Flying Sky High

Plane Crash

2011-01-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

It was a clear sunny Sunday on July 25th 2010. I had scheduled a sight seeing flight for some friends of a friend. He had company from England and wanted me to fly them over the falls by Tumbler Ridge B.C. ( see earlier post for Kanuseo falls.) The second passenger was a resident of Fort St. John. I had declined the third passenger due to being near max.weight without the fourth person

. ( you can click on the pictures to enlarge.)

The winds were steady at about 12 knots that morning when we met at the Dawson Creek airport. I told my passengers that the area they wished to view was nestled in the mountains and because of ground turbulence it could get rather unpleasant. They wished to continue with the flight so I informed them that we would go however should they feel at all ill they should immediately inform me and we would turn back. We experienced minor turbulence upon take-off which soon smoothed out once we reached altitude. We enjoyed the flight till we reached the valley where we began descending towards the falls. We were experiencing minor turbulence since we began our decent into the valley. We were approximately 500' from the valley floor when a passenger indicated that she was feeling rather ill. I immediately turned around and began to ascend....too little too late..... the passenger projectile vomited all over the dash and floor. Apparently she had blueberries and cherry coke before we left. ( I'll just leave that to your imagination.) Looking down to my right was Tumbler Ridge airport less than 500' below us. Now I do not like Tumbler Ridge airport at the best of times. Being nestled in the mountains with very uneven terrain, up hill both ways, ( yes that's possible and true) makes it a tricky strip to land. Add the 15knot winds doesn't help. However the wind was a direct head wind and I know what it's like to feel ill in the air so decided to land so the passenger could get some air and we could try to clean up the plane somewhat.

We were already traveling downwind right and I had been monitoring the airports channel. There was no traffic. I called a downwind right, turned base and then final. I throttled back to 1500 rpm and set 30 degrees flap. I set the glide to land on the apron. My air speed was 80 mph. too fast... I applied full flap which brought my speed down to just over 70mph. My glide was still good, aimed right for the start of the apron. We were approaching from the top of the google image above. You can see the clear cut of trees in line with the runway. It was when we neared the top of the tree line that we began to sink. The wind below the tree line changed and I no longer had the airspeed required to fly. It was clear that we no longer would make the runway apron. No problem, a small burst of power generally corrects the problem. I applied full power but continued to sink. I recalled during one of my flight lessons when my instructor was teaching overshooting. He was in control of the demonstration and when he pulled up from the touchdown, unknown to him I "helped" out by reaching over and flipping the switch to raise the flaps. He sat up straight and at attention as we experienced a slight "sink". He soon discovered what I had done and used the opportunity to explain to me the cause of drag. Flaps cause drag which allows for slower flight, however you also need air speed to create lift. It is a tough balance to try to figure out when you are in such close proximity to the ground and you are attempting to make your craft fly! I had aborted the idea of landing and just wanted to fly! I do believe we made the apron with a contact bounce. I tried dropping 15 degrees of flap to try to gain some airspeed but it didn't seem to help. It is a real inner battle when everything within you says, " pull up! Pull up!! and yet you know that if you do you will stall the aircraft and do a nose dive into the ground. Yet you continue to sink! I was now too close to the ground to push the stick to a nose down attitude to gain speed. The best I could hope for was a controlled "hard" landing. We were about to make contact again and I could no longer resist the urge to pull back. I noticed that in my flair the right wing was higher in the air. I was about to correct that when the upper wing stalled and we "slammed" into the runway. I believe the right wing and right landing gear struck the runway at the same time. All we heard was a large "crunch" as we struck the runway. The engine instantly stopped running and we slid, scraping, approximately 150' down the runway and slid off the right side. All I remember thinking was, " wow....that was smooth!" Nothing in the plane even moved, except for the keys falling out of the ignition.

Everyone seemed to be fine so we exited the aircraft to observe the damage. All three landing gear were sheared off and laying quite close together about 75' back in the middle of the runway. I walked over and cleared them from the runway. The right wing was curled up at the tip yet the wing tip was not even cracked. The right and left wings were damaged at the landing gear connections.

The prop was turned into curly fries. Tumbler Ridge airport has no personnel and no activity. No emergency phones and no cell phone reception. I removed the back seat and climbed into the tail to turn off the automatic locator's transmitter. We then walked nearly a mile down to the highway and hitched a ride to Tumbler Ridge town center. ( Approximately a 15min. ride.) Once there we phoned our friend and requested he drive the 1 1/2 hr to come get us.

Once back home I phoned Tumber Ridge public works emergency phone contact and reported the incident. I also e-mailed a report to transport Canada. It was treated as an incident and no investigation was conducted. I collected insurance on the airplane.

My instructor once told me that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing where the plane can fly again is a great landing. I guess this was a good landing, however it was not great. The plane was written off. I could have replaced the plane with one of equal or better condition from the proceeds of the insurance. However it is hard to justify the expense of an airplane when you don't have one. I have decided that i need to pay off my mortgage before i purchase a new plane. I also know more now and would want a faster more powerful airplane that wouldn't give me soo much trouble getting over the mountains. What I would want doesn't exist for under $400k. I plan to keep up my license and will be continuing with my posts. It will just be from rental planes. What I miss most is the idea that the plane is sitting there waiting for me to take off whenever I want. There is a real freedom in that. Maybe some day I can get that freedom back. For now i will be content just to be.

Kinuseo Falls

2010-06-13T10:24:00.001-07:00

Kinuseo falls are locatated just south east of Tumbler Ridge B.C. Canada. They are nestled against the east side of a mountain range. This picture was taken by my friend Ken Drover. In order to get into possition for this shot we climbed up the mountain range and then made a sharp diving turn towards and around the falls. My passenger window doesn't open so there is a bit of window glare but I think he got the perfect shot of the falls. Thanks Ken!

Invermere

2009-10-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

I had the opertunity to fly a friend from Dawson Creek to Invermere BC. The flight took 3 hrs. from Dawson Creek to Invermere and 5.1 hrs. from Invermere to Dawson Creek. As you can tell tale winds are far better than head winds. Invermere is a pretty town nestled in the British Columbia Mountains. Invermere is located near Radium Hot Springs and Banff and about 50 miles south west from Calgary Alberta.

There is a vast change of scenery between Dawson Creek and Invermere. I will let the following pictures speak for themselves. You can enlarge the pictures by left clicking on them.

You may have to enlarge the photo to see the Dawson Creek landing strip that welcomed me home.

This is my view coming in for a landing in Dawson Creek B.C. It's a great veiw but visability isn't great with the setting sun in they eyes.

Dawson Local

2009-06-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Dawson Creek on June 14 2009 and look! No snow to be found and it's GREEN!!

City of Dawson Creek B.C. Located in central B.C. ( central north and south)

We are currently building a new home. The foundation is poured. Our lot is centered on the block, second street from the top not including the back alley. You can see the layout of the house and garage in white insulated foam forms. View is taken from the South side.
You may have to click on the pictures to enlarge them in order to find our future home.

This is taken from the north East corner. The lot is right on the edge of the wing. It is very hard to take a picture of a lot when your camera has a delay and you are traveling 180 km. per hour.

This is taken from the North.

Once again from the south.

This was taken several miles west of Dawson Creek. The city has a population of approximately 13,000 people.

This picture is of a friends home on 160 acres just up from the street. I did a few simulated emergency approches to his field.

An interesting formation of land just West of Dawson Creek. I believe this is Kiskatnaw river. ( I'm sure that's spelled wrong but i'm too lazy to look it up. )

Same Area

And another

Ok! I over did that one!

Some of the foundations are being errected for the wind turbines on Bear Mountain.

Sorry about the quality of this picture. More of the wind turbine bases.

This was taken a few miles west of Dawson Creek. Population is aproximately 13000 people. Well that may be streaching it a bit.

Dawson Creek's airport's runnway runs parallel with the city's sewer lagoon. You can land on the lagoon if you have floats. :-)

Well it's now 9:30 pm and my baby is put away till next time. It was a GREAT evening for a flight and i enjoyed it imensly. As you can see there is plenty of daylight left. This day sun rise is at 416am and sun set is at 9:47. This day has 17hrs, 31 min., and 22 seconds of daylight.

Edmonton Alberta

2009-05-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Andrea, lives in Edmonton and desired to visit us for awhile so I flew to Edmonton to pick her up and took her back home. It is a 2.5 to 3 hr. flight one way between Edmonton and Dawson Creek B.C.. Andrea is an aspiring photographer and took these pictures. This picture is of the west end of Edmonton. This flight was taken on April 30th.

This is one of many small lakes between Dawson Creek and Edmonton. The snow is gone from the land but not cleared from the lakes yet.

This picture is taken approximately 50 miles East of Grand Prairie Alberta. Each clearing that you see is an oil or gas well site. The roads that tie each site to the other is one of the neatest overall sites i have ever seen. Just glancing down one could easily see 100 well sites.

I'm not to sure where this one was taken. I'm thinking somewhere near Sexsmith Alberta.

This picture is taken on the West outskirts of Edmonton. For the return flight to Edmonton the weather briefing included some shower activity on rout as well as some towering cumulus clouds and low ceilings. Fluffy cumulus began to form shortly after departure and I fought the desire to climb through the holes and fly atop the clouds as the cloud layer was quite shallow, 7000' to 8500', and the flight would be much smoother above. However Andrea enjoys being tossed about a bit and experience has taught me to trust the weather briefings. It was a good thing too as the cumulus cloud slowly changed to cirrus cloud with a solid ceiling in Edmonton of 4000'. I would have been stuck above cloud in a controlled zone. Not good! So we landed, had coffee with her and her boyfriend, Cory, and had an uneventful flight home.

JET Performance with 150 hp. Fixed Prop.

2009-04-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

On a good day, near sea level, my aircraft can climb at a rate of about 700' per min. A small jet has the ability to climb approximately 2,000 ' per min. Which brings me to my story.It was on one of my flights from Dawson Creek B.C. to Abbotsford B.C. 45 min. into the flight one needs to cross the Rockies. Cloud often surround the mountain tops making it hard to get over the ridge in a small plane such as mine. I calculated that I would reach 10,000' above sea level if i were to climb about 200' per min. on my first leg. When we arrived at the mountain base we had only climbed to 9,500' and indeed there were thick cumulus cloud hanging over the mountain peaks. I began to climb over, under, and around the cumulus cloud struggling against the wind currents to get high enough to get over the highest ridge of cloud. I estimated that i would need to climb to at least 11,000' to get over. We were traveling south with a south west head wind. At times our speed dropped to 70 mile per hour with a nose up attitude, stall buzzer buzzing, and the altimeter indicating an altitude loss of 200' per min. Often changing direction to head directly into the wind for added lift i would drop the nose to avoid stalling the aircraft until we escaped the down draft and could once again climb. At this altitude I consider a very good rate of climb to be 200'per min. Sometimes, if you manage to hit an updraft, i can reach climbs of 500' per min. I clearly remember the sigh of relief as I reached 11,200' as I cleared the back side of the highest cloud peak and could correct my flight path for my destination. It is a pilots instinct to keep his aircraft level and I felt myself applying more and more pressure to the stick to keep her level. Glancing down at my altimeter I remember seeing it just spinning like i have never seen it spin before. Glancing at my rate of climb indicator showed us climbing, with a level attitude, at 2,400' per min. In a matter of seconds we went from 11,200' elevation to 13'400'. This presented two concerns: 1/ Elevations exceeding 13000 ft. require either pressurization or oxygen. I had neither. 2/ The airspace I was flying in became a controlled airspace over 13000' and required clearance before entering. So I pulled back the throttle and lowered the nose, with great pressure, and managed to get back to below 13,000'. I then trimmed the aircraft for a cruse with a 200' per min. decent which would give me an easy, efficient, cruse and would reach the next mountain ridge at 10000' well above the highest peak. For a few seconds I knew what it would be like to fly a jet. Sure would be Nice!!

Favorite Pictures of 2008

2009-01-23T22:40:00.001-08:00

As I was looking over a few of the pictures i've taken in the past year I thought I might make a random post of some of my favorite pictures. You can enlarge pictures by clicking on them if you wish to see more detail.

This house is across the road from where we live. Frost has replaced the leaves on these trees.

We look down on the old grainery which now houses Dawson Creek's museum.

I love flying near the puffy whites.

Night flying adds a whole new dimention to your views.

One of my puzles were made from this picture.

Dawson Creek sunset taken from my patio.

This was taken rear Bennett dam.

Bennett dam power station.

Bennett dam

My baby sitting at Dawson Creek airport.

Looking down on the town of Hudsons Hope. Population: 1000

A couple of moose making a run for it. This was taken approx. 4 miles north of Dawson Creek.

Bennett Dam agian.

Peace River near Hudsons Hope.

9:30 am sunrise in Dawson Creek.

Rocky Mountain range.

More rockies.

Can always use more cloud pics.

The wood frame building is a duplex that I am building. Notice the size compared to the houses around it. Maybe i designed it a little too big for the lot? :-)

Tumbler Ridge train tunnel

2009-01-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

There is a train tunnel that runs through these mountains. This tunnel is 82 miles, ( 132 km.) long. The tunnel was used to transport coal from Tumbler Ridge B.C. to Prince George from 1983 to 2003. You can see the tunnel entrance in the clearing below.
You can view the pictures full size if you click on them.
Getting a little lower you can see the tracks leading up to the tunnel entrance.

Valley Bennett Dam outflow

2008-08-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

This puzzle picture was taken south of Bennett dam. To read the related blog click on the title.

Bennett Dam

2008-06-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

On Sunday June 22nd Gord Jarvie, Doris, and myself drove the scenic route to Bennett Dam. The week before I flew over the dam with my son Shaun. I think they need to provide a landing strip so we could visit more often without the long car ride.

To the right of the dam you can see the 10 large columbs that are the inlets for the 10 turbines. The blue "cabin" on this end can travel across to each inlet and is equiped with the ability to block any one inlet to allow maintanance work. Williston Lake in the background is the biggest lake in B.C. ( Man made or otherwise.) It is 250 miles long and averages 3 miles wide.

This is looking down from the northern look-out over the dam outlet. From here the water travels aproximatly 20 km. to the Peace Canyon Dam where the water is re-used to generate more power. Site "C" is in the planning down stream. When traveling the valley from Fort St. John one can see signs indicating high water levels thoughout the canyon. Another huge lake will be created with this third phase of dams.

The earth filled dam was made from material found 5 miles down stream and was transported to the dam site via the longest conveyer belt in the world. The centre consists of fine sand which is held in place with larger rock placed on either side. The dam is 2 km. long and 183 meters high, 800 meters wide at it's base, and 9 meters wide at top and contains enough material to build a wall 4 meters wide and 4 meters high from Vancouver to Halifax.

The picture above was taken from the viewpoint parking lot on the north side of the dam. The picture below was taken several days earlier from the air in my plane. I found it very interesting how simular they were. Just above the left outflow you can see a portal where we traveled in a bus into the dam 500' below the water level. We then walked into the generating room which is three football fields long and

The W.A.C. Bennett Dam, completed in 1967, was a colossal project in its time and remains one of BC's most impressive to date. As one of the world's largest earth-filled structures, the dam impounds BC's largest reservoir - 1,761-sq km (680-sq mi) Williston Lake, which took five years to fill!

On our way to "tour" the dam from the air we flew through several small rainstorms. They lasted for a very short time.

We were flying quite low towards the mouth of the dam. We flew through another 30 second rain storm. The dam itself is situated between a narrow valley. This is the beginning of that valley.

Rounding the corner this channel of water leads to the spillway of the dam.

You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

The small valley opens up to the dam edge.

Here you can see two of the three tunnels that were built to devert the river creating a dry river bed to build the dam on. They no longer have a function. Just left of the picture there is a concrete spill way where water can be released should the dam become too full. The spillway turns up at the end to send water into a "spray" so as to control erosion. For some reason I don't have a picture of this.

W.A.C. Bennett Dam and generating station form the larges hydroelectic facility in B.C. Hydro's system, with the capacity to product more than 2,730,000 kilowatts of electric power. There are over 30 dams in BC and the Bennett dam together with Peace provide 30% of all of B.C's power.

The town of Hudson Hope is situated approx. 16 km east of the Bennett Dam. We thought we would stop at the airport and stretch our legs. This is the largest building at the airport. It is at an elevation of 2,200' above sea level.

My son Shaun came with me on this flight.

Here is my baby sitting on the tarmack at Hudson Hope airport.

The run way has a few cracks in it.

Taking off from the airport i took some pictures of the town of Hudson Hope. It's a quaint little town situated along the rivers edge. Looks like a town where I would like to live. One would think the existance of Hudson Hope began because of the dam construction. However Hudson Hope existed long before. Hudson Hope is B.C.'s third oldest community. Current population is 1000.

Dawson Creek welcomed us back with a rainbow! If you wish to know more about the Bennett dam click on this blogs title. This will link you to BC Hydro's Bennett dam web site. Have a GREAT day my friends.

Louisiana Pacific

2008-03-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Louisiana Pacific, ( LP), is an OSB plant in Dawson Creek BC. If you would like to read some interesting facts about this company just click on the tital to be taken to their home page. There are three large OSB plant within 1 1/2 hrs drive of Dawson Creek. One in Fort St. John and also one in Grand Prairie.

The amount of trees one of these plants goes through is beyond comprehension. The picture below was taken from almost 2000' above ground. There are three piles of Poplar logs. The building is very large yet dwarf ted by piles of logs. You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them. This shot was taken from another angle about 1000' above ground.

Another shot of the same area. I thought my camera batteries were dead but i guess I got a few off. :-) The train tracks are brought right up to the building and may even enter.

This picture was taken from the Alaska highway. It gives a little more perspective as to how big these piles of logs really are.

Flying into the vicinity of Dawson Creek it is easy to get oriented as to where you are by the plumb of steam rising from the plant on the north edge of town. This plant is located 3 miles from mile "0" of the Alaska highway.

While I was taking pictures from the road I observed six "B" train logging trucks arrive to be unloaded.

I also observed at least two of these large hoes, with grapples, unloading trucks. Large bundles were unloaded at a time.

Reaching up to pile the logs as high as they could. I would estimate a lot of the pile to be over 20' high.

Looking down the road it seemed that the piles went on forever!

The large building just disappears behind the logs. You wouldn't know it was there if not for the plumb of steam.

You may have to click on the picture below to see the logs rising above the back of the building.

As you can see spring is just around the corner. The snow is disappearing. I'm ready for it!!

New Intercom

2008-02-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

During my last flight home I lost the ability to transmit through my radio. Before spending a lot of money having someone look it over I made several attemps to correct the problem myself. That didn't work so I decided to purchase a new intercom and see if that corrected the problem. I wanted a new one anyway, expanded so my back passengers would also be included in the conversations.

I received my new intercom before Christmas. I did take it to the airport and tested it. It seemed I could now send but receiving was very faint. I didn't want to sit in the cold and see if i could get it working so put it off until today. I hooked it all up and was thrilled to hear a loud clear voice talk back to me.

I finished a quick pre-flight check and fired up the new engine which hasn't run for nearly 4 months. It fired right away and ran smoothly. I let it warm up and applied full power to start moving. Unfortunately small ruts had formed and frozen under the wheels and i didn't have enough power to drive out. I shut it down, got out my handle, and pulled the plane sideways till one wheel was out of it's rut. Then pulled the other way to clear the other wheel. Then I climbed in, fired up and easily moved to the tarmac, received clearence, and took off. This picture is taken from 2000' above ground of LP. A OSB sheathing plant. The buildings are very large yet are dwarfed by the four piles of logs. You will have to click on the picture to enlarge it to make out the log piles. These piles are over 16' high and is the most logs i've ever seen in one place.

I started my flight by remaining in the circuit and completing 3 landings before flying off over the city. The wind was gusting at 20knts but was directly in line with the runway. Which did make for wonderful lift on take-off. I climbed at 1200' per min. On the approch for runway 24 there are several ravines which causes quite a bit of mechanical turbulance when there is air movement. Compensating for windy conditions quickly came back to me. Satisfied that i could still land an airplane I headed for the open sky.

You can see, from these pictures, why this area is called: "Big Sky Country!" The weather was sunny and warm. I flew most the entire trip with the heat off and window open. I flew over some friends house to see if they were home. Flying low when windy is difficult as mechanical turbulance increases near the ground. Also your speed must be kept up so one fly's by very quickly. I proceeded North towards Ft.St.John to another friends house. I flew over his 800 acres looking for the spot by the river that he wants to build a hunting cabin. Then I flew for home.

Over my left wing you can see all of Dawson Creek. I love it that you can access anything in town within 10 min. :-) To cross Abbotsford can take you more than half an hour. Flying here, with the wind behind me, I gave full throutle to see how fast I could travel in straight and level flight. My GPS clocked up to 145knt. per hr. ( 163 mph or 264 kmph. ) in ground speed. I landed, tied down the aircraft, put it's cabin tarp on, and headed home. It was good to be up again.

Cloud Picture Puzzle

2008-02-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken during a pleasure flight amongst clouds from Chilliwack to Mt. Baker. To see the related blog entry click on the title.

Sunset over Vancouver Puzzle

2008-02-03T18:08:00.001-08:00

This puzzle picture was taken when flying over Vancouver B.C. They say a picture is worth a thousand words but it's still a long way from being there. The red sky circled the horizon 360 degrees. This is just a small portion of the actual sunset. It's the first time i've seen a sunset all the way around the horizon. My hardest puzzle so far. Took me 27min 18sec.

Wing over Cloud puzzle

2008-02-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

First time this puzzle took me 13 min. This was taken just east of Prince George. I knew if I flew over this ridge I would get into trouble again so had to turn back. You can read about it in Cross Country Home. Enjoy!

Tofino Long Beach Puzzle

2008-01-28T18:10:00.000-08:00

This puzzle picture was taken at Long Beach Tofino on the West side of Vancouver Island. Click on puzzle title to read about my Tofino post.

Purchasing Property

2007-11-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

I placed an offer on 160 acres 8 miles north of Dawson Creek. It is a court order sale so I was unable to "view" the property. Now having ones own plane gives one the opportunity to get a birds eye view of the property. I started with high pictures to capture the entire property and then dropped down for some detail pictures. However I had grabbed near dead batteries so was unable to capture pictures from low. ( click on pictures to enlarge.)

The property I have an offer in is the centre 1/4 section with the forested area in the middle. A house is under construction with the second floor framed over half of the main floor. This construction is built on steel piles. I may complete it for a work shop.

T
There is a large new dugout on the property for domestic water supply. There is also a septic cesspool in the forested area.

One double wide trailer and four single wide trailers are on the property but not included in the purchase price. The owner has the option to remove said trailers. There are approximately 40-50 vehicles on the property as well as rows of rolls of hay. If he is unable to come up with all the money owed by Dec. 5th the property will be mine. There will be a lot of clean-up required but it will be well worth it as I believe the value to be a lot greater than what I am paying.

Cross Country Home

2007-11-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of weddings we wanted to attend at Abbotsford so I thought it would be a good opportunity to pick up my airplane. I called ahead of time and was told it shouldn't be a problem. That was the 18th. On the 30th Doris & Shaun left for Dawson Creek and I caught a ride with them to the airport. I knew my plane wasn't quite ready but I thought I would sit in the plane and honk. I know how well that works when I'm sitting in the car waiting for Doris.

To make a long story short my plane was finally ready at about 11am the next day. Then the paper work started. They wanted me to fly off 2 hrs. of testing before heading over the mountains. I gave them 30 min. I flew past Cultus Lake. I was impressed with the new found power. I landed and they gave everything a quick check.

I finally took off for Dawson Creek at 1:00. The weather report was clear till about Quesnell. Then there were some low ceilings as well as high winds expected for the north. 40 kt. winds, or 73 km. if you are so inclined. So I knew turbulence was in my future.

The flight to start was very calm winds and smooth sailing. I set my GPS for 100 mile house which is as direct towards Dawson Creek as you can get. If you drew a line from Chilliwack to Dawson Creek you would pass directly between 100 mile house airport on the right and 108 mile house on the left.

When I arrived at 100 mile house I reported my position and requested a weather report to determine if I could possibly fly direct or whether I had to take the pine pass. The report still called for low ceilings ahead so I set my GPS for Quesnell.
Nearing Quesnell the ceilings became lower and lower. I continually dropped altitude to maintain visual. It soon began to snow.

Leaving Quesnell the ceilings lifted somewhat and I was able to climb from 100' above ground to about 4000'. I set my GPS for Prince George.

I am descending in this picture to get under the cloud cover.

I finally ended up approximately 500' above the ground to get through. The snow was light and didn't last very long.
Nearing Prince George is where the winds began. You can see how the clouds indicate a more unsettled front moving in. My ride became a bit more turbulent. I called up Price George tower and notified them of my passing through.

O

One could see the exact place where the front was moving through and as I passed under the final edge of it the turbulence was bad enough that I had to slow down to try to calm down the tossing of my poor little airplane. Once clear of the zone Prince George gave me clearance ahead and radar services were terminated. The Sky's cleared up and I figured I could probably make it over the top the rest of the way and set my GPS for Chetwind and Dawson Creek so if I needed to abort I didn't fly too far off course. About 30 min ahead I could see a band of cloud I would need to get over.

Reaching the band I climbed and climbed until I was barely above each cloud I was climbing over. I reached 12,500 feet and had approximately 500' left to go to get over. It is my experience that a cloud bank such as this one begins lower and rises to the centre. Past experience also told me that if I continued I would get myself into trouble so I turned around and headed into a valley.

My GPS doesn't have main roads indicated on it in Canada. I assumed the valley I was in was the one headed for Chetwind. I was wrong. As I got lower I noticed the road I was following ended. The valley split to the right so I followed that and descended into the valley. The clouds became lower and lower in the valley and as I dropped I could see I was in a place I didn't want to be. I'm sorry but I don't have any pics of this area. 70km winds down through a valley is like an amusement ride gone very bad! I applied 10 degrees of flaps and slowed the plane as much as I dared to make as tight a turn as possible on the narrow valley floor. I climbed back up out of the Valley now with a head wind slowing the process.

I had no idea where I was and really wasn't feeling much like flying around looking for the right valley. So I set my GPS for Prince George and headed back. Because I now had a head wind it took me almost 45 min. to get back to Prince George where I spent the night.

I woke early the next morning and called for a weather briefing. The weather report was clear sailing with winds only 30 kts. (55km). It was still dark when I got to the airport. I grabbed some toast and eggs at the airport and headed for my plane. I was disappointed to find my plane covered with frost. I brushed off the frost best I could I checked the oil and added a liter. ( New motors use oil till they are broken in.) I had fueled up the night before and was ready to go. With frosty wings, full fuel, and high altitude it seemed to take a little longer for takeoff. But I had lots of run way. I set my GPS for Dawson Creek.

I could see that same band of cloud 30 min. ahead but I continued on anyway. It appeared to be lower and I was right. I skimmed over the beginning of the ridge at 9,000'

For the next 30 min. or so I just enjoyed the beauty of the clouds.

Once over the clouds I set my descent for Dawson Creek at 200' per min. I was at 11,500' with temperatures of minus 20 degrees c. I'm glad I got my heater fixed as I had nice warm feet. Last time flying in minus 30 temps my feet were soo cold I couldn't walk after landing. The decent to Dawson Creek was uneventful till I was 3 min from landing and I went to make my announcement. My radio didn't transmit. As I flew around the zone trying to get my radio to work I started looking for emergency numbers. Trying to read a book and control an aircraft in 50km mechanical turbulence is quite a feat! I finally got the right person on the phone and received clearance to land. All in all it was a good flight!!

Puzzle challenge Gazebo I built in Chilliwack

2007-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a challenge for you. Shouldn't have too much trouble to beet my time of almost 25 min.

Hawaii sunset on ship puzzle

2007-10-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

During a Luau in Hawaii. I watched until the sun was centered on the ship. It was a very nice evening!

Forest service rd. Puzzle Tumbler Ridge BC

2007-10-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

I received a lot of requests for more puzzles so here's a couple more! Enjoy!!

This one was taken on a forestry service road where we went quading. Ah memories!! There is nothing like getting out into nature.

Do a puzzle created by "me"

2007-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

I took this picture ,coming home from California, in northern Washington.

Click on picture to "scramble". Enjoy! (took me 10 min.)

First Cross Country Flight

2007-09-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

When training for your pilots license one plans a cross country flight with your instructor and then make the flight with your instructor. Your next flight would then be your first solo cross country flight and you would repeat the same course, alone. The usual course for the first cross country out of Chilliwack is a touch and go at Pit Meadows, land at Seachelt, touch and go at Abbotsford, and back to Chilliwack. Of course I had to be different so we planed a touch and go at Pit Meadows, Seachelt, and land in Powell River, touch and go in Abbotsford, and back to Chilliwack.

At a later date I took the picture displayed of a search and rescue aircraft taking off at Tofino. It is not one that I flew. I chose this picture because it displayed the flying conditions of that day. It was mostly sunny with a few scattered cloud. A beautiful day for a cross country flight. A fellow student had booked the aircraft I was using for his first cross country as well and was eager for us to return so he could complete his flight before dark. So my instructor and I quickly did a walk around check and headed for the skys.

It was a short flight to Pit Meadows and I completed a touch and go. A touch and go is when you don't come to a complete stop or leave the runway. Once the wheels touch the pavement the flaps are raised and full power applied and you return back to flight. We then flew along the north shore mountain range past Coquitlam, over Vancouver's infamous Stanly Park, over horse shoe bay where we could see the fairies loading or sailing their course. We enjoyed the beauty of the shore line, flew off course so I could show my instructor a shopping mall in Gibsons that i had been a site supervisor to construct, and completed a touch and go at Seachelt airport. We then continued to Powell river. Flying the shore line of BC is definitely a recommendation for all readers. It was truly an enjoyable flight.

We landed at Powell River and stretched our legs for a bit, and of course a potty break. We then headed back choosing to fly the West side of Texada Island for some new sights. We also made a few deviations to our plan taking in as much site seeing as possible. Unknown to us Chilliwack was quickly, unexpectedly,and unforecasted, being engulfed in cloud which was moving in from the East.

My other instructor, who was waiting for our return so she could fly with the next student on his cross country, knew we were in trouble when, from the view of her desk, the run way began to disappear in a mist of cloud. Knowing we would be touching down in Abbotsford, she called control and requested that they divert us from Chilliwack when we checked in with a radio call. Because our flight had taken longer than expected, and the plane was booked for another flight, we dropped the touch and go at Abbotsford and did not make any radio calls to Abbotsford.

On our return we rounded the south side of the north shore mountains and noted the increased cloud cover. By the time we flew over Pit Meadows I had descended below 2000' in order to maintain ground visibility. By the time I got to Mission I was down to 800' above the fraser river. By the time I got to the pass between the north shore mountains and Sumas Mountains I considered myself to be past my comfort zone and requested my instructor to take control. My instructor took over the controls and began flying back and forth looking for the highway that would guide us to the airport which runs parallel with the highway in Chilliwack. I became very disoriented very quickly. I lost all sense of direction. I knew that mountains stood much higher than we were every direction we could go. I actually thought we were past Chilliwack and my instructor was still searching for the airport. Actually we had just flown to the east side of Sumas Mountain and suddenly we flew into Sumas Valley with more than adequate visibility. I then took over the controls and flew to Abbotsford where we called my other instructor to come and pick us up. Needless to say the next student didn't get to make his flight.

This is another one of my experiences with a flight instructor that I consider to be extremely valuable. Not all students get the chance to experience unusual flight conditions like these. But they can, and do, happen unexpectedly. Even within a 3 hr. flight conditions can unexpectedly change. To have the experience of flying it with someone whom you trust completely is a lesson I wouldn't have wanted to miss for anything. I had complete faith and trust in my instructor and use that experience to watch and avoid similar conditions. Clouds can, and do, come right down to the earth making landing under visual flight rules, well lets just say, rather interesting!

Stormy Flights

2007-08-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading my blog you will have noticed that my experiences of flight are in a random order. This blog experience took place during my flight training.

I tried to fly at least once a week for an hour and booked my flight time a week ahead. The day for my lesson was, well lets just say not ideal weather wise. The wind was gusting briskly. Now I've already discussed my views on restrictions. Being restricted by weather is also annoying to me. Even though the thought of turbulence is enough to make me noxious. I still wanted to go flying. Perhaps most people wouldn't consider taking a lesson on a day like that, but I look at it this way: The first time you fly in adverse conditions would you want an instructor sitting beside you or would you rather be alone, or worse with passengers, and find yourself in a situation you have never been in before? I wanted to experience all flight conditions with an instructor by my side. So I took 3 gravel and headed for the airport.

My instructors may have been a bit surprised that I showed up, and I was surprised that they were still there. The head instructor shook his head and said, " don't go". But my instructor was willing to go and we set off in the wind to fuel the plane. As my instructor was fueling up the plane the wind was rocking the plane and yanking the controls back and forth. When my instructor asked me to put in the control locks I told her I already had. We set off and were careful to taxi slowly with the controls placed correctly in the wind so as not to be flipped by the wind. I took off and was informed that it was time to be introduced to instrument flying. What great conditions to start instrumentation. I was very glad I took the gravel.

The first lesson my instructor taught me about instrument flying is why it is taught. A pilot flying into cloud without instruments has a life expectancy of 90 seconds. That's how long it takes to find something to hit. Usually, ( 100% of the time), it's the earth. To drive this point home one lesson was for me to establish straight and level flight. Once I was comfortable with the established flight I was to close my eyes and continue with straight and level flight. Then I was told I could open them when I was sure that I was straight and level. I didn't believe I was. I knew I was ok directional but felt that I was descending. Then I heard the stall buzzer indicating I was about to stall from climbing beyond my ability to maintain flight. So I dropped the nose of the plane. The instructor then asked me how I thought I was doing. I stated that I was still ok directional but once again descending. She told me to open my eyes. I was about to stall in a climb and was 90 degrees off course. This all happened in about 15 seconds.

Another lesson we often did was where I closed my eyes with my head down. My instructor would put the plane through several maneuvers so I no longer knew whether we were going up, down, left, right, or any combination thereof. Then my instructor would state, " you have control!" at which point I had moments to assess the "unusual attitude" and react accordingly with the appropriate control.

Once my lesson was up we headed back for the runway. Needless to say my approach to land was less than satisfactory. My instructor took control and circled around in order to "show" me how to land when weather conditions were less than ideal. Now I might add in here that this instructor trained in Ontario where the wind always blew so she was in her element. When we were on final, about 800' above the ground, we hit a gust of shear wind that turned our plane 90 degrees in a fraction of a second. My in stinks took over before I even thought and I grabbed the controls to level the aircraft. I looked at my instructor and she just smiled at me. Moments later we dropped as though there was no air below us. Now I'm thinking, " How in the world can you land when you can't control the aircraft better than this??" It is called "ground effect". Once an aircraft is within half the distance to the ground as the length of the wingspan the air pushing off the ground helps to stabilize your flight. Now if the first time I had ever encountered such conditions, and if you do any serious flying at all you will, for the first time when I was alone I don't know if I would ever have the courage to get the plane anywhere close to being within ground effect. Though the flight left me rather noxtious the rest of the day, I went home straight to bed, I have never regretted going out that day. I have been in worse situations since.

Last December my son was flying into Grand Prairie to be with us for Christmas. The wind was quite strong but I was determined to pick up my son by plane. It is about a 1 hr. 10 min drive to Grand Prairie from Dawson Creed. Why drive if you can fly?? I left in time so, should I abort the idea of flight, I still had time to drive. I fueled up the plane and fired it up. Sitting warming up the engine the controls would snap with the wind causing me to hold the controls very tightly. I taxied to the runway and took off. No sooner had I lifted off I burst out laughing thinking about my son flying back with me. It would for sure be the last time my son would EVER step into a small aircraft. I radioed control and notified them that I would be remaining in the circuit and landing as turbulence was too great for flight. On my approach for landing I had full rudder and turned way into the wind to keep from drifting off track. I was actully quite impressed with my landing. In the dark no less. A vehicle approached within the runway taxiway and waited for me. I stopped in the parking area and walked over to the vehicle.

"Oh it's you!" stated the airport maintenance manager. " You've got balls!" He then told me about the last guy who flew in similar conditions and he took out the papi lights. That landing cost him several thousand dollars. My total flight time: 5 min. I later learned wind gusts were up to 80 km. per hr.

Night Flying

2007-08-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

As soon as I achieved my private pilots license I began working on my night endorsement. I'm not one to enjoy any restrictions on me. To have a pilots license without a night rating would drive me nuts. I'm not a time watcher at the best of times and to have to be watching the time as to when you can fly and when you can't would be far too restrictive.

One time that nightfall would have become restrictive is a trip I made with my wife, Doris, from Dawson Creek to Abbotsford. Now this should be a 4 1/2 hr. trip at best. Unknown to me my motor was very tired and was insidiously loosing power. Trips were taking me longer and longer. I just thought that I was the unluckiest pilot in the world as the wind was against me no mater which direction I flew. After all the engine only had 1/2 the hrs of life expectancy.

We left Dawson Creek after Doris finished work. Plenty of time to make it in daylight. Once again I was determined to fly direct. After all this is the most economical means of transportation. And once again there was a cloud cover just above the rocky mountains. The clouds were heavily scattered and I began flying under, over, and around in an attempt to get over the top. At one point I reached 13,300' above sea level before the clouds began to lower and break up. I was able to drop back down to 10,000' above sea level.

After almost 4 hrs. of flight, and not being close to our destination, I began to calculate how much fuel i had on board. I have a tendency to error on the side of too much fuel. I don't like the anxious feeling one gets as a pilot without enough fuel. I once asked my instructor which was better: to be overweight and have extra fuel, or be under maximum weight and barely enough fuel. I knew he couldn't give me an illegal answer, such as to fly overweight, but i did like his answer. He said, " The only time you have too much fuel is if you are on fire!"

The sun was setting quickly and my gps told me were were approaching 108 mile house. Feeling the need for a leg stretch, (and pee break), I decided to drop down and pick up a bit of fuel just to make sure we would have enough. 108 mile house has pilot activated runway lighting so I activated the lighting, entered the traffic pattern and landed. After all there were few airports between 108 mile house and Abbotsford with lighting. Something to consider should the flight not go as planned. Most small airports have self serve fuel stations so I pulled up along side the pumps. A gentleman approached us and by now the idea of a pee break was a little more urgent. He instructed us where there was a washroom we could use and we were off. Upon return we found that he had filled us to the rim with fuel. So now we set off once again getting close to maximum weight with fuel for another 6 +hrs. of flight.

By now dusk was well underway as we left 108 mile house and headed directly for Abbotsford. Darkness quickly developed and all indications of any horizon soon faded away. Flying direct left no highway or civilization below us causing any visual below to be black. This darkness blended with the dark horizon which blended with the darkness of the night sky. Even the stars gave little light. The eye strain of trying to establish a horizon while maintaining our course became very tiresome. The lighting required to read the instruments just made looking out that much darker. Finally I just quit looking out and began to fly strictly by instruments. I may as well have been flying in the clouds for all one could see.

After approximately an hour of flying by instruments I could see horizon ahead of us. This horizon was created by all the city lights of Vancouver and the valley. We were about an hour from our destination. I could once again fly by visual. We arrived in Abbotsford just after control said "good night". We parked our plane and called our son to let him know we had arrived and he could pick us up. Total flight time almost 6 1/2 hrs.

The engine made that trip two more times before I brought it in for an annual check-up and the mechanics found iron filings in the oil filter and iron slivers in the screen. I am now waiting patiently while the entire motor is rebuilt to factory specs. 0 time as it is called. Some day soon we will once again sore with the eagles.

Clouds

2007-07-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

One morning I was gathering supplies to repaint a suite. Each time I would go outside the skies would beckon to me. After the third or forth time I couldn't take it anymore, so I grabbed my flight bag and headed for the airport. ( click on pictures to enlarge! A must if you want to see any details.)

These pics are near Chilliwack. This was one of the most memorable of my flights. Never before, or since have I seen clouds soo perfect for exploring. I was sure glad I went.

The clouds started around 2000' and topped out around 8000'. The puffy whites, ( or cumulus for you more technical folks), were spaced far enough apart that I could fly under, around, or over and still maintain view of the ground. Click on picture to see the city.

The above picture is looking down on Chilliwack. The picture to the right is just east of Chilliwack overlooking the Fraser River.

More holes over the Fraser river.

These clouds are framing the Vedder mountains along the east side of Sumas valley.

I've arrived at the tops of the clouds. You have to click on this picture to see the deep valley.

You can see the mountain tops peaking out above the clouds. Sunny skies from here on up!

Doesn't it just make you want to jump into the puffies? Not recommendd. The darker tips sticking out are quite hard!

Here the altimieter shows that we are at 10,150' above sea level and climbing at 200' pr. min.

It is very peaceful up here. The cares of the earth are long gone.

Mt. Baker stands majestically above the clouds.

Mt. Baker below at 10,800' above sea level. Well time to go back to reality and get that suite painted. Happy flights!!

Long Beach Tofino Vancouver Island

2007-07-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite day trips is to fly to Long Beach. For one to drive to Long Beach from Abbotsford would be a full day trip. However one can fly there in a small plane in about an hour and a half.

Tofino airport was constructed for the war and is situated right between Tofino and Ucluelet. It is located within walking distance of the beach. One can park their plane right beside the fence which has a man gate leading to the adjoining camp ground. There is mini golf, full golf coarse and a restaurant.

Leaving from Chilliwack, where I used to keep my plane, would be the start of the adventure flying along the North Shore Mountain range. We also had a great view of Vancouver city as well as flying directly over the infamous Stanly Park. Crossing the ocean to Vancouver island one would enjoy the ships, small islands, as well as the picturesque shore lines. Arriving at Vancouver Island one must cross the Island which is very mountainous with it's own unique beauty.

I like to go there in time for a late lunch at the restaurant and then walk through the campground and then through a field which then crosses the highway into a provincial park. This park consists of mature forest and has walk ways consisting of wooden walks and stairs all the way down to the beach. There is one tree along the way that I estimate is at least 40' in circumference. A leasurly walk from the restaurant to the beach takes about 30 min.

The sandy beach is never crowded and one can walk for miles if desired. I would love to just sit back against a log and watch the sun set. The only problem with that is that Tofino airport is not equipped with lighting, therefore making it illegal to depart after dark.

On one such trip I was taking a family of three to enjoy the sights. Upon touchdown I blew a main gear tire. I managed to pull as far to the side of the runway as possible. I notified Nannimo and requested a notam be posted for pilots not to use that runway. Tofino airport has three runways so that shouldn't be a problem. Although some pilots didn't follow proceedure and landed anyway. I later overheard, at the restaurant, talk of some idiot who parks in the middle of the runway. I just smiled to myself. Like I would choose to walk 1 mile up the runway as apposed to taxiing with the airplane. How quick some are to judge. A simple observation would have clearly indicated a crippled plane.

I sent the family on ahead to enjoy the sights and I began a search for help. Fortunately I was able to contact the airport care taker, through a worker at the local weather station, who happened to be an aircraft mechanic, as well as the local paramedic and firefighter volunteer. You know it's a small town when.............He came to my rescue and managed to find a near new tire that would fit and I helped him install it on my plane. In the meantime the family got lost and , after walking runways for about an hour, returned to the plane just as we were finishing up. So we piled in and taxied to the restaurant. I apologized profusely but they were really good about it and just considered it as part of their adventure.

Going home I like to leave as late as possible without requiring lighting. Flying South along the coast line provides sights unseen on the way in. It is also dark by the time one flys over Victoria which also gives a new perspective. Crossing the ocean one gets a great view of all the lights from the main cities and towns. From one location one can pick out Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, PitMeadows, Langley, Aldergrove, Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Bellingham, and Linden.

That makes for one full day. However one that is well worth the adventure. I've done it about 7 times in the last two years and never tire of it.

Prairie Flying

2007-07-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

Even before achieving my pilots license I purchased an airplane. Within weeks of receiving my license I flew, on West Jet, from Abbotsford BC to Steinbeck Manitoba to get it. The Smartest thing I did is take my instructor along to get it.

The Airliner we flew was equipped with individual monitors and I chose to watch the GPS display. I observed that, upon descent into Winnipeg airport, we entered cloud at 33000' and didn't break through until we were over the runway apron. The guy I purchased the plane from met us at the airport and drove us to Steinbeck where his mechanic was doing some work on it for me. Driving through Winnipeg we observed that the cloud ceilings were soo low we were unable to see the top floors of the high rises. We wouldn't be leaving that day. As it was the airplane, that was to be completed weeks ago, was not yet completely assembled. Welcome to small town work ethics. We made arrangements for the mechanic to pick us up at the nearest motel the next morning.

It is illegal to carry the technical log book on the aircraft, in case you crash and burn they would be unable to blame you for not maintaining maintenance. So on our way to the mechanic's shop the next morning we dropped these off at a local postal service.

The cloud ceilings had lifted enough to make flying possible, although the wind was gusting at 28km per hr. We pulled the aircraft from the mechanics shop and lined it up down a dirt runway extended from his shop. It was directly cross wind and the plane was only demonstrated for cross winds up to 15 mph. I fired up the aircraft and proceeded to try to get the intercom to work. Unable to figure it out we turned off the engine and consulted with the Mechanic. As it was the portable intercom was missing. We discovered the previous owner had the intercom at home in Morris Manitoba.

We had decided that we would fly, a very short distance, to one of the most world renown flight schools where we would fuel up and work with them establishing a flight plan. Morris was only about a 20 min. flight so we decided to go there instead. The owners neighbors had a private runway. I had flown from it earlier when test flying the airplane. I had the mechanic make an x on my pmap where we wanted to go and off we went. My instructor flew the first leg and I navigated. We flew south west until we intersected with a road that would lead us to our destination. Upon arriving I pointed out the runway to my instructor. He didn't believe it could be it as the runway was only about 15' wide and didn't look like much from the air. It was basicly an extention of a driveway. I assured him it was and he entered a traffic pattern. Once again the winds were gusting at 28km per hr. and was directly cross wind. Our first attempt was all over the place and my instructor aborted and proceeded with a go around. He was unsure if he would be able to land and I encouraged him. His second attempt was better but far from comfortable. The previous owner was watching and complimented us on our landing. My instructor and I looked at each other and laughed. I noted," Obviously that looked better from the ground than the air! " After installing the intercom and fueling up we told the previous owner that we would call him from our next stop just past Regina. That was our flight plan. I didn't have a GPS then yet so we had to fly off our maps. I asked my instructor to take off and then I would pilot the plane while he would navigate. Taking off in the cross wind was tricky. We lifted off slightly and my instructor turned the plane sideways into the wind. The stall buzzer was buzzing and the wheels skipped a few times, sideways, on the runway. But we did get up and I took over the controls.

Because the ceilings were still very low we were unable to climb very high above the earth. This made our visibility quite limited so I literally flew the roads. If the road made a correction ,and I couldn't see where it came out, I followed it. We monitored our radios with frequencies of the nearest airports as we flew but didn't hear one single broadcast as we flew through Manitoba. We began to wonder if they even worked. I flew approximately 30 degrees off course to compensate for the wind.

As we neared Saskatchewan the clouds slowly began to lift and I was able to climb higher and higher until we reached an altitude of 8,500'. From this height ones visibility was greatly improved and we no longer had to literally fly the highway.

Entering Regina air space we decided to give them a courtesy call to let them know we would be passing through. We gave our call letters and they gave landing clearance. Regina is an international airport and we didn't even think we would be welcome. We decided we would land for fuel and pee break. They were very helpful guiding us in. There were 5 runways to chose from and they had us come in on one that was directly cross wind. Seems to be the way they do things in the East. We were given royal treatment with free coffee and computer access as they fueled up our aircraft for us. No landing fees were imposed. After stretching our legs we headed back to the Sky's.

The sky's were now clear and we climbed back to 8,500'. and enjoyed our flight towards home. Nearing Lethbridge Alberta it was clear some kind of front was moving in. The shear winds and mechanical turbulence tossed us about like some kind of amusement ride gone bad. At one point I continued to push on the control in order to maintain straight and level flight only to notice we were climbing 1,500' per min. Then we would drop like there was no support below us. We finally arrived at Lethbridge and again the winds were directly cross wind. I lined the aircraft up for landing and had my instructor take over.

Again we received Royal treatment. Checking the computer it was clear that we wouldn't be crossing the Rockies that day. However the forecast was good for morning. Not only was our aircraft fueled for us, a taxi was called and reservations were made for us at a local motel. We were even assisted in fastening down the aircraft.

The next morning we woke to clear calm skies. After Break-fast we called for a taxi and headed for the airport and departed into blue skys. Nearing the Rockies cumulus clouds began forming and I climbed to 10,ooo' flying over, under, and beside puffy white clouds. It was at this point that I first wished I had brought my camera. Any picture before would have fit anywhere along our last 7 hrs. of flight. One section of land pretty much looks like the next. However if one were ever to have engine trouble you wouldn't have any difficulties finding a suitable place to land. Flying amungst the puffy whites was the highlight of my flight. I have enjoyed that many times since. We climbed to 10,500' to clear the clouds which were now becoming quite dense and the openings to look through were becoming less and less. My instructor informed me that we should, perhaps, be going under. We dropped back down to 10,000' and I really didn't like what I saw. I suggested we stay on top as we knew it was clear behind us and could always go back. My instructor agreed. As we neared Abbotsford the cloud cover appeared as a sea ahead of us. My instructor navigated me more to the right and suddenly pointed out a hole in the clouds. In the centre of the hole I recognized Hope airport. We descended through the hole and followed the Fraser river right to Chilliwack airport where we landed.

My instructor never charged me anything for helping me get my plane. One day I hope to pay him for his services. With the lack of experience that I had, and the flight conditions we flew in, I don't know how i would have gotten home. I know it wouldn't have been the great experience that it was. Flying in adverse conditions with an instructor helps to establish what's "normal". I've since flown in winds gusting over 80km per hr. and wasn't concerned. Although I made that flight as short as possible. One thing my instructor told me, that has stuck with me, is: "If you have time to spare; go by air!"

By the way: My technical log book beat me home!

Mountain Flying

2007-07-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

For my first post I thought I might share my last flight from Dawson Creek to Chilliwack. This flight consists of flying over two mountain ranges. Two options exist: Flying the Pine Pass or directly over the top. Clearly the optimum choice would be to fly direct, however, weather does not always permit this.

During my weather briefing, I was told that there were no weather systems in place and ceilings topped at 14,000 ft. I fly a small Beechcraft Musketeer sport 4 passenger airplane and do not carry oxygen. Max flying height without oxygen is 13,000 ft. for a max. of 30 min. I don't particularly like flying below cloud as I get a "closed in" feeling. Also mechanical turbulance can be considerably worse, and it's a waste of time as you have to fly where the valleys go.

There are no continual valleys through the rockies when flying direct. Choosing the Pine Pass would consist of flying 30min. to the west to Chetwynd, then up the valley to Prince George; Quesnell; Williams Lake; 100 Mile House; Cache Creek; Lytten; Hope; and Chilliwack. Shortly after take off from Dawson Creek I made observations that I could see the Rocky Mountain tops. If I could see the mountain tops then there was a very good chance that I could make it over the top.

There would be the possiblity that I would be, at times, out of sight of the ground. VFR ( visual flight rules) state that you must be in sight of at least 3/8 th of the ground at all time and clear of cloud by 500'. Rules also leave some discretion to the experience and comfort level of the pilot. I have chosen to go over in the past and feel that I did make the decision to do so as the safest possible choice of flight. However, this time it was the wrong choice and I got into trouble because of it.

When I arrived at the Rockies edge, I came across a band of white clouds that seemed to thin slightly to the east. My weather briefing did mention a thining in the cloud inland and again I thought that I could remain under 11,000' and "skip" over the clouds.

Thinking the cloud "band" would not be very deep I chose to climb over it rather than turn around and fly west to Chetwind. As I climbed over the first band I came across another. This is where I should have realized that there was trouble ahead and made the choice to go around and under. However the last time I flew in a similar situation the cloud ceiling dropped with the mountainous terain. So I continued on climbing over, going around, going under the puffy white clouds until I found myself at 13,500' above sea level pulling up to clear the next cloud bank at 70mph, with the stall buzzer buzzing, and cloud beginning to roll over my airplane. Dropping the nose of the airplane to avoid a stall, I circled back to where I entered and flew around the cloud bank.

Observing my predicument I was just above a "bowl" of cloud. Flying so closely to cloud had frost forming on my wings. During my pilot training if was often driven home that if we found ourselves in an undesirable situation one should swallow their pride and request help before it was too late.

I could see that it would even be difficult for me to go back from whenst I came. So I called control and asked if there were any holes close by that I could drop through. I was asked if I desired radar assistance and given a Vancouver frequency to go to. Vancouver found me immediatly on radar and suggested heading towards Prince George.

After approximatly 15 min. of flying around cloud maintaining direction given as close as possible I came upon a large opening in the cloud cover. Notifying control I decended down heading for Prince George airport. Control then notified me that I was above a river and it would lead me right to town. I had my portable gps and knew where I was.

As I neared town I dropped below radar service. Control contacted me requesting my intentions. I informed them that I would be continuing up the pine pass. They informed me that Quesnell was reporting rain and minimal visibility and Williams Lake was clear and that service was terminated.

I continued following the highway until nearing Quesnell. Sure enough it began to rain and visibility diminished rapidly. Concentrating on where I was going, I paid little attention to my gps and suddenly realized I was 50' over the apron of Quesnell airport and I wasn't monitoring their frequency. I comforted myself in the fact that no one else would be stupid enough to be out there flying vfr and I don't believe any ifr ( Instrument flight rules) flew into Quesnell. At least that's what I told myself. Lesson learned. Always pay attention to details of the area you are flying. It's not just your life you put at risk.

The airport was on rivers edge and the highway was at a higher elevation to the left. The clouds appeared to descend right over the highway but the river was clear so I chose to fly the river. There were times when I believe I may have stirred the water a bit. As soon as I got through the town of Quesnell, it stopped raining as quickly as it started. Clouds lifted slightly and I flew as high as I could while staying clear of cloud.

It was at this time I noticed that my electrical was giving out. I no longer had enough power to run my radios and my gyro ( direction guidance instrument) no longer had full spin. I decided to land at Williams Lake and have the problem checked out.

Approximately 10 min. from Williams Lake I noted that I was still flying just below cloud at 2000' above sea level and Williams Lake airport was at 3000'. By now I had been in the air for over 3 hrs. and could use a pee break. I continued on and soon the clouds began to thin until I broke through to see clear sky.

I climbed up to 4000' and came over a ridge perfectly lined up for landing at Williams Lake. Grabing my cell phone I called the emergency number for Williams Lake Airport and received clearance to land.

There appeared to be no service facilities open however I found someone with a battery charger willing to help. So I pulled my battery and put it on the charger for an hour. At 86% charged I replaced my battery and took off for Chilliwack.

Once I was out of the circuit I turned off all electrical and flew the river through the canyon to Chilliwack aproximately a two hour flight.

I believe that the real learning about flying starts after you get your pilots license and I still have lots to learn. However one's foundation for all your decisions come from your training instructors. I was very fortunte to have GREAT instructors at Principal Air http://www.principalair.com/ who worked hard to provide me with the tools one needs to fly outside of ones comfort zones. Thanks Alex & Jennett!