I wrote this article in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic and the Canadian Owners and Pilot’s Association (COPA) was kind enough to publish it it in their print magazine which was nice.
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PACKING TO GO
Last summer, while we were in the middle of the first round of the pandemic lockdown up here in Canada, I decided to fly out to BC to see my Mom and fly her back to Ontario for a visit. I hadn’t been to BC in over a year and a lot had happened since my last trip out west. My Brother’s family live out that way and his kids were both probably a foot taller than last time I saw them. My father, who spent the last portion of his life in the next valley over from where they live, had passed away in April right when we weren’t allowed to go anywhere so I certainly hadn’t had time to process or deal with any of that. Yes, a long flight was just what the doctor ordered!
Like many other professions during that strange time, my work in the film industry had shut down entirely so I really wasn’t doing a lot. The novelty of local flights and being cleared to do low approaches over Toronto’s Pearson Airport (CYYZ) had worn off. I felt that I wanted to stretch my flying legs and do a long trip in my aircraft, a lovely 1977 Cessna F337G Skymaster. After all, Mom did chip in with an interest free loan for a portion of the original purchase and part of that deal was that the two of us fly across Canada together someday. Sure, money was tight due to lack of work but from my experience, when I am working and money is good I never have the time to do fun, crazy adventures. So why not? Someday had arrived.
THE SKYMASTER READY TO GO
Before dawn I preflighted the Skymaster and headed west for the start of my grand flying adventure. Well, northwest actually as I planned to stay in Canadian airspace due to C-19 and avoid accidently being forced to do a 14- day quarantine and who knows what else due to a potential mechanical issue and having to land in the US. That would not be good!
My trusty Skymaster was running perfectly so I filed IFR to Winnipeg and figured I would amend my flight plan en route based on how I was feeling. Once airborne I set the autopilot and settled in for the long haul. My route took me from my base in Brantford Ontario (CYFD), over the Bruce Peninsula, northern Lake Huron, Manitoulin Island, Sault Ste Marie, Lake Superior, Thunder Bay and then due west into Manitoba.
Prior to departure, I did a lot of research and flight planning. I wanted to make certain that I wasn’t breaking any C-19 protocols by doing a trip like this and ensure that I didn’t get in any kind of trouble along the way. The plan was to do the flight west in two days and camp out in order to minimize any potential C-19 exposure. For this reason, I targeted smaller airports and I called ahead to see which ones were open to the idea of on field camping, something that I had read about but had never done before. It turns out that many of the smaller airports were enthusiastic about my proposal to “camp out under the wing”, although it was not something most of them advertised. Most of the FBOs and airport managers I spoke to were excited by the prospect, even during the paranoid C-19 times. One airport manager offered me his personal vehicle to run to town as their FBO didn’t have a crew car. Another invited me to come to his home for a socially distanced family dinner because all the local restaurants were closed. I was blown away by these small offerings of generosity. This rekindled my appreciation for the kind and quality of people who gravitate towards aviation. My only regret was that I was only planning one overnight stop on the westward voyage and not many as my goal was to have some time in my native BC prior to the return trip.
I have flown west many times but never as far as BC. I use my plane for work and to transport my crew and equipment around the country unimpeded but, to date, Winnipeg was the furthest mission westward that I had ever done.
I have driven across Canada many times and, believe me, making the crossing by air in one’s own aircraft is far superior! I love the perspective offered from a above watching the country unfold slowly far below. You just don’t realize how big the Great Lakes really are until you find yourself out in the middle of Lake Superior dangling there in the sky with no sign of land in any direction. Ontario really does go on forever! The prairies in the summer are a many-colored patchwork quilt of greens and yellows that are truly spectacular. Then there are the mountains of my childhood in the west which simply must be seen to be believed!
SOMEWHERE OVER LAKE SUPERIOR
I was just settling into the trip and had reached the eastern edge of the prairies where the scrubby brush land of Ontario starts to turn into flat grass and fields when I noticed the magenta line begin to wander slightly on my iPad screen. Oh oh…. I have seen this before and it ALWAYS costs me money… Anyone who owns an older autopilot will attest that it is an uphill battle keeping those 40+ year old computers and mechanical interfaces operational. I had rebuilt most of my autopilot system previously but the problem is that I was forced to rebuild the old components and not replace them with new. This is due to the fact new parts are either unavailable or ridiculously expensive. Oh well, who needs a stinking autopilot anyway. It’s not like I was going that far….
huh…
PRAIRIE PATCHWORK QUILT FOR AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE
They say that hand flying is good for the soul, however, the thought of 7 hours hand flying west to BC then another 10-12 hours on the return trip with my Mother on board was more than a little daunting. What to do? Turn around and give up? Never! How about land and have a little think about it. Take a moment to “wind my watch” so to speak.
By now I was just southeast of Winnipeg near Steinbach MB (CJB3) which was on my “camping friendly” list. I hadn’t visited Steinbach before but I was curious about the place. I had taken my Drone Ground School training online through Harv’s Air which is based there on the field back in 2015. Ironically, my current gig flying drones commercially was what got me into aviation and eventually got me my PPL, (which lead to owning the now autopilotless 337), then my Group 2 Multi Engine rating and eventually my IFR rating. Funny how in life things evolve in ways one could never imagine when you just start doing something. In my case, that something was making the decision to get serious about flying drones. If you are interested in that evolutionary tale, check out my article A Drone Pilot Becomes an Airplane Pilot in Airfacts.
MY FAVORITE FUEL STOP
I had an uneventful landing at Steinbach MB and rolled to a stop in front of the old school self-serve fuel pumps. Steinbach is a small uncontrolled prairie airport located in class G airspace just outside (below) busy Winnipeg Terminal airspace. Steinbach itself is a small, easy going prairie town with a population just under 16,000 and looked like a very nice place to live a relaxing life (in the summer that is). The temperature was a balmy 36 degrees Celsius and there was not a soul around. I remember the sound of the emptiness, the pervasive heat and there may have even been a tumbleweed or two roll by.
I find it interesting that these smaller airports like Steinbach and even my home base in Brantford can be so empty at times. All the beautiful airplanes tucked away lovingly in their hangars with so much magical flying potential yet, most of the time, they remain parked. The airports often silent resembling ghost towns after the zombie apocalypse…
Whoa, heavy… Snap out of that heat stroke there Captain and drink a little water!
After rehydrating I made a call and it wasn’t long before the airport manager himself pulled up to the FBO office and gave me the 25 cent tour. AV Gas was $1.27/L with a $25 membership which is by far the lowest I have ever seen during my short flying career! Well worth the price of a membership. Heck, I’ll take two memberships! I was welcome to park and camp anywhere I chose and was given the key code to the FBO which featured a fridge, coffee machine and a proper hot shower. There was a Starbucks, a Boston Pizza and a liquor store right across the street within easy walking or biking distance. Steinbach was indeed looking up.
On the downside, there was only one AMO on the field who could possibly look at my recently failed autopilot and, of course, it was 4:00pm on a hot Friday afternoon in the middle of the summer during a pandemic. Why is it that mechanical issues always seem happen during these kinds of circumstances? Halfheartedly I pulled my folding bike out of the cargo pod and rode right down the middle of the runway (why not, there was no one around) to the AMO at the north end of the field. All I found was a locked door, real tumbleweeds and a very sad Cessna 337 gathering dust. That Skymaster had obviously been parked outside a very long time ago and would probably never fly again. I rode back to my very happy, well loved, well flown Skymaster and called it a day – I would stay the night in Steinbach and hand fly out to BC. A cold beer in the shade of my wing sealed the deal.
A BEER UNDER THE WING
The most level grass that I could find for camping was right next to the taxiway that led to the runway. I had not seen a single plane in operation and the manager said I was welcome to camp anywhere so I set up on the grass and pitched my little tent right there. With the tent up, folding chair out and bed made I settled in. A little later, I made a Boston Pizza run, and enjoyed a beautiful red prairie sunset while I rode my bicycle all around the airport at dusk exploring, snapping photographs and just soaking up the beauty and the novelty of it all. Already, I was soooo glad that I decided to do this trip!
RUNWAY ALL TO MYSELF AT CJB3
For day two of my trip I was up early as the weather was gorgeous. I packed up my under-wing campsite, had a quick shower then a short bike ride over to the Starbucks for breakfast then I was off. I filed VFR as it was a perfect day and I wanted the option to go wherever I chose to just poke around, explore and observe the central part of Canada from above. After all, who gets to do that? Aviators, that’s who!
Now that I had made the decision to hand fly the entire trip I was relieved to just get on with it. It felt great to be really connected to my airplane in that way once again tho this would soon wear off. Sure I strayed a little here and there, but eventually with all this renewed practice I was almost as accurate as GPS Heading Mode. Hand flying long distances always reminds me of that scene in my favorite aviation book by Ernest K. Gann, Fate is the Hunter, where he narrowly avoids a midair collision in the murk due to the fact that he was steadfast in maintaining his altitude so perfectly. Hand flying with that degree of perfection would be my goal as well.
I made only one stop on Day Two and that was in Swift Current SK (CYYN). Once again I was amazed to find this small town airport completely lacking all human activity. Had someone set off a neutron bomb while I was aloft? Was I the last person to know about it? The last person on earth? At times during this trip it felt a little like this.
NO ONE HOME AT CYYN
The wind was howling out of the West making it very chilly on the apron at CYYN. I ducked into the tiny little office structure attached to the fueling area where I downed some terrible instant coffee that was made available and read the notices on the bulletin board offering used farm equipment, free cats and livestock for sale. A very different world and it was all starting to feel more than a little post-apocalyptic. It would be nice to actually meet somebody and talk about the pros and cons of my 337’s unique centreline thrust, Justin Bieber or just about anything really…. Not to be. You gotta remember that this was a worldwide pandemic after all. Everyone was hiding in their basements where they were told to be and it was only nutbars like me out drilling holes in the clear blue sky.
From Swift Current west my next BIG milestone was the Rocky Mountains. For an hour I watched that awesome wall of granite approach and as it grew larger in my windscreen so too did my excitement. These stunning mountains marked the eastern edge of my old homeland. After the Rockies came the Purcell mountain range and my childhood home where most of my family still live on beautiful Kootenay Lake in southeastern BC. I was getting very close!
HERE COME THE MOUNTAINS
Previously I had done a little mountain flight training in my PPL days so at least I was aware of some of what not to do in this new and extremely vertically challenging environment. Yes, I grew up in the mountains of BC and I still claim to be a “mountain man” to anyone who will listen, but I learned to fly in southwestern Ontario where the biggest thing to bump into was the CN Tower. For all these reasons, I wisely chose to follow the VFR Route through the Crowsnest Pass south west through the mountains instead of “up and over” to my final destination in Creston BC (CAJ3).
CUMULO-GRANITE
My flight through the Rocky and Purcell mountains was absolutely stunning! So much so that I found it difficult to focus on the flying when all I wanted to do was look out the window in awe and snap photos. The geography of my childhood looked very different and so very spectacular from this new vantage point at 6500’. At one point just south of the Canadian Rockies International Airport (CYXC) I could see north to Cranbrook and Kimberley where my dear old Father had so recently passed away. I imagined him carving perfect S-turns down the ski hill in the knee-deep powder snow that he loved so much. That thought made me happy.
Overflying Yahk BC (yup, that’s a real BC place name) I looked down to where we camped a very long time ago when I was a Boy Scout. All my memories of being a young mountain man in training flooded back to me. This portion of the trip was one of the very few times that I wished my airplane could fly much, much slower….
The tight valleys of southeastern BC eventually opened up and deposited me in the wide open Creston Valley with its fertile orchards at the height of summertime vitality. A greaser of a landing into Creston and I was reunited with Ma Comet and her awesome aviation enthusiast, long term guy, Dave. It was so great to see them, awesome to be home and even better to be out of the plane for a few days! Creston airport is a real peach with very friendly staff who helped me push the Skymaster back into its temporary parking spot on the grass. They even have real cotton hand towels in the bathrooms. Fancy.
KOOTENAY LAKE SUP
I spent the week out in BC mainlining nature and the great outdoors. I paddle boarded on Kootenay Lake, hiked in the mountains of my youth and crammed as much fresh air into my lungs as I possibly could.
GOODBYE DAD
My brother, his son, daughter and I put our dear Father to rest by spilling his ashes out the side window of the Skymaster while flying over one of his favorite remote mountain fishing lakes. This felt like the start of some closure and the official beginning of my life without him. I am pretty sure that you are probably supposed to get a permit for that kind of thing in the world we live in now but, what the heck…. Dad never liked wasting money on un necessary permits and such. This was another one of the many important and memorable family events achieved during my summer cross country journey.
DAD COMES ALONG FOR A RIDE
The week flew by and before long Mom and I were loading up the Skymaster for our return trip to Ontario. There would be no more sprawling out across both front seats or peeing in a bottle now. No sir! This would be 10-12 hours of high quality time with my Mother. Like the Visa commercials says, “that is priceless”.
Mom had never been in the Skymaster before as my ship was in the middle of a dual engine transplant during her last visit to Ontario and it was a dark time in my aviation career. Mom had been up in the 172 on a short Ontario tour but that was it. I wasn’t worried however, as aviation is in her blood. Her dad was a pilot during the World War Two flying everything from Harvards to B-24s. She would be fine!
When I first started to show an interest in aviation Mom was pleased and very supportive. I think it was important to her that someone in the family continue the tradition of breaking earth’s surely bonds and touching the face of God.
________
John Gillespie Magee’s “High Flight”
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untreaspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
________
ME AND MA READY TO DEPART
The plan was to basically retrace the steps of my journey out West and even to revisit Steinbach to take advantage of my newly minted club membership and the exceptionally cheap fuel prices. After all, Ma was a bargain hunter just like me!
We climbed out of the Creston Valley on a hot, humid July day and headed east. The first view that really caught our interest from above was the Frank Slide in the Crowsnest Pass which I had somehow missed on the way out. Mom loves history, geology and mountain lore. This unique view of the 1903 disaster was perfect and overflying it at 1000’ gave us a great vantage point.
MY AWESOME COPILOT
Next came the foothills of southern Alberta which Mom and I both love. We reminisced about our last trip out there where we all camped in the trailer for a couple of splendid days. I have vivid recollections of the quality of the light there. I took some amazing family photographs on that trip that I still cherish.
It is tough living on the opposite side of the country away from my family and the rugged natural beauty of the west. This trip reminded me again how personal aircraft can fold space and shorten distances between places and loved ones if you make the effort to just GO!
Mom surprised me with the capacity of her bladder and we made it all the way to Regina International (CYQR) before we BOTH required a biological break. Kreos Aviation is the FBO there and I would classify it as one of the more upscale, FBO’s by Canadian standards. No warm chocolate chip cookies due to Covid-19 restrictions but large glass and chrome windows, comfortable leather couches and “fancy” ladies there to greet us with a smile. Even more important, a great selection of coffee. Ma Comet was well impressed!
REGINA FBO
Next stop was back to my favorite prairie airport and campsite in Steinbach. My buddy Ivan who I had recently worked together with on an exciting film project in Nepal came out with his son. We all ate pizza under the wing and reminisced about a time not so long ago when we were all free travel to other countries and do interesting things. We agreed that it will be good when those freedoms eventually return but also that it has been good to pause all that for a while so that we perhaps learn to appreciate it more when (if?) it comes back. Once again this made me particularly thankful to have an airplane and the opportunity to travel safely and freely inside my own great country and do interesting things even during this strange pandemic. I realize that not everyone is so lucky…
MA ENJOYING A SUNDOWNER IN STEINBACK
I couldn’t tell you the last time Mom and I camped together and who knows when the next time will be. She claims to have not “slept on the ground” for a very long time. I have to admit that it is not something that I do enough of anymore either. We both enjoyed the experience, but we were happy to get up and get going in the morning too. Back to Starbucks and then off we went to commit more aviation…
It seems to me that every time I fly back east from the prairies the weather is really crappy along the north western edge of Lake Superior, just past Thunder Bay. This trip did not disappoint in this regard and we soon found ourselves hunting all around for VFR conditions out over Superior. Our radios were doing that terrible feedback thing where they make that spooky “you are flying too near to a thunderstorm you dumbass” staticky, beepy, hummy buzz. None of this bothered Ma one bit as she chattered on about how beautiful it all looked while I silently wrestled with the controls hand flying and sweating profusely. Little did she know…
YUP VFR CONDITIONS!
We made a quick stop in Sault Ste. Marie (CYAM) where I had called ahead to meet up with my buddy Donni who lives there. Donni picked us up and we all went for ice cream and had a laugh. It was so great to see him and introduce him to my Mother. This darn pandemic certainly makes me miss my friends.
DONNI!
Back in the plane we deviated east a little in order to overfly Tobermory, one of my favorite Ontario places, located at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula. My life partner Rebecca and I discovered it years ago when I took up SCUBA diving and we have come to love the place. It reminds me of my native BC in many ways with its rocky shores, clear, fresh water and air. Mom enjoyed peering down into the water over Big Tub Harbour and seeing the Sweepstakes Shipwreck which I have explored many times.
TOBERMORY AND THE SWEEPSTAKES SHIPWRECK IN BIG TUB HARBOUR
On the home stretch now as we steamed south and witnessed the population density and air traffic grow and grow. I could smell home and looked forward to getting back to my amazing life below.
We had another greaser of a landing into Brantford (notice that they are all greasers – it’s my story). Rebecca was there at the hangar to greet us with tortilla chips, homemade salsa and ice-cold beer – God bless her! She really is “a keeper” as Mom would say. The three of us just sat there, euphoric. Mom and I sweaty, tired and elated while we reveled in the fact that we had just travelled most of the way across this huge, amazing country in a 43 year old airplane that, for some reason, has a propeller on the front and another on the back. No, we hadn’t summited Mount Everest, run a marathon or discovered the cure for cancer but somehow this felt as good as anything else could. We had a real, honest to goodness bonding travel adventure together and it was all because I am lucky enough to own an airplane. I had some time and resources, and I chose to just GO (and Ma was crazy enough to come along). It really was the trip of a lifetime and I will cherish the memory forever.
A TRIP OF A LIFETIME – THANKS MA!
Hey, I just realized that it’s still a pandemic, the plane just came out of annual, I have some time and no money and it is snowboard season out in BC…
Tom Comet