, and renters are not stranded waiting for a shop an hour away to look at a magneto problem.
The airport itself is uncontrolled — you self-announce on the CTAF, and the ramp-to-runway time is measured in seconds, not minutes. For a renter, that means more of your booked hour is spent flying. A single paved runway (12/30, 4,000 feet) handles everything in the fleet comfortably.
What a checkout flight actually covers
For licensed pilots, the checkout is not a test — nobody is trying to fail you. It is a familiarization flight, and it covers the things that actually differ between aircraft: fuel system quirks, flap and trim settings, approach speeds, radio setup, and the school's operational rules. If you learned in a 172 twenty years ago, a checkout in Cascade Air's 172K or 172M is an hour of getting current on the specifics. If you are stepping up into the 182RG for the first time, the checkout includes retractable-gear procedures — and if you do not yet hold a complex endorsement, that same flight with a CFI counts toward it.
Experienced renters usually find the KKLS checkout faster than at a busy field: no tower queues means the whole hour goes to the aircraft, not the taxiway.
Where you can take one
Renters from Kelso typically fly:
- Astoria (KOTH) — follow the Cowlitz down to the Columbia and out to the coast; watch the marine layer on the way.
- Aurora (KUAO) and Vancouver (KVUO) — south into Oregon, around the Portland Class B shelf. Good restaurants on the field, good practice along the way.
- Hood River and the Gorge — east along the Columbia for some of the best scenery in the Pacific NW.
- The volcanoes — Mount St. Helens sits northeast of the field; a clear-day circumnavigation of the blast zone is a memorable route with a view.
Planning around the PDX Class B is part of renting here — your checkout includes routing tips, and local knowledge of the shelves and the Gorge wind patterns makes every trip smoother.
Booking
Rentals are scheduled through Flight Schedule Pro — the same system the school uses for lessons. You can see aircraft availability, book a block, and confirm instructor time for a checkout in one place. For current rates on the 182RG and the Travel Air, or questions about checkout requirements, call the office at 360-232-8936.
See the full fleet and rental details, or if you are not yet a pilot, a discovery flight is where it starts — every renter in the fleet started in that same left seat.