Journeys in BC
We flew the
Tomahawk again on Sunday, a quick one over the airport at 2,000
feet, but the transponder did not work :(
I checked all the other electrical systems, and everything else
worked.
David took me to
Abbotsford and Langley in the Warrior.
One concern on this flight was following a Cessna from a school
on the Courthouse departure from Boundary Bay.
The objective of this departure procedure is to provide plenty of
separation from traffic that may be approaching straight in to
runway 25 and so it takes you well north of the Highway 99.
The highway is kept on the right side of the aeroplane in this
procedure.
Apparently some instructors still insist on keeping the road line
feature on their left as is the rule when flying cross country
using a line feature as a ground reference. 'Keep roads, rivers,
and railway lines on your left when flying cross country'.
But in this situation, flying with the road on your left puts you
close to arriving traffic on final for runway 25 and so this
procedure is an exception to the rule.
Sometimes we need common sense in the way we apply the catch all
rules of the air. Safety is always more important than blindly
following a rule that has 'exceptions'.
We picked up another tansponder at Langley and this proved to be operational in the Tomahawk during a test flight later.
Back to cross country flying
26th September. Daryl
wanted to go to Tofino in the Tomahawk and so we filed a flight
plan and flew via Active Pass, Cowichen Lake, Nitinat Lake, and
over the gravel pile strewn Bamfield airstrip.
Bamfield is not usable at this time.
When approaching Tofino
these days you call "Hardy Radio" (Port Hardy FSS). In
the past we used to call Nanaimo Radio for this remote service.
Tofino has a Mandatory Radio zone as it has IFR approaches.
It is important to check the temperature and dewpoint spread
before coming here, and keep an eye on this as Tofino is noted
for fogging in quickly!
Takeoff was at 11:15, and landing was at 12:41.
The Tomahawk at Tofino
I met the lady owner of the long range Pitts Special who had flown it out from Ontario in order to work here flying seaplanes. She is intrepid, and mentioned taking it back to Ontario soon for maintenance!
Ryan and Marilyne turned up too with two visitors from France, they were in a new Fiat 500 and here to go surfing.
The intrepid lady pilot flew her Pitts from Ontario to be a
professional seaplane pilot at Tofino.
At 13:47 we took off from
Tofino and flew via the highway to Port Alberni.
This was another exception to the rule as lift was to be found on
the left side of the valley, keeping the road on the right. We
should not fly in sinking air just to keep the road on our left!
I Follow Roads, the main road to and from Tofino
Port Alberni used to be a
gravel airfield in the town, now it's removed from the there and
has an asphalt runway capable of taking the big jets.
There was a Boeing 727 outside, and a 737 being worked on in the
hangar, and a bizjet too.
The cadets were flying their Schweizer glider, being towed by a
Cessna 182, and the local civil gliding operation were doing
tourist flights in the PW sailplane, towed by a 150hp Piper
Pawnee.
The 'new' Port Alberni Airport accommodates jets such as a 727
and a 737.
It is also a gliding field.
We arrived at Port Alberni
at 14:18 and departed again at 14:53 for a nineteen minute flight
to Qualicum Beach for fuel and food.
The airport restaurant is very good; fish and chips for me
followed by a naughty chocolate torte.
We added 57.8 litres of Avgas 100LL at I believe $1.92 a litre.
Departure was at 16:39 and
we flew across the Strait to Half Moon Bay, and along the coast
past Sechelt to Bowen Island.
The harbour was very busy and so we transitted the north shore to
the Second Narrows, then back to Boundary Bay via the Fraser
river.
Landing was at 17:31.
Pascal was waiting to fly
with me, and so we took off again to do a check flight in the
Pitt Lake area.
Airborne at 18:35 we flew for and hour and a minute, did some
airwork (steep turns, stalls, spins) followed by four circuits.
Approaching for the last landing the circuit breaker for the
navigation lights popped... Another snag... The nav lights were
wired through the instrument dimmer, and used the same circuit
breaker rather than the separate nav light circuit breaker! This
snag has now been fixed.
'Went on a Tomahawk Check Flight after returning.
Looking after a visiting pilot friend from Ireland
I met Peter when he was on
a flight to China in a Mooney from France. I helped with an oil
change, and spark plug service at Nok Airfield in Thailand.
I was mentioned in the article he wrote about this epic trip in
Flyer Magazine as we also went to the Robin Hood Pub on Sukhumvit
Road when the Mooney flew into Don Muang Airport on its return
from China.
Serendipity meant meeting again at Sywell at the end of August,
beginning of September. He mentioned coming to Vancouver, and so
a flight had to be done!
Take off in the Warrior was at 12:47, and landing at Squamish was at 13:46.
Once again we went on the scenic flight up to Garibaldi Lake, but this time straight from there to Squamish.
Glacier
As normal Glacier Air at
Squamish was welcoming and there was milk in the fridge for tea.
François had some bread and brie cheese, and the apricot jam I
bought while ago was still there, so we managed to make a good
lunch before setting off back to Boundary Bay.
At 15:20 we took off to route via Howe Sound and Vancouver to arrive at Boundary Bay at 15:57.
It was a memorable trip for Peter, and did not cost him too much trouble with she who must be obeyed as we took him back to the skytrain to be only a little bit late getting back to the hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Friday 28th was a busy day
and I didn't take pictures... But I went to Pitt Meadows and back
in the Warrior for lunch, then Mark picked me up in the Maule to
go to Abbotsford where I picked up the Chipmunk and flew it back
to Langley to place it back in the hangar before the rain...
There was a BBQ at Langley when I arrived there. Well fed!
On Saturday I was able to fly to Nanaimo with Larry, our onsite licenced engineer, to visit his daughter and grand daughter.
Familiar aircraft
We did an approach to Duncan on the way back from Nanaimo
There was much reporting of moderate to severe turbulence during the time we flew to Nanaimo and back. We had a couple of instances of subjective light to moderate turbulence.
Flying with my brother Saturday evening in the Warrior, we went
to Pitt Meadows for a touch and go.
Final approach to Boundary Bay 07 with a flock of seagulls
threatening to collide with us.