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September 2008 Newsletter.
Next meeting: Saturday,
September 5, 2008, at 10:00am.
Location: Clubhouse, Blair Field, Knutsford.
This
site hosted by OCIS, On Call Internet Services.
376-3858 Check their Website
here: http://www.ocis.net/
Due
to the limited space available on the server, the
archives will not contain anything older than one
year. For members only: If you need to look at a
specific newsletter from previous years, please
let me know, I will e-mail you the file. villeneuve@shaw.ca
President's
Letter
Not Really! Dick has been as
busy as a beaver, so much he has not even the
time to fly his own Beaver... Maybe next time!
Editor's
notes
We
lately lost a fellow flyer. On August 8, Dean
Perry went down in his Beaver in a field just
across the Yellowhead Highway from his own
airstrip, and the impact was so severe that the
aircraft came apart. Our most sincere condolences
to his family.
At
this time, I still don't know what caused the
accident. The report was on the Web at http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/story.html?id=1e553bc6-045b-4f82-87bb-5a3b6d359839
Dean used to be a TVSAC member, and I remember
flying our ultralights together to Quilchena for
a coffee. His Beaver was equiped with a
Lotusfloat, and Dean enjoyed going down on all
the small lakes along Highway #5 to leave a wake
on the water.
I
also fly a single-seater Beaver like Dean's but
minus the float, and I know how easy you can get
in trouble if you are too complacent, like I was
on August 18th....Executing a low altitude turn
was my first mistake; the second was flying too
slow while going from upwind to downwind. The
result was a stall; fortunately the Beaver does
not nose down like a regular aircraft, I applied
full power but still hit hard enough to lose my
left wheel, and came to a stop off-field some two
hundred feet away but within walking distance to
my hangar. The worst damage was to my pride;
within four hours I had the Beaver repaired and
flown back to the strip. I think that incident
left me a bit smarter, and I hope it shows next
time I fly...
Gary
Wolf was in the area, in Kelowna for a wedding in
the family, and he dropped by to have coffee with
us at the Aberdeen food court (on the day of my
screw-up...) I hope he can some day make it to
one of our regular meetings. Here is a photo he
took:
Gerald
Gibbons, me, Larry L'Heureux, Leif Berget, Bill
Huxley and Tony Bellos.
Dan
Berwin and Dennis Seib flew to the 108 Fly-in on
August 23. Dennis said there was a very good
attendance, and Dan sent me some pictures:
Dennis
and his Tri-Pacer
Dan
and his Challenger
Following
is the second part of the story by Dan Nelson
about his trip across Canada with Dave Jones.
This time I included the pictured Dan sent me...
And you can go back to the August issue for the
first part and all the pictures I had neglected
to enclose.
After
that is some of Gary Meek's journal about his
summer job. Very interesting; I hope he can give
us more later.
At
our last meeting, Gerald said he located some
tanks that he might be able to use to fabricate a
roller to pack down the strip. I think it is a
great idea, and would like to suggest that if he
wants to go ahead with the project then the Club
should reimburse him for the materials and his
work. Anybody wants to second the motion?
Finally,
don't forget to check the Buy&Sell section
for a few new items.
I
feel I forgot something... Let me know!
RIDING A
HIGH PRESURE RIDGE ACROSS CANADA
By Dave Jones and Dan
Nelson
(Part 2 of 3)
Day#4
Next
morning we had the continental breakfast put on
at the Beaver Motel and then decided to walk to
the airport, there was no sense being in a hurry
because the fog had rolled in. Our weather lady
said the fog should be gone by 8:00am, and by
8:30 we were on our way to Rouyn Noranda Quebec.
In
front of the control tower in Rouyn Noranda
A
short leg 2.9hrs but again very beautiful country
to fly over, as we arrived, again we were pushing
the high east and we were met by some strong
crosswinds. We refuelled and decided we would go
in to the terminal and have lunch. It was our
first chance to try and use our limited French
vocabulary and order our lunch. All worked well
and we filed our flight plan to La Tuque Que. The
FIC said the weather in La Tuque was raining but
by the time we get there it should be clear,
there was a mention of some strong winds and they
did not disappoint us In fact we had a good
strong crosswind with a quite noticeable shear on
approach so the first try we went around and
tried again. Down safe and sound we refuelled and
the fellow there told us we could tie down at the
south end of the parking area and pitch our tents
wherever we wanted.
We
had noticed a nice water fall south of the of the
La Toque airport, so we decided to walk down and
have a look and take some pictures, but found out
it was a lot farther than we thought so we came
back to town and went for groceries.
The
cashiers at the Maxi store were great, they
wanted to try and talk to us in English and again
we found their English was better than our French
was.
We
cooked up our supper back at our camp site and
then walked back into town to the
MacDonald’s to plan our leg for the morning.
Eddie
Peck gave us a call to see how we were making out
and we told him that we should make his place
late the next day.
Day#5
Up
early, but greeted by very heavy fog, and light
frost. Found out Mc Donald’s doesn’t
open until 7:00am. After a hardy breakfast of egg
mac muffins and tea and another review of our
maps the sun started to burn off the fog, it was
back to the airport and started hanging things
out to dry on the airplane.
Drying
out the tents after a cold foggy night
By
10:40, our flight plan was filed to Digby and we
were off again. Our track was just about
straight, east and with a good tail wind it was
not long until we had our first look at the Laurentian
Mountains. Its all Quebec has for mountains but
they sure are not at all like the ones we are
used to flying in. The countryside again is very
nice to see. Then we started to see the St.
Lawrence River coming up and it seemed like a
long way across. I guess Quebec wins when it
comes to the size of their river, it’s a
little bigger then the Thompson River at Kamloops.
Our
track took us too Edmundston NB then down the
east side to Grand Falls so as to stay out of the
USA. We followed the St John River south and
watched it wind its way through the countryside
below. Again, a lot of nice homes and small towns
came up below us.
On
our way south to St. Stephens, our stop before
crossing the Bay of Fundy, we ran into some very
unfriendly turbulence, there was no weather or
clouds to let us know it was there but it sure
got our attention. Dave hit the nearest button on
the GPS and it pointed us west to a small town
called Florenceville. There was an airstrip there
so we landed, in addition found out that it
belonged to the McCain potatoe chip people. They
were very busy planting so it was something to
watch while we waited out the winds. We found a
nice spot on the grass to have a nap and then by
the time we had a snack the wind had died down
enough to try for St Stephen.
Watching
the McCain potatoes being planted while waiting
out the wind at Florenceville
It
was 6:00pm when we left and we arrived at St
Stephen 1hr later. We landed west into the sun
and found a very nice airport. The fuel is
handled by the local flying club, and the number
on the sign was called for fuel. Mike Smith came
down as soon as he was done his dinner and we
were able to fuel up. The wind was still blowing
and Mike gave us a ride into town for dinner and
later a ride back to the airport. By this time we
thought maybe it was little to late to try
crossing the Bay so we phoned Eddie and told him
we would see him in the morning.
Mike
let us sleep in the flying club building for the
night, which was great because we were able to
leave early the next morning.
Day#6
Up
at 5:30am called Eddie, put on our life jackets
and off we went to 8500ft to cross the Bay of
Fundy, we found our way along the east side of
Maine to Grand Manan Island. From here off in the
distance, we could see the north shoreline of Nova
Scotia. It kind of gives one a funny feeling when
you are about half way across and know that if
the fan quits, gliding to a safe landing would
have got our socks wet.
Crossing
the Bay of Fundy
Once
we were a safe distance to the shore we headed
for Digby and a right turn to Bear River. Eddie
was on the radio at his airstrip and got us to
his place, we could see his airstrip and the
small water strip that he started to put in. the
landing was uneventful, landing to the south and
a really good uphill grade, as we rolled to a
stop Eddie, his brother Brenley and grandson
Arron were there to met us.
Our
final destination, Eddie Peck's runway at Bear
River, Nova Scotia.
Dave taxied the airplane down to
the yard and I took my life in hand and rode down
with Arron in the truck (just kidding Arron, you
are a real good driver...).
Ed took us into town for
breakfast and then we came back and started to
get the floats on, we worked until lunchtime and
things were going very good. After lunch, it was
time to lift the airplane off the wheels and
start attaching the float gear. I had told Dave
that if he had the floats and gear send to
Kamloops and something needed to be changed it
could take two or three weeks of sending stuff
back and forth from Bear River to Kamloops. Well
there were some small changes needed on the
forward gear legs and because we were there it
only took a few minutes and it was done.
Dave and Eddie ready to start
putting on the floats
There were four of us working
steady on the installation and by 11:00pm, we
were done. After watching the space shuttle go by
and doing some visiting with Ed and his wife Jean
we were off to bed.
Day #7
It was a short night and Ed had
us up at 4:30 to start our trip down to the small
launch site below Ed’s place. The reason of
course that we were up so early was all about the
tide. We had to have the airplane in the water
and ready to go at 7:00am. While Ed and Dave did
a few more last minute things to the airplane,
Brenly and I moved a small backhoe and trailer
down to help in getting into the water. The road
to the launch site had been painstakingly done by
Ron Jefferson; he had to cut off a lot of tree
limbs that were hanging out over the road.
The
rudder was removed to make room to get between
the trees, it was close. The airplane was loaded
on a large trailer then put onto a smaller one at
the launch so it could be backed into the water.
Ready
to launch in the tidal water South of Bear River
The
plan was to take off from Bear River and move to Porter
Lake.
Once
in the water, with the tide leaving already, I
had to taxi down the tide made lake into town,
turn around and take off to the south. This gave
me my first look at my take off path and it
looked short and narrow, but everyone
"assured” me there was lots of room. As
I was backtracking, I did a real good run up and
was thinking about how the airplane was going to
react on the new floats. The first attempt was
just to see how quick it got up on the step. All
went well so I backtracked on the step turned
around and I was off in short order. We had
limited fuel and no cargo to keep as light as
possible, The airplane flew and handled with no
problems. I flew to Porter Lake and waited for
Brenly to pick me up, we went back to town and
had a large feed of liver and onions with Ed and
Arron. Dave had to do a little shopping and get
his good wife a gift from Bear River. Brenly and
I went and got all our stuff and some tools so we
could repair a splash rail that caught a tree on
the way to the launch. Ed and Dave went into
Digby and bought some small 1 gal plastic jerry
cans, which were filled and stored in the float
compartments just in case we needed a little
extra fuel along the way. [we never did need to
us it]. Brenly had the float repaired and I had
all our gear packed so when Ed and Dave got back
all we had to do was gas up and take off for Kamloops.
One small glitch slowed down our departure
though, it seems Dan had left the master on, Eddy
gave us a hand start and we were off.
We had good intentions when we
left and filed a flight plan to La Tuque, the
trip across the Bay of Fundy did not seem to so
bad this time when you have floats on the
airplane. We had made our track to Fredericton NBfor
the first leg for fuel. Brenly had told us of a
marina on the lake north west of town. It took
some looking when we got there and one extra
landing to ask where it was, but we were able to
get some fuel. One more time we were reminded
that Saturday afternoon boaters and float planes
don’t mix very well, it was 26c and nobody
seemed to interested in, or knew how to handle
themselves and their boats around the airplane.
Once refuelled we got ourselves
out of the Marina area and were able to take off
without any more problems. The weatherman had
told us of a possible build up of TCU’s near
Edmunston and he did not disappoint us; we tried
to sneak around it but had to turn back south and
land on the St John river near a little town
called Rivière Verte. There just happened to be
a nice boat launch so we were able to tie up
there for the night. The small town of Rivière
Verte was only about a mile to the east so we
walked into town and found a small restaurant
where we had pizza. The rain came back and just
poured about the time we were done so we stayed
until it quit and then made a dash back to set up
our tents before it came again.
Overnight on the St.John River
By the time we got our tents up
it was 9.00pm and seeing as how we had missed a
little sleep the night before we went to bed.
(To be continued next
month)
North to Alaska
….. Almost.
By Barry Meek
I’ve been flying on a
contract for the Forest Health branch this
summer. We’re flying specialists
around the north half of the province assessing
the damage done by the mountain pine beetle and
other pests. The following is an excerpt
from a journal I sometimes write in.
MOVING BASE CAMP:
From 8,500 feet the view to
the south validated the weather briefing of one
hour ago. The towering cumulus cloud and
thunderstorms formed along a line from Prince
George running north-east, leaving the promise of
a relatively uneventful flight to the
south-west. My destination leaving Chetwynd
was Vanderhoof and the route would easily skirt
the systems.
Bennett Dam
MacKenzie slid by off my
right wingtip, and I made a mental note that
I’d possibly be sent back there in a few
days. Another thirty miles clicked off on
the GPS before the first signs of trouble came up
under me. A shallow layer of cloud was
forming directly ahead, but appeared harmless
enough. I flew on over top of it into a
darkening sky, and soon more towering cumulus
cloud boiled up from the gloom, turning the
entire sky into thick soup.
Weather closing in
I attempted to get
down under it all, but even at about 500 feet
above ground, I could see darkness toward my
destination, now less than 30 miles to the
southwest. Time for a 180 degree turn, and
get the heck out of there. This
wasn’t supposed to be here.
MacKenzie, here I come!
The company I’m working
for has a facility in MacKenzie, consisting of an
old terminal building with pilots’ quarters
upstairs. It’s not been used since
the previous air service abandoned it a few years
back. Still in pretty decent repair, it
appears the staff simply got up and walked out
one day, leaving everything behind. The
desks, computers, fax machines, weigh scale,
passenger waiting room, baggage tags ….
Everything in place to come to work for the next
day. But, they never came back.
It’s a totally eerie place. The
magazines in the waiting room are all at least
three years old, and the calendars on the wall
are dated May, 2006.
The ramp at Mackenzie
The TWILIGHT ZONE.
There’s not much
else going on at this airport. A small
charter company runs a Grand Caravan up Williston
Lake transporting groceries and passengers in and
out of Fort Ware and a couple of other villages
and reserves up there. They also serve the
dwindling number of mining camps. With all
the logging abandoned, this airline may not be
long for it’s existence.
N.T. Air's Grand
Caravan
So, here I sit, in solitude
with my computer. Yes, there is still
electricity and running water in this building,
but no internet. There’s an old Chevy
Van parked outside, with some keys hanging on the
wall. I found a battery charger and
managed to start it for a run into the town for
some food. There are canned beans, soups
and old boxes of cereal in the kitchen upstairs,
but who knows how old that stuff is.
It’s quite an experience.
The feeling of isolation and
loneliness is made worse by the steady downpour
and thick, black cloud overhead for the past two
days. There’s a radio here, but CBC
and the local “best rock, 101.9, the
RIVER” just don’t seem to appeal to my
needs. And of course, there’s no TV.
The Forestry crews we fly
around are not working until Monday. And
we still don’t know where they want to fly
from. So I might be working from right
here, or from Prince George or from back in
Smithers again. It’s all uncertain,
but I’m OK with that. In fact,
it’s all good. No sense complaining
since I’m here for the duration of this
work. I’ll take it as it comes.
It’s not even 21:00
hrs. yet, and I can’t believe that even way
up north here, around 56 degrees latitude, the
days are so short already. Summer is
almost over. In fact one would think it
was a severe autumn day today with this wind and
cold. I have worn shorts/t-shirts exactly
three days this entire summer.
bcflyer@propilots.net
New
in the Buy&Sell
http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/buyandsell.html
We
welcome your feedback. Do you have any
contributions for the newsletter? Photo would be
great! So would flying stories, project updates
or tall tales... Contact me: Newsletter Editor:
Camille Villeneuve 1-250-374-4181 villeneuve@shaw.ca
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