THOMPSON
VALLEY SPORT AIRCRAFT CLUB
(Member of
Recreational Aircraft Association)
Beautiful
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
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Next meeting: Saturday, August
8, 2009, at 10am.
Location: Clubhouse, Blair Field, Knutsford.
August
2009 Newsletter
Editor's
Notes
I
would like to thank Barry Meek for contributing
his monthly article. All of them are now
available at http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/BMLetters.html I
still have a few things to modify, but only
details. If you notice something that does not
work right, please let me know and I will correct
it.
Also
this month we have a few articles and many photos
by Bill Huxley, and photos by Greg Peterson.
Thanks for the contributions guys! And also
Thanks to Larry L'Heureux who did a great job
again with the lawn mower at the Knutsford strip!
I
always like to publish lots of aerial
photographs, illustrating the georgeous
landscapes we have here in BC, and giving the
non-flyer a better idea why we love flying so
much! It is great to go up and see with the birds
an area where I was walking through only
yesterday, like the following shots of the Pine
Valley subdivision. I used to be able to hike out
of my backyard and go to that area years ago when
there was not one house along the way. Now they
have heavily modified Python Lake and greatly
reduced it in size.
I
walked on the pathway that goes all around, and
found the area teeming with life: ducks, geese,
coots, sparrows, starlings, red-winged
blackbirds, and even one garter snake swimming
across.
On
my way back to Knutsford I spotted this bear east
of Coal Hill, just a few hundred feet from my
Geocache SkyHigh#8. When it comes to bears, my
philosophy is: Not in my backyard.
Greg
Peterson
Greg
sent me some photos he took on July 20. He says: Today was the
perfect day to head up to Clearwater. The
air was smooth, and the views were
spectacular. If you have any visitors this
summer looking for something unique to do,
I'd highly recommend it.
Murtle Lake
Helmken Falls
Cinder Cone
Dawson Falls
My
First Flight To Mabel Lake/Kingfisher
By
Bill Huxley
After talking about it for a
couple of weeks Gerald and I finally got the
weather and schedules to cooperate, so off we
went.
After a nice cool morning
ride on my V-Star motorcycle to Knutsford by 7:15
AM, I did the Challenger’s
pre-flight and warm-up. An attempt to call
Mabel Lake for “Prior Permission”
resulted in receiving a message that no
one answers until 10:00AM. So I left a voice
message that we would be arriving around 9:00AM
and hoped no one would be upset.
I glanced up to
Gerald’s Airstrip and saw he was just
lifting off so I quickly fired- up the 582.
The engine temperature came up quickly to
allow an immediate backtrack on 13 and departure
into the wild blue yonder. Gerald then came up on
my 3 o’clock and we start off to Mabel Lake.
After getting high enough to
contact Kamloops Radio we get the altimeter
setting and a very nice “thanks for
calling” response. I’ll try to
remember to call in more often with that kind of
encouragement to a couple of (relatively) slow
“Ultralights”.
The air was as smooth as
glass and we made good time getting to Enderby
then flew up the valley to Mabel Lake.
The Airstrip was hiding in
the tall trees and didn’t come into view
until we were almost directly above.
The setting here on this
warm summer day was very stunning. The
dark lush grass runway contrasted perfectly with
the blue lake and all the small boats bobbed like
corks on the water.
A long turn over the Lake
caused a bit of concern which soon absorbed by
concentration of the approach while turning final
for runway 34. The approach was so smooth
and steady over the lake I thought I was back in
my 172. The airplane touched down on that
thick fairway-like grass as gently as ever.
(My later landing at home in
Knutsford, however, brought me back to earth, in
more ways than one!)
Gerald and I climbed out and
parked our airplanes off the runway. It was
9:15AM my Hobbs meter confirmed exactly one hour
flight time. I considered, this is likely
the nicest airstrip I will ever land on.
I’m certain the golf course people maintain
this since it is like a short fairway without any
rough!
While heading for the
Clubhouse I took a photo of the strip looking to
the lake and inadvertently captured some local
wildlife (deer/dear).
A five- minute walk to the
Golf Course Clubhouse revealed a quality
facility. We went in but, alas, the
restaurant would not open for another 1.5 hours.
We walked down to the south
end of the strip to check out another Challenger
(exact same colour as my bird) on amfibs, but,
no-one was around to BS with. (I have a
set of amfibs to install and any advice I could
get would be much appreciated.)
It was now time to head off
to Salmon Arm. Our take off was on runway
16 with the left turn downwind for departure.
Look closely and you can see Gerald framed
by my wing struts.
Just before reaching Enderby
we see a small distinctive hill. The small
hill in this picture is called
“Quillaqua”. It is just East of
Enderby and this picture is looking south to
Armstrong & Vernon. Local legend has
it that this was the site of a major battle.
My wife Sandra grew-up in
Enderby and often went hunting arrowheads at
Quillaqua. After many attempts, she never
found any evidence of arrowheads etc. so is
suspect of the myth, but it makes a fine story.
We then landed in Salmon Arm
and paid a visit to John McDermott and Ed Lepp.
After picking up a few parts we headed
across Shuswap Lake. Our course took us over
Sorrento, Squilax, Chase, and then home.
Coming close to Knutsford,
It was almost 12:00 o’clock and the air was
starting to get a little bumpy.
About 3 miles east of Knutsford I hit air so
rough it took 5 tries to change the frequency to
123.2! (Welcome Home! Eh?)
I landed on Runway 31 using
a hard slip to force my light airplane down in a
strong thermal, (it was not the smoothest
landing).
On the ground it was not so
“cool” (30C plus) but I had a pleasant
15 minute ride to my downtown home on the V-Star
to cool off!
This flight was special even
though it was not very long nor difficult.
It was one of those adventures that one goes over
in their mind many times after it ends.
Reliving it over and over again multiplies the
enjoyment. It was a favourite journey in
my Challenger.
End
of an Era
By
Bill Huxley
July 15, 2009 was a day of
mixed feelings.
Tony Bellos began with his
private license many years ago, he then went on
to a distinguished career “exporting high
explosives to Germany” in Halifax and
Lancaster bombers, followed by a bunch of fun
flying his bright red Murphy Renegade over the
local area.
Tony celebrated his 93(!)
Birthday July 29, 2009. Last year, Tony
only made two or three trips with us to Quilchena
for our legendary lunches. The
writing was on the wall. Mind you, on one
of those trips Tony was chatting up a couple of
younger ladies who asked him if he ever did
aerobatics in his Renegade. Tony replied
that he used to but not anymore. We
then walked back to the airplanes and as we got
them warmed up we noticed a group of people were
watching us take-off, those lady friends
included. According to custom, Tony left
first. I just happened to glance up to see
him turn back to the Hotel and I wondered what he
was doing. Just as he came overhead the
ladies and their group - the Renegade darted
straight up, rolled on its back and reversed
direction so fast I could hardly follow it.
He then rolled right-side-up and headed
back to Knutsford. I though to
myself,”I should have known that little
bugger would do something to impress the
ladies”.
In spite of still having the
spirit to fly, Tony found it too difficult
getting in and out of his bi-plane thus he put it
up for sale. So it happened, on July 15, 2009,
that Larry L’Heureux, Bill Ross and I were
in attendance when the King George Airpark group
came to pick up the trusty Renegade. At
one point they started to roll the airplane out
of the Hanger to drain the stale fuel and Tony
barked out an order to leave it were it was and
that they should drain the fuel INSIDE the
Hanger. They were very good natured about
being told what to do with THEIR airplane (paid
for it last week) and proceeded to drain the fuel
and replace it with fresh, inside the Hanger, as
directed by Captain Bellos.
After rolling it outside,
the new owner/pilot got familiarized with
everything. Next photo shows after Captain
Tony rushed over to provide the last minute
orders then he strolled back to the send-off
committee (also known as the 3 amigos).
The 3 amigos. Of
course, there's 4, Bill Huxley was behind the
camera...
Then the new owner
backtracked to the North end and headed off into
the wind, which was very strong and gusty!
The last picture shows the Renegade just after
lift-off. Tony had instructed him not to
fly over any houses so he banked right and came
straight at me which made for a great “photo
op”.
As we stood and watched the
little bi-plane struggle for altitude in the
downdraft off the south hills, it seemed to get a
new life and climbed strongly upward, wings
rocking in the spirited breeze, slowly
disappearing over the Knutsford hills. We
drove to the Knutsford strip to make sure the
Renegade didn’t decide to stay here
(secretly hoping it did- but it didn’t).
Then it hit us – this was the end of
an era!
North
to Alaska … almost.
By Barry Meek.
The summer of 2008
wasn’t a memorable one in terms of good
flying weather. Most of the country
endured rain, cloud and cold for three months.
Several full weeks would go by while we
sat on the ground. My seasonal work was
flying in Northern British Columbia for the
Forest Health Program. We flew specialists
in forest pest identification who mapped the
damage to trees caused by, among other things,
the Mountain Pine beetle. Out here in B.C.
a huge percentage of pine is already dead, and
speculation is there will be none left in a few
short years. Further, the beetle is
migrating into Alberta and Saskatchewan, carried
by the wind, even the jet stream. Huge
swarms of this insect apparently appear on radar
just as rain does. Worst of all, there’s no
way to stop them at this time. All that
can be done is assess and monitor the damage
until someday, they run out of food …. the
pine trees.
Re-fueling at an
isolated gravel strip
The process we used
is quite simple, and that was to fly grid
patterns where possible allowing the specialists
to assess pretty much the entire province for
damage and decide what type of pests are active.
Consequently, it was a great way for a
pilot to see just about every square mile of
British Columbia, at least the section he’s
assigned to. Mine was mostly the
north-west quarter of the province, from
Tweedsmuir Provincial Park up to Dease Lake, and
from the centre of the province right out to the
west coast.
Bennett Dam at
Hudson's Hope BC
Although we never
went “north of 60”, for a southerner
like myself, I consider that area “the
NORTH”. Every small town we worked
from is consistent with the northern character.
Many bear resemblance to a mining or
logging camp, where the motels and restaurants
are full of transient workers, and helicopters
come and go by the dozens from local airports.
Businesses in the towns have names like
Glacier, Frontier, Northern and Pacific Western.
Pickup trucks rule. They’re
all painted with the same color mud and sport
cracked windshields. Nowhere will you
people wearing a suit and tie. It’s a
rough and tough atmosphere resembling a pioneer
environment.
Huckelberry Mine,
south of Burns Lake.
Tourists come to
this area, including many on their way to Alaska.
Time was when there was one route, the
Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek. In
recent years, an alternate highway has been paved
through Dease Lake. Highway 37, now
favored by hundreds of travelers in motorhomes,
cars and a surprising number of motorcyclists.
They come from all over the continent to
take home the bragging rights “I went to
Alaska”. A common shortcut is to
drive to Stewart, B.C. then cross the border into
Hyder, Alaska. It’s the end of the
road and as such, there’s no U.S. customs to
deal with. Just Canadian customs when you
come back. At that point, the Alaska
panhandle is so far south it’s only a short
distance from Prince Rupert and a long way south
from the Yukon border.
Stewart BC from
10,000 feet.
Many pilots still
make the trek each summer as well. This is
a good place to see the bush planes, several with
the big tundra tires grinding up the various
routes north. I enjoyed the company of a
Super Cub pilot who flew from Nanoose Bay on
Vancouver Island one day. Shortly after
his visit, a restaurant owner from Aspen,
Colorado came through in a PA12 which was
outfitted for the roughest country he was likely
to find. I hope those two pilots
eventually met up and had time to spend together.
They were both looking for similar
adventures.
Weather is always a
factor in the rugged mountains of the northern
B.C. Some days the wind would blast in and
we’d feel like a cork in a Jacuzzi.
Other times, it was so calm and clear that
viewing the mountain scenery was like watching it
on a movie screen. After flying so much in
the southern half of the country and on the
prairies, the north is peculiar in it’s
scarcity of population. It’s pretty
much all mountains and bush. Only the
occasional road, village or tiny settlement is
seen. There’s a vast territory out
there.
The Skeena River,
some 20 miles west of Terrace.
Pilots are
sometimes frustrated by the difficulty in
obtaining reliable weather reports in this part
of the country. Quite often, contacting
Pacific Radio is difficult on 126.7. Our
monitoring was done by the BC Forest Service from
the Fire Centres in Prince George and Smithers.
Automated Flight Following is employed,
where a signal is sent every two minutes from our
aircraft to the centres via satellite giving them
GPS co-ordinates. The tracking lines
connecting the GPS ‘dots’ show up on
maps in the dispatch office. Additionally,
we were required to make voice contact via radio
every 30 minutes. It wasn’t
guaranteed insurance against a crash, but if
there ever was an engine failure, we’d be
located pretty fast!
Flying from point A
to point B, carrying passengers, supplies,
equipment and machinery is the traditional life
of the bush pilot. In this forest health
work however, we were airborne for many hours at
a time. Flying the grid patterns sharpened
up my GPS skills and ensured a pretty thorough
understanding of navigation by degrees, minutes
and seconds.
The assignment
lasted just under three months and about 200
hours of flight time. Not a whole lot, but
this particular job depended so much on weather.
Any significant cloud would be cause to
scrub the day’s flying. At the end of
the summer, with plenty of great flying behind
me, I came away with my fill of mountains and
bush. Not an unpleasant experience by any
means, but autumn is a good time to be back on
the south coast of B.C.
bcflyer@propilots.net
To read all of
Barry's previous articles, go to http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/BMLetters.html
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