The last word

A few last words.

The photo left is our actual GPS tracks eastbound (red) and westbound (yellow), displayed in Google Earth.

I uploaded all the GPS breadcrumb tracks for each leg here www.nymble.ca/fly/gps . They display in Google Earth and can be zoomed in or out right down to even see exactly which taxiway or runway we used. There are a couple of oops - like where I forgot to turn it on until after takeoff (I was little busy and enabling the breadcrumb trace isn't part of the standard checklist!). For some reason, the ThunderBay - Wawa leg wouldn't convert at all, so it's missing. At least all you Google-Flyers stranded in Kenora can make it back home now.

All our photos are uploaded to www.nymble.ca/photos, separated by flight day. I'll get around to putting captions on them soon and delete the duds; it's a little boring if you don't know what you're looking at.

We were gone for 20 days, not including the first 8 days we waited for the rain to go away in Vancouver before starting, although we only managed to fly on 13 days due to unacceptable weather. I only got as far as Quebec City, instead of Nova Scotia, but every day was an adventure; even sitting at airport(s) for hours and hours, waiting for weather to improve, we got to talk with local pilots and airplane enthusiasts.

FPAK, the Cessna C172R airplane we rented, was great and operated without any problems. I guess I'll have to admit the non-French-speaking transponder was somehow pilot error.

Pete has volunteered us to do a pilot information session at Pacific Flying Club sometime in October, to talk about our experience and route and show a few pictures.

And we had such a great time that Pete has already reserved the airplane for next year!

The last stretch

Home, at last!

I couldn't leave Lethbridge until 130pm. That low cloud was persistent at 2500 feet. Everybody at the AirWest hanger and flying school was commiserating on how unusual the weather has been. The NavCanada weather briefer explained that today it was being caused by smoke drifting up from forest fires in Idaho, which created condensation nuclei for cloud formation. He was pretty confident that it would start to dissipate by 1 or 2pm, and that there would be a good VFR opportunity before the thunderstorms started forming in the afternoon.

So, nothing to do but wait, again. About 11am, one of the flying instructors offered to drive me back into town, because the Lethbridge airport is pretty small and has no coffee shop. So I had "second breakfast" at Smitty's and went back to the airport at 1230. Ceiling was now just over 3000 AGL, and improving. So I filed to Penticton, via the designated VFR route over Hwy 3 through Crowsnest Pass, Cranbrook, Creston, Nelson, Castlegar, Grand Forks, Osoyoos and Penticton.

By the time I got to Crowsnest Pass, the ceiling was ~10000 ft. It was the most turbulent and gusty leg of the whole trip, especially towards Cranbrook. There were times when I'd hit an updraft of >1500 ft/min, or get knocked sideways. There was a good headwind of 10-15 knots too, and most of the time my groundspeed was less than 90 kts.

At Cranbrook, I stopped to refuel and get a weather update. I updated my ETE, since my forward progress was a little slower than expected.

Toward Creston, the turbulence lessened. Cruising over the south and west arms of Kootenay Lake toward Nelson was quite pretty. At Castlegar and the bottom end of the Arrow Lake, I decided the winds and ceiling were good enough that I would take a shortcut over the Monashee Mountain Range, direct to Penticton. I radioed FSS with a flight plan update and continued over the north end of Christina Lake and came out over the Okanagan valley just north of Oliver.

I arrived in Penticton at 6pm, refueled and called Pete to update him on my progress and discussed whether to call it a day or press onward for home. We figured it would be about a 1.6 or so flight home, if I could go direct over the mountains. Otherwise it would be slower going the Hope-Princeton VFR route, and I've always thought that if the weather wasn't good enough to fly direct over, it would marginal to fly the VFR route in the valley anyway.

But the weather looked good, so I refiled a flight plan and headed for home, climbing over Summerland and then turning west for Hope. I came out over the Coquihalla/Hope-Princeton highway interchange just east of Hope at 8500 ft and started descending into the Fraser Valley. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and pretty much all the way from Hope it was shining into my eyes. I eventually stuffed a map hanging down from the visor to help block out the sun.

I could already hear the ATIS airport reports from Abbotsford and Langley. Nearing Langley, I asked the Langley ATC to assign me a transponder code to enter Boundary Bay's Class C airspace and continued on in for a landing on CZBB runway 30, holding short for other traffic on runway 25.

Taxied in, parked at PFC and unpacked the plane. I phoned for a ride home, and in an amazing coincidence, my wife Yvonne was just driving home from picking up my daughter Nicole at YVR, where Nicole was just returning from spending 7 months overseas in New Zealand and Australia. They diverted to Boundary Bay to pick me up and so it was a great way to finish a great trip.

All told, I traveled about 4750 NM (~8600 km), 1495 NM together with Pete. Solo, I traveled 3255 NM (5860km), quite a bit more than necessary to meet the cross-country requirement for the Commercial Pilot License :). We logged 54.5 flight hours on FPAK, and took on over $2100 in fuel (about $40/hour). Most of that will be applied against the rental cost of the airplane.

Although it was unfortunate that Pete had to return home early and wasn't able to rejoin the trek, I think we both had an absolutely great time and can't wait to fly again. But I learned that you can never fly as far or as fast as you hope, and you have to be prepared to wait out the weather. Although everywhere I went, people were talking about how unseasonable the weather had been this summer. Thanks for reading. And thanks for the comments.

Morning in Lethbridge

Got up early again this morning, since the weather forecasts last night looked pretty promising.
However, I'm out at the Lethbridge airport since 7am, the plane is preflighted and ready to go, but there is some morning fog/low cloud over Pincher Creek, at the base of the climb up to Crowsnest Pass. I'm waiting for it to go away, then the rest of the route looks good.
All the warnings of mountain wave and mechanical turbulence have subsided, but the winds at 9000 ft and above are still strong.

I plan to follow the designated southern VFR route through the Rockies, past Cranbrook, Creston, Nelson, Castlegar. At Castlegar I'll make a decision whether I can go over the top of the Monashees direct to Penticton or continue the twisty, winding route above Hwy 3 through Christina Lake, Grand Forks, Midway and Osoyoos. Hopefully, it will be calm enough to take some pictures enroute.

Lethbridge -- it's almost Pacific time.

So I did get up early (530am) and got a taxi out to the plane by 615am.

The weather was beautiful - the sun was just coming up over the Prairie, not a cloud in the sky, and just a hint of a breeze. I went through my preflight preparations and talked to the Flight Service Specialist about the weather and my flight plan by 7am. He explained about a trowal (Trough of Warm Air Aloft) that was making it's way up in a line from Regina to Lethbridge, said I might expect some light showers, but ceiling should remain at 12000 ft. He warned of the potential for isolated convective thunderstorm activity along my route, but assured me it should be isolated and I would see it, if any, from a long way away and be able to divert around.

I got aloft by 730am, and flew a rather smooth flight at 6500 ft to Regina, refueled, and quickly continued on to Lethbridge, overflying Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Medicine Hat. A little turbulence from surface heating nearing Medicine Hat, but I am now in Lethbridge by noon and refueled again.

It was quite quiet on the radio after Regina, so I tuned in the Sunday Farm report on the ADF (Auto-Direction Finder) radio - the older navigational beacons are broadcast in the low AM band. In fact, you can use AM Radio stations for directional beacons, providing you know exactly where the transmitter tower is. They are sometimes marked on aviation maps for this purpose. We may not have had an 8-track tape but Willie Nelson and Rita McIntyre and Shania Twain are still popular on Prairie radio. At least it's (somewhat) more interesting than listening to the station ID broadcasts in Morse code!

I toyed briefly with the idea of continuing on to Cranbrook, as the weather looks good from here. But the aviation weather forecast just issued a revised AIRMET (special notice) that warns of "patchy moderate lee wave activity from surface to 12000 ft" in an area from just west of Lethbridge to Castlegar and Banff in the north end. Plus there is a PIREP (Pilot Report) from a Cessna 182 over Cranbrook at 11500 ft that says "MDT TO SEV MECH AND LEE WAVE OVER RIDGES ". Mountain waves are another one of those horror stories that groundschool instructors like to beat into you, where the wind whips over the mountains and the mountains act like the rocks in river rapids, stirring up the wind up and down and around and generally not a good place to try and take an airplane. So again, grounded by weather.

I also considered heading up to Calgary to see my brother overnight. But, again, that lee wave activity extends up to Banff across the foothills, and eastward of that is strong thunderstorm potential.

But early morning promises to be great again. Except for the upper level wind forecast. We'll see.

Inching along

(Saturday's post)
Friday night, after I checked back into the hotel, I got a call from my cousin who had just returned to Winnipeg from business in Minneapolis. He insisted on picking me up and going out to his cottage on Lake Winnipeg, near Gimli. So I checked out of the hotel and still had to pay, even though I'd only been there for 3 hours - no housekeeping or day rate, because apparently the housekeeping staff had gone home for the night. Oh well.

Barry drove us out to his cottage, while I checked with Harv's air to make sure they would put the plane in the hanger for the night. Barry's cottage is in an area that is very reminiscent of Point Roberts or Boundary Bay or parts of Birch Bay -- smaller, older cottages on treed lots that have been in families for years. Many are only 3 seasons, but some people are now living year round now. Lake Winnipeg is a huge lake, but it's maximum depth is only 35 feet. So it freezes every year, and during the spring breakup, the wind can push the ice around. It's not uncommon to get ice jammed and being pushed right up onto lawns and decks, causing a fair bit of damage. Anybody who has a dock has to remove it, pilings included, for the winter, or the ice will grind it away.

But in the summer, when I saw it, it's a very very pleasant area.

Anyway, we did have a large thunderstorm overnight, lots of rain and lightning but no hail. I was glad the plane got into the hanger regardless.

The next morning, Barry drove me back to the airport and again I waited for the weather to clear. Only this time it was lots of low cloud at 700 ft trying to be fog. Once the wind came up, it all cleared out and I was off towards Brandon by 1030am.

But it was very windy with the cloud ceiling at 3500 ft. I flew at 2500 ft, partly because of a NOTAM that restricts VFR flight in Winnipeg airspace to less than 3000 ft (too many controllers on vacation), and partly because the winds increased significantly with altitude. The wind was directly against me -- talk about swimming upstream in rapids. There were places where my ground speed was only 65 knots! That's a 30 knot headwind (I had slowed down to what's called "maneuvering speed" for safety). It's was a little bumpy but not as bad as you might think - no sudden screaming changes in altitude or attitude.

The forecast was calling for better winds and higher ceilings later in the day, so when I got to Brandon I hung around the Brandon Flying Club. Another very nice club, and most members have their own planes. Gas was $1.44 -- most clubs have been cheaper than Shell or Esso FBOs. About 4pm, the wind still hadn't let up and the clouds were actually getting lower, and the dispatcher offered to give me a ride to a hotel, so I called it a day. Only flew 1.9 hours -- and a few inches on the map.

So I spent the evening planning and resolved to get up very early and get moving. Maybe Lethbridge...

Pack it in for today

I waited at Harv's Air Service at St. Andrews airport for 4 hours, checking the hourly weather reports and forecasts, looking at the sky and talking to the local pilots. The weather is just not going to let me fly today.

I was hoping to get to Brandon at least, another couple of inches towards home on the map. But the cloud level has never risen about 1500 ft and the revised forecast issued at 1pm says the promised 10,000 ft ceiling isn't going to happen until much later now. Regina is still stuck in low clouds and could expect thunderstorms after 3pm. Moose Jaw is raining and reporting lightning to the north. Winnipeg is expecting thunderstorms all evening through to late morning.

Did I mention the weather sucks? Even the Weather Channel has a "Very Strong Thunderstorms Imminent" warning scrolling across the bottom of the screen for an area 60km to the southwest of Winnipeg. The full text says:

Severe weather bulletin issued by Environment Canada for southern Manitoba.
Severe Thunderstorm warning for: Piney, Woodridge and Sandilands, Reynolds south of Hwy 1, La Broquiere and Marchand.
At 1040am RADAR indicated a very strong thunderstorm near Marchand moving east at 60km/h. Nickel sized hail was reported at Steinbach with this storm. Hail to 2cm and wind gusts to 90 km/h are possible with this storm along with very heavy rain and frequent lightning. This storm is expected to track north of Woodridge and south of the TransCanada over Sandilands provincial forest.
This is a warning that severe thunderstorms are imminent or occurring in these regions. Some of these storms may produce large hail and strong wind gusts. Remember that some severe thunderstorms produce tornadoes. Listen for updated warnings.
Strong thunderstorms have developed over southern Manitoba just northeast of Morris. Some storms may produce large hail and wind gusts of 90km/h or more. Very heavy rain and frequent lightning are likely. They are expected to weaken by late morning.
Please refer to the latest public broadcasts for further details.

Guess which way my flight route would have taken me?


Given the reports of large hail stones yesterday, I am concerned about leaving the plane tied down in the open. I asked the guys at Harv's whether they hanger their planes every night, and they said they do. I asked if they can squeeze another one in, and after talking to Adam, the owner, he said they will try but he can't promise until he sees if a couple of planes on cross-country trips come home early. There is apparently not much free hanger space at this airport. Another aviation school I tried said they don't have room.

So anyway, we rolled the plane across the apron and parked it in front of their hanger, so they can easily move it in at the end of the day. Adam knows Pat, our general manager at Pacific Flying Club, so hopefully he will try a little harder to squeeze FPAK into their hanger.
Nothing else to do but wait it out. That probably makes Monday afternoon the very earliest we can get back to Boundary Bay, assuming no more weather delays (yeah, right.)

Did I mention the weather sucks?

Winnipeg .. waiting and watching

St. Andrews made the Weather Channel news today, because of the storm and hail that I just missed yesterday. Good thing! A little further northwest, they had baseball-sized hail - literally. There were viewer photos on the TV. The Weather Channel is making it their big news of the day. This is a picture of that storm as I'm coming around it from the north and east.

Overnight about 1am here, a huge blowing thunderstorm came through. The wind and the rain were amazing, but not a lot of lightning. Hope I tied the plane down tight!

I'm thinking of trying for Brandon, Manitoba today. The thunderstorm risk is supposed to die down by 11am locally, but Brandon forecasting low ceiling at 1500 ft, periods down to 700 ft until 1pm. Later than that, the afternoon thunderstorm risk builds again. The flight to Brandon should take 1.5 hour in 18 knot headwind.

So, off to the airport, check on the plane and monitor the weather hour-by-hour. I may still be here again tonight. Pete is hoping to meet me in Regina, but we can't predict what day that will be yet.

Winnipeg

Hey, I'm in Winnipeg! Well, actually at St. Andrews airport, which is slightly north and is full of small planes and training schools, like Boundary Bay.

Again, weather was the main issue today. I couldn't leave Kenora this morning because of some rain and low ceilings overnight that didn't clear. When it did clear, it was followed immediately by a line of thunder clouds that swept in from the northwest, although they were dissipating by the time they reached Kenora. I had a long discussion with the weather flight service specialist, and he indicated that once it passed, it looked like good VFR all the way to Regina.


So I walked around Kenora. It's a really pretty resort town, completely focused on the lake (Kenora is on the northern end of the Lake of the Woods). There are marinas and boats everywhere; even the local Safeway has a big dock where boaters can pull up to do grocery shopping. There are more boats at the dock than there are cars in the parking lot. There is a well-established downtown core. It's hard to believe this is the same town Pete and I stayed overnight in on the eastbound trip.


After lunch, I rechecked the weather and considered flying at least part way to Regina. Brandon would be halfway, and there would be alternates to stop at earlier. But there was one long leg from Kenora to Winnipeg where there was nothing. I checked with FSS again, he confirmed that there was scattered cumulus at 3500 from Kenora to Winnipeg but sky clear after that. He also confirmed that there was some small possibility of thunderstorm building, but there was absolutely nothing showing on any radar yet. So I headed out to the airport and was in the air by 3pm. Not the best time of day if you want to avoid thermal activity, but the briefer had confirmed nothing visible, and I was ready to turnaround or land at the nearest airport in case of trouble.


I flew at 2700 ft, and it was quite bumpy under all those clouds, but nothing seemed to be building into towering cumulus. About 40NM from Winnipeg, I could see some dark cloud way off in the distance ahead of me. I called Winnipeg FSS and asked for a weather update. She said there was a strong storm cell directly overhead St. Andrews airport at the very moment, with tops to 39000 ft. That's where I was headed! I considered options: turnaround, turn south to somewhere south of Winnipeg, or what? I initially considered turning to Steinbech, which is south of Winnipeg, but the FSS said the storm was moving southeast. I definitely didn't want to try and out run it. After a discussion of options, I decided to head north, where the weather was still clear and wait for the storm to play out or land at an airport up that way. About 25NM from St. Andrews I was able to hear the controller on the radio, and he was clearing airplanes for landing. He had turned off the ATIS (automatic terminal weather information channel) during the storm and pilots were all calling in, saying "negative ATIS". I asked him whether the storm had now passed, because I didn't know whether these guys were bigger planes doing landings during the storm, or whether the storm was "light" or what.


He said it had passed about 10min ago, and the sky was clear. So I announced I was coming in for a full stop. I could still see the storm, very dark all the way to the ground, some distance off to my left, but I didn't have the airport in sight. Eventually I found the airport, right where the GPS said it should be, and I landed in light winds under a blue sky.


There is a flying school here called "Harv's Air". They have a very nice facility, and told me to feel free to do flight planning in the morning in their classrooms. I asked about the storm I just missed; they said it was a really really heavy rain burst and quite big hail -- in fact, they had started moving their planes into hangers, afraid for hail damage!

That's kind of a lesson about how fast thunder cells can develop. I had called FSS just before I left Kenora, where I was told nothing was developing on any radar, but my total flight time (engine start to engine stop) was 1.4 hours. The thunder cell had developed, matured and dissipated in less than an hour! In any case, I decided that was close enough for today. No point in risking another one on the way to Brandon.

I refueled, tied the plane down for the night and am now in a hotel called "Canad" about 10km towards Winnipeg. One of their students heard me calling for a taxi, and offered to give me a ride to the hotel. I haven't been able to contact my cousin here; he's often out of town on business, and I had no idea that I'd end up here for the night.

Just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow; it sucks again. Fog in the morning in Brandon and Regina, building low cloud from the west and thunderstorms in the afternoon. But Saturday-Sunday are supposed to be good all the way to Calgary. I don't know if there will be a flying window tomorrow. But gotta get prepared anyway.

Finally, in the air again

I eventually made it to Kenora last evening. I got to the Sault Ste. Marie airport at 7am, expecting that the early morning clouds would burn off and I would be on my way. Not happening. I waited for 6 1/2 hours before I could take off. The problem was low cloud ceiling at 2100 feet at the next waypoint, Wawa, about 100 NM to the north. The sky over the lake was clear, but the cloud started right at the lakeshore and followed it another 150NM or so. About noon, it started to break up a bit, and by 2pm I was able to go. The problem cloud was now a thin layer at 4000 ft, scattered and becoming fewer. So I initially followed the lakeshore up to Wawa (which is the route that Hwy 17 takes) at 6500 feet. It was pretty cool to see the cloud layer off to the right and lower than my altitude. Enroute I had planned to stop at Marathon, which is unattended and has a self-serve fuel station. I called the Marathon airport number to tell them I was coming, as it is listed as Prior Notice Required, but neither number that was listed was answered by human or machine. So I planned to stop anyway.


Once past Wawa, the cloud thinned out and by Marathon the sky was clear. It actually worked out better for winds to have been delayed, as the forecast winds died down from a predicted 21-29 kts bang on my nose to a more reasonable 8-12 kts more from the west.I had filed a flight plan to Dryden, but was prepared to divert to Thunder Bay, or possibly go further on to Kenora, depending on how the weather developed. I stopped in Marathon in a 90-degree crosswind, which I think I handled pretty well, and refueled, phoned the FSS to update my position report and get a weather update and took off again (again, in a 90-degree crosswind). By Nipigon, in the northwest corner of Lake Superior, it was clear that I could get to Dryden, but there was possibility of showers in Kenora. I did encounter some very light showers as I got close to Dryden, so I talked to the weather FSS by radio and got an updated for Kenora. The rest of the route to Kenora was reporting the same, occassional light showers but ceiling at 8000 ft, so I modified my flight plan enroute for Kenora, about another 65NM. I descended to 3500 ft on that leg, to improve visibility in some light showers. I landed at Kenora without any problems.

The scenary along Lake Superior is very impressive. The lake is a deep blue color, with white sandy beaches tucked in coves all along. Green trees back from the shore lead to smaller lakes that dot the landscape as far as you can see.

This time, I was determined not to repeat the Tower Motel experience. I mentioned it to the fuel attendent, and he shuddered. Apparently this place is well known to the locals. He said it wasn't so much the bikers in the bar that were the problem, but the noisy booze parties that take place by the room occupants.

I was able to get a room at the Best Western in downtown Kenora. A decent place right on the lake with a restaurant with panoramic view on the 8th floor and good food. And someone has started an airport shuttle for $20, instead of the $38 taxi ride it took last time.

Today, it looks like I'll be delayed until at least late afternoon due to thundershowers. It's nice right now in Kenora, but the weather briefer just told me I could expect a thunderstorm and shower to arrive from the northwest within the next hour, but after that it should clear out.
Next stop, depending on weather, of course, will either be Winnipeg/St. Andrews, Brandon, or Regina.

I don't know if anyone is actually looking at these breadcrumb trails, but here are some recent ones. I've had a couple of issues with them - the PDA battery died enroute from Sudbury, I forgot to turn it on out of Ottawa, and etc.
QuebecCity-Ottawa
Ottawa-Sudbury
Sudbury-SaultSteMarie
SaultSteMarie-Marathon
Marathon-Kenora

Getting tired of weather delays

This morning I got up early and headed out to the airport. The forecast was calling for some low cloud early but clearing later. I figured I would get loaded and ready and wait for the weather to clear. But I've been here almost 4 hours now and the clearing seems to have slowed in the direction I want to go. I do see patches of blue sky off to the north, but there's still a fair bit of low cumulus nearby (broken at 2600 ft).

I'm waiting for the next observations at the airports farther north on my route. I'm planning to fly from Sault Ste. Marie up around the east and north side of Lake Superior and on to Dryden, or else down to Thunder Bay if the next wave of crappy weather from Manitoba looks like it will beat me to western Ontario.

Speaking of crappy weather, Pete originally picked this 4 week window because it historically has the best flying weather. Apparently not this year. Just look at the 8am GFA for the Prairies. Way too much weather for me. It's coming in wave after wave from north of Edmonton. Nothing to do but wait it out. But I will start taking Cameron's suggestion to keep moving whenever safe, maybe one airport at a time and early in the morning, rather than wait for the ideal opportunity to fly ~600NM in 1 day. I figure if I had done that, I would already be in Dryden and worrying about the weather in the Prairie.

We had originally planned to leave July 17. Either Pete or me has flown the plane every day that the weather was suitable, yet that has only been 8 days out of 21.

Dryden/Kenora tomorrow

It looks like I'll be able to take to the air tomorrow. That storm that was promised from Manitoba has progessed over Dryden, Thunder Bay, Marathon, Wawa and is currently over Sault Ste. Marie. It should pass over during the night. I'm ready to make an early start (630am), and have prepared to get to Winnipeg, with fuel stops in Marathon and Dryden, if the weather would let me.

But, I'm expecting to have to wait for some morning mist to dissipate along the east side of Lake Superior, and that will probably make it too late in the afternoon to get to Winnipeg before the thunderstorms start building there. The Weather Network on TV is warning of a severe thunderstorm risk in an area just west of Winnipeg tomorrow, with larger hail. So I hope to get to Dryden or Kenora.

Speaking of the TV Weather Channel, it's time those guys changed their theme music on the local forecast. It's burning itself into my brain. It's the same in every city I've been in. It is a good resource for the big picture of the weather though.

Today I doodled the time away in "downtown" Soo. It does have a few blocks of traditional downtown shop area, but it seems everyone was escaping the humidity inside the big Station Mall, which is adjacent to downtown and the river.

I also spent a couple of hours in the Bush Pilot heritage museum. They had some pretty good climb-abroad displays of Beavers, Otters, Conair firebombers, a huge Canadair CL215 waterbomber, Huskys, other bush planes and some interesting movies. Most of their aeroplanes are still flyable, and the volunteers are busy restoring a DeHavilland Fox Moth. Heard in one movie: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots". Kind of sums up my attitude to flying in the weather.

Stuck in the Soo

I'm still in Sault Ste Marie today. I had hoped to be able to get to Thunder Bay by starting early this morning. I prepared and reviewed my flight plan route last night, and talked to the FSS weather briefer about 1130pm.

I was a little uncertain, because the environment canada weather forecast was predicting 40-60% chance of rain with isolated thunderstorms. The aviation weather forecast was better, but showing a large low coming in from Manitoba that could arrive in the Thunder Bay area by the afternoon. Kenora and Dryden were reporting non-VFR conditions already. However, in discussion with the weather briefer, it appeared that the possibility of showers along my route were slim, and thunderstorm risk minimal. I could expect a mid-level VFR ceiling (6000-8000 feet), which was sufficient. It seemed if I could get to Thunder Bay by noon-ish, it would be safe.
So I made sure of my preparations and arranged for shuttle early out to the airport.

However, when I doubled-checked with FSS at 545am this morning, it appears that the weather system from Manitoba is moving faster than anticipated. The graphical forecast shows the low moving southeastward at 40 kts, with with showers ahead, patchy ceilings to 700 AGL, isolated cumulus giving visibility of 2 miles with thunderstorms. Thunder Bay would be in it somewhere between 8 am and 11am.

So, I canceled the shuttle, renewed my hotel reservation and went back to bed.

It's 11am now, and weather in Soo is still good and the weather in Thunder Bay is starting to go downhill rapidly (ceiling dropped from 25000 ft to 8000 ft in the last hour). I'm wondering if maybe I should have at least moved on 170NM to Marathon, at the northeast corner of Lake Superior and wait out the weather there, but the weather is moving rapidly and Marathon's airport is listed as unattended and some distance from town. Any way, it looks like tomorrow I should be able to dash beyond Thunder Bay after the weather passes over.

Weather ... again

I'm grounded by weather today in the Soo. Although the weather has been clearing at Soo all morning, there is a persistent low cloud bank at the northeast corner of Lake Superior that won't go away. Wawa and Terrace Bay are reporting marginal VFR conditions (ceiling at 1600 ft), and although it is predicted to get better later today, it may not be soon enough to do a flight to Thunder Bay or Dryden. And although Environment Canada says Wed. will be a great day, they aren't so optimistic about tomorrow (40-60% chance of rain with thunderstorms).

The first picture is my 2nd cousin and me at the airport in Quebec, when we canceled our flightseeing idea due to weather. The second picture is me arriving at the Soo with the airport in the distance (Lake Superior beyond) and the locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron in the middle. Sault Saint Marie is on the right, and Michigan on the left.

Rory asked whether I'd consider going south and coming back through the U.S. Unfortunately, I don't have charts for that area, and although I've done a flight into the U.S., I'm not as familar with getting as detailed weather information nor as current with differences in US airspace rules, so I'll be sticking to Canada this trip.

I saw a forest fire yesterday near Mattawa, just before North Bay. There were 2 water bombers working the fire and I watched them dipping into Ottawa River to load and then dump on the fire as I passed by about 15-20NM to the south. I could hear them on the radio talking to the fire base as well.

At Rockcliffe flying club yesterday, I talked to a pilot who had flown his plane to Newfoundland. I asked him how he managed it, because Pete and I originally had planned to try to get there. But we decided the over-water distance from Nova Scotia was too far, as we couldn't get high enough to be able to glide to land in case of emergency. He told me he just flew straight and level at 2500 feet over water for 67 NM, no problem! (which, BTW, is a gliding distance of ~3 NM at that altitude). I asked "Doesn't Rockcliffe club have a restriction about being able to glide to land?" and he said that's why he bought his own plane, so he didn't have to be bound by club rules.

Then I asked if he ever had any problems in flight. He proceeded to tell me a story about the time his alternator belt broke after leaving Fredericton. Rather than return to land, he decided to continue enroute to his destination, where he had a mechanic friend who could fix it for cheap. Only his friend is in Port Hawkesbury in Cape Breton Island, 400km away. He did the recommended emergency procedures of turning off unneeded electrical equipment, but as he approached Moncton he asked for ATC permission to turn off his radios and transponder, and proceeded in radio silence and all lights off. It started getting dark as he approached Port Hawkesbury, but only when he had the airport in sight, he enabled his anti-collison beacon light and turned on the radio. He managed to land safely, but said the battery was so dead the next morning he didn't get a click from the starter as he tried to turn it over!

I wonder how much longer this guy will be a live pilot.

Ottawa River area northwest of Pembroke/Petawawa

Transponder OK

I guess my transponder can't speak French. Or something. I power-cycled that thing several times while in Quebec airspace and the controller claimed she never could see it. Same with Montreal.

I talked to Rockcliffe's AME and he had a quick look, but said it appeared to be working from external signs. He suggested I take the plane for a couple of circuits and ask Gatineau or Ottawa whether they could see it now. As I was preparing to do that, I got a call from an old friend from the MDI/Motorola days who is also a pilot, and he gave me good suggestions on getting back to BC without needing a transponder. Because, speaking from his experience, it always takes much longer to get repairs than you think. It fit with the story too from the Rockcliffe AME, who knows the avionics repair guys very well and said they were always really busy (they are the only ones in Ottawa that do this kind of work), but he would try to call them himself if the transponder still didn't respond. But he knew I wouldn't hear from them until at least Tuesday.

So I filed a flight plan to Sault Saint Marie from Ottawa and took off in the circuit. The Ottawa terminal said almost immediately "Foxtrot Papa Alpha Kilo, radar identified" on first contact, so I guess the transponder either needed a rest or I didn't recycle the power correctly after all. First time this has happened me. Chalk it up to experience. At least I had time for lunch from Tony's BBQ on the lawn of the Rockcliffe Flying Club.

I'm currently in Sault Saint Marie, after refueling in Sudbury. I didn't think I'd make it this far, but the predicted warm front arrival at Sault from the southwest stalled over Lake Superior, and it was just starting to get cloudy as I arrived (Broken at 8500). I talked to London radio several times enroute to ensure that the weather was staying OK, and other than a 10-15knot headwind, it was pretty smooth.

I flew up the Ottawa River from Ottawa to NorthBay that is a really pretty countryside from the air, especially northwest of Pembroke towards NorthBay. The sky was really clear today - also got some great pics of Montreal and the surrounding countryside. I'll see if I have time to post a few later -- gotta get some dinner now. Thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions.

Transponder failure

Well, I had the first trouble with the airplane. Upon leaving Quebec City, Tower informed me they weren't getting a radar return from my transponder. Usually this is because the pilot forgot to turn it on. However, despite cycling the power a few times, I could not get it to work.

For those who don't know, the transponder responds to the signal from the airport radar. It identifies the plane on the controller's radar screen with my particular ID, current altitude, and speed. Without it, the controller knows there is an airplane there, but not the details. It's only mandatory in certain high traffic areas (all Class C airspace and some Class D and E spaces too).

Despite the failure, Quebec cleared me enroute to Ottawa, using the flight following service. I still came directly through the middle of Montreal Class C space, but since they knew I had a transponder failure and were talking to me, it was approved.

But now I'm down on the ground in Ottawa/Rockcliffe and it's Sunday morning and the August long weekend. The local Rockcliffe flying club AMEs do not fix avionics. Their CFI told me of a shop at the Ottawa International airport, but of course, no one is answering the phone on the long weekend.

I've talked to our chief AME, Mike, at the Pacific Flying Club and he has authorized me to go ahead and get it fixed.

It's been a beautiful day for flying so far; I got an early start 7am, and was hoping I could make it to Sault Ste. Marie. It's still possible to fly there without a working transponder by staying below 2500 until clear of Ottawa airspace, but I probably have a better chance of getting it fixed here, than at North Bay, Sudbury or Sault Ste. Marie. I can't fly on to Thunder Bay, because even though it is Class E airspace, a Mode C Transponder is a special requirement of their airspace. Can't avoid Thunder Bay, because there is no other fuel around for miles and miles. So ... what to do??

I've left a message with the Canadian Airmotive; hopefully someone will call back (I kind of doubt it till Tuesday), but I'll still have to figure out whether Ottawa Tower will let me fly the plane over there without a transponder, or whether I have to convince the AME to come over here.

Any pilots with suggestions -- I'm open to ideas.

Homeward

This morning (Sunday) I'm starting to head back, having come some 2374NM (4397km). I've spent 3 nights in Quebec City, which is a great place to visit. Especially if you have a cousin who owns a house inside the old city walls (Thanks for putting me up, David & Matthew!).

The weather has been really wild here - extremely hot & humid with thunderstorms overnight the day of arrival, a huge mid-day thunderstorm with 1/2" hail and blowing rain downpour on the 2nd day, followed by sun, and then very windy today with lots of dark cumulus cloud Saturday which eventually blew way. I had hoped to take my cousins for a sightseeing flight over the city, but it didn't work out. We watched the hourly weather observations and the updated airport forecasts and I could see the weather was improving, so we headed out to the airport about noon. On the way I talked to a weather briefer, who told me that lightning was just detected about 15NM to the southeast, and that the next update would be calling for possibility of showers and ceiling to 1500 ft. So I had to cancel - disappointing for all 3 of us. The showers and low ceiling never materialized , but it doesn't pay to take chances flying in an area you're not familiar with.

Walking around Saturday, it seemed the city just suddenly filled up with tourists - every street and outdoor venue is wall-to-wall people. The Nouveaux France festival areas are especially packed.

Sean, I've tasted a few fine local beers here, as requested :) Belle Gueule is a light blonde draft beer that was one of sponsors of the festival. It was fun to be served from French barmaids drawing from wooden barrels set up on street corners (no problems wandering around here with beer or wine in your hand). I've also had a fine wheat beer called Cheval Blanc, and a dark (imported?) draft called "Le Leffe Brun". But the award goes to a local beer called "Le Fin Du Monde" (translated: The end of the world), which is thrice-fermented and checks in at a heavy 9%. Tastes like some of the yeasty beers we used to home-brew. The server says every batch is different.

This morning the weather is calling for lighter winds, and progressively lighter as I head west, with Few clouds at 5000-6000 ft. I have a flight plan that is ready to take me as far as Sault Saint Marie, with fuel stops in Ottawa and Sudbury (~2 hour legs). The route is basically follow the St. Lawrence to Montreal, then follow the Ottawa river all the way to North Bay, then TransCanada Highway 17 to the Sault. Depending on how bad the head wind is or how tiring it is, I could stop sooner, at Elliot Lake, Sudbury or North Bay. In fact, I probably will, as the flight plan calculates out to 6.5 flight hours, a bit of a stretch if it isn't absolutely smooth, and there is some lower cloud and possible showers coming to the Sault by the evening.

I'll call Pete tonight and see if he might be able to re-join the trip somewhere on the way back.

Quebec City

Quebec City is a fanastastic place to be in the summer. I feel like I must have flown to Europe, I'm walking around with a big grin on my face all the time. I ended up staying at a B&B right inside the old city walls, 1 block from the Chateau Frontenac. It's called Auberge St Louis; it's an old historical place full of character with not a single square corner or level floor anymore. The staircase up to the 4th floor leans sideways and there is a deep dip in the hallway on the way to my room.


The people at the Petro-T aviation gas station helped me find this place. All along our route, we've found that the FBOs (Fixed Base Operators, like fuel stations) are extremely helpful. They usually have airconditioned lounges for pilots to take a break, with fast internet terminals. Much better than the dial-up weather terminals that NavCanada provides. The FBOs really go out of their way to assist with taxi and accomodation, and usually provide free overnight parking if you buy fuel.

After checking in, I roamed around the city taking photos. I've uploaded them to www.nymble.ca/photos ; lots of sidewalk cafes and lots of people wandering around. It's very very hot and humid here; over 40 degrees with the humidex. It felt hottest after sunset; just dripping. But today it is cloudy with a few showers and rumbling thunder.

I did meet up with my 2nd cousin around dinner time. We went for dinner at an outdoor cafe, then wandered around. It's festival season in Quebec; this week it's Les Fetes de la Nouveaux France. Lots of people wandering around in period costumes (tourists included), with music, displays, wine tasting, food stalls, and just generally a good time.

Overnight about 5am there was a terrific thunderstorm; lightning, huge peels of thunder and a heavy downpour. There is still a bit of thunder now, and some light showers, but it looks like it may stop soon.

I've decided this is the end of the travel eastward. I will turnaround Sunday, but I'll have to be careful about fuel stops for Sunday & Monday, as Monday is a stat holiday in Ontario. Lots of smaller airports don't have fuel on the weekends or holidays, or charge a hefty call-out fee (The Wawa airport had a posted notice of $100 for a call-out).

It's supposed to start clearing tomorrow. I hope to do a flightseeing tour over the old city and nearby with my cousins, and then get prepared to start the return trip. Pete is hoping to meet back up with me in Thunder Bay or Winnipeg; it will make it much easier to have a second pilot in the plane.

Today, Matthew, my 2nd cousin is working (as a tour guide in Cathedral of the Holy Trinity) and his dad just arrived back from BC on a red-eye flight. I've just moved my stuff over to their place, which is about 5 blocks from where I was (still inside the old city walls). They have a 1862 house with all the character that you'd expect. I plan to wander around the festival today, soaking up the local sights. Hope I don't need an umbrella.


Oh yeah, the Ottawa to Montreal GPS track breadcrumbs can be found here: GPS-Ottawa-Quebec

Quebec City - and maybe the turnaround

I`ve arrived in Quebec City, after departing from Ottawa. I was unsure of the route I was going to take, because Montreal is right in the middle, and we didn`t have a Montreal VTA chart. So I planned 2 routes last night, one north of Mirabel, out of the Montreal control zones, and one right in the middle between Mirabel and PET, over the city following the river. The city route was preferred because of access to civilization, alternate airports and ATC guidance along the way. Luckily, the Rockville flying club sells charts, and I was able to get a Montreal VTA.

So the city route it was - with radar flight following the whole way. I left Ottawa/Rockcliffe about 11am, and flew 5500 feet all the way to Quebec. It was very smoggy and hazy down below, and at times it was hard to see the river very far ahead. But I choose this altitude because the weather briefer warned of moderate turbulence to 3000 AGL, due to surface heating. "Moderate turbulence" is how a 737 would feel it, so I didn`t want to take any chances. At 5500 it was very smooth, again with an agressive tailwind. Nearing Quebec I had to descend due to clouds ahead at 3500, so I did the last 20NM at 2500, with some nice bumps and potholes!

The weather ahead is looking marginal - T-storms for this afternoon, and I seem to be between a warm front to the east and a cold front advancing from the west, squeezing me in the middle. I expect to be grounded by weather for a day at least, and the long range forecast for the maritimes is not looking good, so I`m pretty sure that this is as far east as I can get. It`s too bad, because I`m about 2 hours flying from Dalhousie on the bottom side of the Gaspe. It would have been nice to view the Gulf and dip in the saltwater. But Quebec is a great place to have to stop for the turnaround.

I called my cousin`s son, who is supposed to be back home by now but had to leave a message begging for a place to stay. Hopefully he`ll call back later this afternoon, otherwise I`ll find a hotel in the old city.

I`ll try to upload pictures and breadcrumbs later tonight.

Satellite Perspective on the Road Trip

We don't know how many people have been tracking the trip with Google Earth and the GPS Breadcrumbs we acquire on each leg, but this picture shows the exact route followed from Boundary Bay to Thunder Bay. When you look at the trip from this perspective, that's a hell of a lot of flying.

For those not familiar with the Breadcrumbs, they are a record of the GPS coordinates taken for the track flown by the aircraft. The term is taken from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.

Bob has a small GPS Unit (sitting on the dash, well away from the compass) with a Bluetooth interface that sends the GPS coordinates of the aircraft track to his iPaq PDA, which records the data. This is then downloaded to the laptop later in the day, and gets converted in the breadcrumbs for use in Google Earth.

Any Accountants out there will appreciate the fact that this Road Trip has an audit trail. With the detail provided by the GPS, we can even tell which taxiway we used as the various airports.

Ottawa

I flew from Sault Saint Marie to Ottawa today, with a stop in North Bay. Again, the air was excellent with a screaming tailwind of 20 knots. During the first leg of the trip, I flew at 3500 ft altitude, because it was quite hazy (ground visibility was better) and the winds were supposed to be not quite as strong. But it was very smooth. The picture is of Sudbury off in the distance and you can see the smoke blowing off the mill stack in the direction of my flight. Actually, the haze makes it hard to see in this picture, but it's there on the horizon just behind the wing strut.


North Bay is on the shore of the Lake Nipissing, which is north of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. The airport is also a water bomber base for the summer forest fire season.



I ran into another pilot who flies a Cessna Caravan for small cargo around. He basically repeated the same story about thunderstorms as the last guys. He said with weather radar, keeping a 10NM distance is more than enough. The only time he figures he might get into trouble is if he is steering between 2 storm cells and not being able to see what's behind them on the radar. Again, definitely not what they teach in groundschool! But don't worry Robyn, I'm not tempted :)



After North Bay I turned towards Ottawa, with the intention of stopping at the small airport near downtown on the river called Rockcliffe Airport. It's home of the Rockcliffe Flying Club and the Canadian Aviation Museum.

I started flying at 5500 feet but found an occassional small cloud exactly at my altitude, which made it a little choppy as I steered around them. So I descended to 3500 feet and found it a bit bumpy so I decided to climb again to 7500 feet. It was nice and smooth here, and the tailwind was terrific. At points the GPS told me that my groundspeed was over 130 kts, while my airspeed indicator was reading ~95 kts. (Pilots will know that the true airspeed is higher than indicated, depending on density altitude) But still I figure I was getting >20 knots of tailwind.


The prospect of coming home again in that kind of headwind is nothing to look forward to - maybe the weather will change.


The terminal controller at Ottawa did a great job of steering me towards Rockcliffe and around the flight path for Ottawa International -- the airspace here is as complicated as Vancouver, with several small airports in close proximity to each other and there is no large scale VTA chart. And Rockcliffe is a unicom radio, which means that there is no NavCanada ground person to let you know about traffic, winds or field conditions. So at 5NM 3000ft, the Ottawa controller said goodbye, good luck and please turn to the broadcast frequency for the airport. At least I could see the right airport in the distance. There were 2 planes in the circuit; I announced my intentions and joined the downwind for a smooth landing on runway 27.



After landing, the flying club unicom radio operator told me I could taxi directly over to the museum and park outside the museum hanger. I slipped in the back door of the museum and had a good look around. Much larger exhibit than the Bush Pilot museum in the Sault, but they aren't as interactive. They have a good collection of WW1 and WW2 planes, some bush planes and some Canadian Airforce jets. My dad would really enjoy this place - he loves old WW planes.







Tomorrow I'm going to go at least as far as Quebec City, maybe farther depending on the weather. I was hoping to stop and stay with my cousins in QC, but they're not home from their vacation for another 2 days yet. So I'm playing with the idea of getting to somewhere in New Brunswick. I'll make that decision in the morning after I get the latest weather forecasts. It seems my world is dominated by the weatherman right now.


The google earth breadcrumbs are here; the second leg won't convert to google format for some reason, so all I can post is the SaultSteMarie-NorthBay leg.