ESSAY - FLIGHTWEST. DAYS 13 to 15
13. 15th JULY - WINNIPEG
After breakfast, which we prepared ourselves in the Motel's little lunch-room, we were taken back to the Neepawa Airport by the young Englishman.
To our surprise there was still no-one around. A car drove across the Airport - but although Ed jumped up and down and waved, it did not stop. We telephoned numbers which had been left on a board. Then we discovered that there was no fuel available.
This could be a real problem, as the man we had met at Gladstone the previous evening did not drive, so he could not bring fuel to us. We were getting low on fuel when we arrived at Neepawa. And, as Ed had reinforced my previous education on the subject of never trusting fuel gauges, we spent some time discussing the time taken on the legs flown and how much extra would have been burnt by our take-offs and landings.
Ed would fly this short leg, as it was a soft field at Gladstone. He checked the tanks and together with his calculations decided we would go. I noticed we flew along a road which did not have any homes (or wires) and which was not too far from the main road. There were plenty of fields around. Ed has a lot of experience flying DYY and knows when the gauges really indicate empty, because he has checked them at limits. We reached Gladstone very soon and Ed flew a really neat circuit, came down to a perfect soft-field landing as gently as a butterfly.
This must be the field where all the local aviation enthusiasts gather, for there were several of them already, so early in the morning, swarming over an interesting old aircraft in some stage of being assembled (or disassembled).
Soon we had gas and I took over for the flight to Winnipeg. DYY felt very heavy as she waddled over the grass. I started fussing about the take-off. I was glad the weather had been so cool. It was quite a short field, with medium length grass and a bunch of wires and trees at the end - at about 50 ft. high. We had a gentle breeze as head wind, which should help a little. Oh well .. here goes.
I put down 10§ of flaps to take advantage of the ground effect, revved up the engine, pulled right back on the yoke and DYY reared up into the "soft-field" position. She seemed to waddle on forever. I literally held my breath until she lifted off the ground and slowly began to gather speed. We made it nicely over the wires and turned on course, bringing the flaps up again. Whew! Even with the figures in the book all worked out .. they are calculated for a new plane and they're all different. DYY is vintage 1972 (I think) and had a bit filed off her prop. I never really trust the figures.
The morning was beautiful and the flight to Winnipeg short and uneventful. At Avitat the helpful Receptionist quickly found me a good room at the Airliner Inn. Ed and Elly departed once more for their relatives.
I had decided to stay in Winnipeg because I wanted to see the town.
Airliner Inn was just perfect for me. The price for air-crew was very reasonable. There was a good restaurant at the Inn. On the top floor they had a small laundry room, which was kept locked, so the machines were in good condition. Laundry detergent was available in a machine. A small gift and supplies shop was handy in the lobby. Unfortunately they had just run out of stills film. I also found it difficult or impossible to get video tape for my camera, wherever I went. Busses into town stopped just outside the Inn. And, last but not least, they have a good size, well kept swimming pool.
My first priority was to wash everything I decently could. This was a short job, compared with Brandon. Then, a swim. Lastly I treated myself to a good steak supper and a glass of wine, plus a large pitcher of iced water. I find flying very dehydrating.
14. 16th JULY - WINNIPEG
There were no companies advertising "Tours" in yellow pages, so I called the Department of Tourism. They advised me that double-decker busses give tours, beginning outside the Legislature Buildings at 9:30 a.m.
I arrived outside the Legislature Buildings at 9:10 and waited ... The Buildings are very imposing - rather like St. Paul's Cathedral, plus Buckingham Palace. There is a great golden dome, with an "Achilles" figure on the top, called the "Golden Boy."
After a while, a petite lady, very smartly dressed and with extremely high-heeled shoes, struggled up the steps, carrying a big briefcase and camera. She was a "representative of the Press", coming to meet with one of the Ministers. On request I took her photograph and she took a rather wobbly video picture of me, ending on my feet!
Fortunately this lady was able to direct me to the Tourist Office, just inside the Legislature Building.
Inside, the Buildings appeared to be a carbon copy of the buildings in Edmonton, except, at the foot of the grand entrance marble staircase stood, on each side, a magnificent life-size bronze buffalo.
The helpful young man in the Tourist Office advised me that the busses never have picked-up outside the Legislature. Furthermore they did pick up from outside the Relax Inn at 8:30 a.m. !
I was not very happy about this. So, he said he would arrange for a bus to go back to the Relax Inn - if I could just run along the ten blocks to meet it !
So, in the warm morning sun I had a nice long jog and walk and after about half an hour the bus arrived. It was worth waiting for.
It was a British double-decker bus, so I was able to go up on the top deck for a good view. The first stop was to pick up all the other passengers, who had been visiting St. Boniface Basilica and Hospice.
Then we toured the town of Winnipeg and continued on to Fort Whyte Centre for Environmental Education. The Fort Whyte Centre is 200 acres of forest, lakes and self-guiding trails. Here one can step onto floating boardwalks which lead through the centre of marshes. We saw an interesting "Aquarium of the Prairies". There was also a clear live beehive: so the bees could be seen doing their directive dance and building their cells. Artists had built wall size dioramas of the prairie environment. These showed in great detail the damage which had been done to the prairie by clumsy clearing of the land; how it had adversely affected the productivity of the land, killed all natural wildlife and severely depleted the topsoil. Others illustrated what could and would be done about this devastation.
I had run out of video film just before the Fort Whyte Centre: and could not understand why such a place would not have film in their shop. Apparently the idea was new to them.
The bus itself was nostalgic for me. It was an antique. I have not been on a bus like that since college in London, England, thirty years ago !
Next we visited the Western Canada Aviation Museum. We were late, so the guide had to rush. What an amazing young man. For fifty minutes he talked, non-stop, on the planes in the museum. He did not carry notes. He knew the answers to all questions. His talk was interesting and clear. They had many old airplanes of the type bush pilots would use. Their collection was quite different to those I had seen in Brandon (and that was different again to planes I had seen at the Duxford Museum in England, where they had examples of all the early transport planes and even the first experimental Concorde).
That was the end of the morning tours and I didn't know what to do next.
The tour guides then told me the River Rouge Lines also owns steamers which ply the river. So, for a slightly reduced rate I was able to extend my ticket and go on the river cruise.
A light lunch was very welcome in the cruiser dining-room. Then I stayed there and listened to the commentary. This was "a scenic and relaxing two-hour tour of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers." In the cruiser shop I was able to buy some stills film, but they also had not even thought about getting a stock of video film.
It had been an extremely pleasant, sunny and relaxing afternoon: exactly as advertised. The cruisers are large enough, with plenty of room to wander about the decks, or just sit in the comfortable saloon.
Afterwards the tour guides were kind enough to give me a ride in the bus back into town, all in my own personal bus! They directed me to Eatons, where I was finally able to buy some more film - and get a pot of tea and a muffin.
15. 17th JULY - WINNIPEG TO DULUTH
By now Ed and I had a rule that I would fly in the morning; because I was becoming really bothered by the afternoon storms. In fact, as I was in the right-hand seat it didn't really matter, but we both preferred to have a definite rule about who was P.I.C. Also, the P.I.C. has to telephone the F.S.S. and file the flight plan, so I was forced to do that each morning.
When the car from the Inn delivered me at the Airport, Ed and Elly were waiting for me at the pilot lounge. It did not take long to get the weather and to decide we would have to go south again. Winnipeg was soon behind us and the usual cloud formations began.
Ed and I would have little disputes over whether the clouds were broken or scattered, to what level we would have to climb to go over them. Then there was the "leaning of the mixture": I either forget to lean the mixture or, as DYY is supposed to have 80/87 and we could only get 100LL, get concerned about the engine running too hot. Then I remembered I had been told, by an instructor I met in Las Vegas, it's best to run the plane as hot and as fast as possible. That didn't seem quite right either. So, Ed had to keep telling me about the mixture.
This leg of the flight took us over some really miserable deserted bog and swamp land. The clouds joined force and poured more rain and fog down into the swamp. This land reminded me of Tolkien's Mordor. I could imagine the Hobbits struggling through such unpleasant terrain to meet Sleegl. I was flying about the MOCA (Minimum Obstacle Clearance Altitude) and could not get FSS at such low altitude. This really perturbed me, because the clouds stood in my path like miserable old farm dogs and I was obliged to go around them. If anything happened and I had to land, FSS would not be able to find us easily - miles off my direct flight plan course.
I was really pleased when Ed and I finally agreed that it was indeed "scattered" - and soared up to 7,500 ft. .. Then, immediately in front of me again were great towering cumulus, joining force to drive us back down again. Ed was appalled at this waste of fuel, but we had no alternative - next gap - turned like a fighter plane and swarmed back down to 2,500 ft.
It was 2.8 hours to Duluth, but seemed longer. I usually only fly in "severe clear" and hate to keep avoiding bad weather.
The young Customs Officer came out immediately. "Who was flying this plane? I need to see all documents and licences!" My heart sank: "Oh dear, now what have I done wrong. Are we going to get arrested?" I wondered if all that climbing and descending, into and out of their radar surveillance, had anything to do with this inspection. Ed said he had never had DYY checked like that before. We found all the books and licences and the Customs Officer carefully checked everything, even the weight and balance. He looked at Ed's licences, then Ed said that I was the P.I.C., so I found my licence and passport for inspection.
When he had finished, the young CO turned very solemnly and said "Well, you are all .." and I held my breath ... "very boring. You don't have anything at all? What about fruit and meat?" I suddenly thought "I have a couple of pieces of fruit!" .. "Well", he continued, "I am going to stand here and make you eat them, right this minute!" Elly produced her wallet .. "I have a lot of lovely photographs here of my Grandchildren," she offered. "And, I have about two hours of home movies of our trip," I mentioned. He laughed and went away to his office.
We were able to buy sandwiches and drinks at Duluth, then were on our way again.
16. DULUTH TO GRAYLING
From Duluth we flew along the southern end of Lake Superior. The afternoon became sunny, but there were still a lot of big cumulus.
As I took over from Ed for a while I was amusing myself arranging the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) and getting cross fixes. I thought how nice it would be to be able to fly IFR, in the clouds. At that moment, another woman's voice came from, apparently, immediately above me (as she stated her position). "PIREP (Pilot Report) - severe rime icing". Interesting. I was glad I was not up there and hoped she had the equipment to deal with it. My OAT (Outside Air Temperature) read 65§.
Ed and Elly awoke and kept me company again and we turned south for the great bridge from St. Ignace to Mackinaw. I had not seen this before. It must be one of the wonders of the world. Ed had been this way before and at this point made sure he took some good video pictures of the bridge.
We passed a likely looking airfield and contacted the Unicom (Independent Uncontrolled area Radio). Nowhere to stay there. They suggested we continue on to Grayling. Grayling appeared very quickly and we realized that it was operated by the U.S.A. D.N.D. However, to our surprise the woman controller advised us we were welcome to put down there. As we circled the airport we had a good look at the town and saw there was a choice of motels within easy reach. DYY roosted that night among a flight of helicopters. Elly and Ed walked over later on and tied DYY down .. as we had the usual evening storms.
We selected the North Country Lodge. Their charge single was $41.34 U.S. including tax. Beautifully clean rooms in a chalet-style building of treated cedar. The owners, Carl and Judy Craft, were very much involved, appropriately, in crafts of all kinds: painting, doll-making, woodwork.
The restaurant nearby served really delicious meals .. but of such enormous proportions! One of their specialities was a 3 ft. sq. pizza. We had supper there and breakfast next morning.
17. GRAYLING TO LONDON - AND BACK TO GUELPH.
When I called the FSS to file, he asked me what altitude. What could I say: "I have been creeping along at MOCA for the past two weeks, why would it be any different today!" He laughed: "Guess the weather has been pretty bad all over."
I made sure to call Canada Customs in London - as well as asking for ADCUS on the flight plan. He said he would be certain to come to meet us!
In fact the flight was really good. A little tailwind gave us some extra speed. As I came around the Bay City area I saw the morning haze thicken and I thought: "Is this fog that I see before me?" Of course, when immediately calling FSS to check, those were the words which came out of my mouth - and he didn't understand a word! Eventually, to make matters worse I tried to spell it: It came out "Foxtrot, Oscar .. X-ray!" He must have thought they just let me out for the day !
From Grayling to London took 2.1 hrs .. but I was really getting tired and quite looked forward to going home. The radio going into London was alright and I had myself all organized, with the ATIS (Air Terminal Information Service) written down, Tower and Ground frequencies, loran working, VOR (VHF Omni-bearing Receiver) centred. However, my landing was not so good. I suddenly developed a heading to the right on short final .. and landed on the extreme right of the enormous runway!
Once on the taxiway, the friendly Ground Controller asked me to "park next to the Citation Jets .. and LOOK IMPORTANT, please."
"WILCO" .. I replied and we went to meet the equally friendly Customs Officer; he was pleased, we were right on schedule. Then to lunch.
After lunch Elly and I waited a while for Ed, who was checking the weather. We had not been able to see outside. The weather building up was really threatening again.
When we departed runway 15 there were colossal cu-nim quite near the airport. The woman controller asked if we had checked the weather and gave us a heading back into the down-wind for 15 to land again. Ed said he had a thorough weather briefing and we would go "have a look." So, she sent us on course for Guelph.
All the way back to Guelph we kept our maps handy and checked for airstrips in case the weather came too close. We were touched by some light showers, but no lightening or thunder, thank goodness. Straight over Waterloo Airport and there was Guelph in front of us.
We landed on 25! DYY was unpacked and put away just nicely before the thunder storms came in. Ed and I went into the front office. There was the instructor who had told me to watch out for thunder-storms before we set off. "You haven't been flying in this have you?!" He exclaimed. "Well, no, this only just started," I mumbled sheepishly. END
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