Fly the North as a Renter Pilot
Story by Ken
Graham (the Yellow Savannah Guy)
We got our licenses for the adventure of
conquering flight, and for the adventures this activity would bring to our
lives. Our imaginations provide the dreams of places we want to visit that can
be accessed so much more easily with our piloting skills.
Yet life is also practical. Flying takes money and time (in that order).
Personally, I’ve been flying since age 20 (I’m now in my 50’s), yet have been
too busy and too poor to “own my own”. So how are men and women like us supposed
to realize a few dreams as renter pilots? First the dream, then how.
I’ve decided that I want to explore by air the more remote places in Canada.
Blame my Dad for that dream.
While growing up in Pennsylvania, he drove my Mother, by brother and me to all
the Canadian provinces and all the territories by the time I was 14 years old.
(Dad read a lot of Jack London when he was a kid, and introduced me to “Grenfell
of Labrador”. There is both romance and discovery in distant places.)
I was 9 when I saw a float plane take off. (That was in Moosonee, Ontario) I
KNEW I had to learn to do that. Got the Canadian endorsement on floats at age
54. Now have the U.S. seaplane rating. Recently I’ve been doing too many “$100
hamburger” runs, and not enough adventure.
There was one adventure in 2000, a big one, but not by air. My cousin and I took
a 15 foot fishing boat nearly 1000 miles down the Mackenzie River from Fort
Providence to Inuvik. I knew I wanted to fly that route, but not this year.
This year was more of a solo trial run for real northern flying. It was also
“proof of concept” that a solo renter pilot who has no instrument rating could
take on such an adventure. The adventure was to begin in Edmonton, and include
parts of BC, North West Territory, and of course Alberta.
If I had my own plane, I’d feel compelled to fly it from our home in suburban
Chicago to Edmonton. It is also an adventure, but it takes time.
You fly United or Northwest to Edmonton. Rent a car (Budget and Thrifty permit
drop off down town). Go to that superb camping equipment store on Yellowhead
Highway or to The Real Canadian Superstore or to Wal-Mart to complete your
purchase of items that Transport Canada’s web site says you must have to fly
Outside Settled Areas*. Use the April to October list. And really do buy the
10,000 calories per person. I buy peanut butter, since it has the calories in
relatively little weight and space.
Having arranged your appointments in advance, go to Edmonton Flying Club at
Edmonton City Centre Airport (YXD), building 18, for check out on type. I was
solo, so I chose a Cessna 152. I prearranged that it had enough hours before
scheduled maintenance for 20 hours of flying (about 2000 miles). And, subject to
instructor recommendation after checkout on type, Chief Instructor permission
was needed for the cross country flying. I agreed I’d call the club message
machine each evening to say where the plane was spending the night.
I’ve been a member of Edmonton Flying Club since 2001. I especially like
aircraft availability for cross country, having done a smaller cross country the
first year. Even more so, they make you calculate weight and balance. They’re
safety conscious, but not afraid of lawyers, which makes me really admire their
practices and culture. I’ve liked each instructor I’ve worked with.
A big issue for me is legal charts and Canadian Facilities Supplement. You
really need the CFS. I found that even great places like Fort Chippewan don’t
have gas. I thus asked for a C-152 with long range tanks. Nothing like knowing
you have endurance over six hours, then another hour of reserve, even if your
personal tank can’t stand 7 hours.
EFC planes also have VOR and ADF. I took a hand held Garmin 95 XL GPS that I
bought on e-bay 4 years earlier. (today I’d buy a Garmin 296, which I think is
the best GPS value). For each flight segment, I put ADF on the non-directional
beacon at my destination, the VOR on the airport I was leaving (if it had one),
and GPS on the closest “safety” airport.
Grande Prairie was the first stop, an overnight. Arrival at 8:15 PM meant no
fueling service. But the hotel shuttle was called by Doug at Swan Air. Linda,
the driver, asked me if I’d had dinner. I hadn’t. She asked what I like. I asked
if there is a KFC. Since I was the only shuttle passenger, she took me there and
waited while I bought takeout! This was to become a theme. I’d learned as a kid
that Canadians are very nice, very generous. And this is even more true around
aviation.
I buy fuel from Shell because I worked for and now consult for Shell—in the
Netherlands! (And club flying in the Netherlands is really does cost MORE THAN
TWICE AS MUCH AS FLYING IN CANADA! I always appreciate a fuel dealer who has an
internet connection so I can get weather from both Nav Canada (today’s specific
reality), and from The Weather Network (to see what may happen in 3 days so that
I don’t go the wrong way and end up sitting when I could be flying elsewhere).
I flew to Fort Saint John the following morning under a dark, rainy sky. Goal
was Fort Nelson, Fort Laird, Nahanni Butte, then Fort Simpson on the MacKenzie.
It was not to be. The weather briefer told me it was instruments only and a 400
foot ceiling in Fort Simpson. Needless to say my goals in the northwest part of
my planned itinerary (a circle) were to be thwarted for at least 5 days. Time to
change plans.
Filed a flight plan for High Level. I’d been to this casino town going to and
from the Mackenzie River boat trip. Had to fly in the rain again, but came out
to blue sky about an hour before landing.
Recommendation—File pilot reports when you have something to say. My briefer
when I was in Fort Saint John said, “I have no pilot reports this morning from
the area you’re crossing”. And I knew of only two safety airports on the route
of 2.3 hours. So I filed a pilot report about where the rain ended. Later that
day I found it on the computer at the High Level Flight Service Station.
I buy gas first upon landing. It makes it clear you’re a customer. Tie down fees
usually disappear as a result. Since Shell doesn’t have a dealer in High Level,
I made sure I bought from Swan Air, the same people who were so helpful in
Grande Prairie.
You’ve heard of fighting forest fires with water bombers? A company called Air
Spray has 8 of them at High Level, and 7 really began life as bombers. High
Level Flight Service is very professional, including bird activity notices and
maps of flight restrictions over forest fires.
Saw 11 forest fires at one time on route from High Level to Hay River. Hay River
was to be a fuel stop and a chance to see if I could get into Fort Simpson from
the East. No go.
Though I tried 3 separate credit cards at Hay River, the self serve fuel
wouldn’t work. I reported it, but it was 5PM and I wanted to go to Fort Smith.
This 2.3 hour flight would mean I would use 4.3 hours of my 6+ hours of
endurance by arrival in Fort Smith. Safely I headed into the blue sky.
Not for long. Over the Wood Buffalo National Park, a huge fire had copper
colored smoke (indication of the hottest kind of fire, according to the
Department of Natural Resources). Flying through makes the eyes water, but in
most cases one can safely see both far enough ahead and safely to the ground.
Here I made an amateur mistake.
Copyright 2004, 2007 Ken Graham
Looking up, I thought I could get above the smoke. At 7800 feet I could barely
see the ground. Keeping wings level, I trimmed for a decent at 800 feet per
minute. Rest of the fifty miles of smoke were flown at 2200 feet on a route with
highest minimums of 1400.
I realized the Yellowknife briefer had no pilot report about this smoke as a
hazard to navigation. At 2200 feet the VHF radio won’t reach him. I called in a
pilot report from Fort Smith. Reaching the same guy with whom I’d filed the
flight plan to Fort Smith, he briefly assumed I was complaining about my prior
briefing. I reassured him I had no sense of complaint, and was only reporting a
possible hazard to navigation.
Community Aerodrome Radio Station operator, Beverly, was coming off duty, and
drove me to Pelican Inn. This was the second night that the plane would be
secure behind a fenced airport.
The arrival in Fort Smith was crystal clear (no smoke). So was the following
morning.
I did learn (from Patti the taxi driver) that the previous evening, as I flew
over the Wood Buffalo National Park, the road below me that connects Fort Smith
and Hay River was closed because the fire had jumped the road.
The sky was so smooth that as I flew over the rapids of the Slave River toward
Fort Chippewan, I outlined this article! I’d gotten the idea to write about this
trip as I read a “places to fly” article on the COPA web site from a Husky pilot
who’d flown from the prairie provinces to Alaska. This guy had stopped at
Tungsten, a lonely place in the mountains along the Yukon-North West Territory
border. And I was longing for similar lonely experience.
Then I saw it. From 6500 feet, I spotted the Embarras dirt strip along the
Athabasca River. Chart said it wasn’t restricted. No one there.
It took two full 360 degree turns to get to pattern altitude. Overfly once to be
sure it wasn’t wet or obstructed. Set up to land. Call traffic! On final, notice
the wind is at least 15 knots, about 35 degrees right of the runway. White caps
on the river! Crosswind technique practice.
The wind diminishes a lot below tree tops. Safe landing. Taxi to a stop. Shut
down and just sit, looking for mosquitoes. None seen! (Do you know about the
Muskol Bug Forecast on theweathernetwork.com?) Great place for a stretch and
lunch. Only one mosquito bite in 30 minutes. Now this is wilderness.
Flew on to Fort McMurray (YMM), crossing over the huge Shell Oil Sands Project.
Lots of traffic to Fort McMurray.
Shell dealer at YMM sold me the fuel, provided secure tie down without charge,
walked me to the best car rental deal, and reserved my room at the best deal in
town. Dennis understands service. He’s also a pilot, so his anticipation skills
are superb. He had a Learjet parked next to me the following morning.
The morning departure from YMM had to be timed right. Weather was not good at
YXD, the destination. Briefer said that sky was supposed to clear by 1100, and
thunderstorms were due after 1400. I opted to fly to arrive at 1300, and filed a
flight plan. Briefer commented “we have no pilot reports around the rising
terrain northwest of Lac la Biche”, so we don’t know actual ceilings.” He later
got one from me, but not from the air.
YMM to YXD is 3 hours. Thirty minutes in I was 200 feet under a dense layer of
cloud, flying at 3000, with rising terrain minimums that would go to 2400. Sixty
minutes into the flight a ragged cloud had me down to 2500. Time to turn around.
The chart shows Christina Basin, my safety field North of Lac la Biche. I pulled
the coordinates off the chart and flew to them by my GPS. No airfield. Gave it
10 minutes (I used to do air searches for the Civil Air Patrol. Why was I
missing an airfield while flying 400 feet AGL?!) Christina Basin would later be
found 8 miles farther South, so there may be a chart accuracy question on this
one.
Only safe thing to do was fly back to YMM. Reset the ADF and VOR. Ten minutes of
flying back North brought me over what was clearly a dirt strip. Set up for
short field landing. The roll out stopped quickly because the runway sloped
uphill into the wind that day. Taxied to the front of a mobile home-like
structure. I could hear natural gas compressors running.
After shutdown I approached the “hut”. The man on duty, Dan, asked if I needed
help. Upon saying I’d made a precautionary landing due to weather, he opened up.
Seems Canadian Natural Resources owns the site, where they push natural gas to
the oil sands project in Fort McMurray area. Dan offered the satellite phone so
I could call in a pilot report and amend my flight plan. After waiting two hours
plus, the ceiling was going up. An uphill short field takeoff put me close to
the trees beyond the runway, but it was safe.
More weather challenges that day, but great controllers at YXD kept me separated
and provided safe arrival.
Statistics—16.7 hours of flying. Fuel averaged 5.05 US gallons per hour. Over
1700 miles traveled. Cost—expensive. Memories—priceless.
Lessons/Recommendations—I needed to say twice that I was a new pilot in an area.
Ego is no reason to pretend we know when we don’t. Same is true for weather
advice, traffic advisories, even go-around for traffic or approaches that don’t
come out right. Own and read/study the pilots operating handbook for the plane
you fly. Know speeds and emergency procedures. Follow all of the survival
advice. File flight plans for all legs.
Get the BC Air Facilities Map. It shows all the non-registered private fields in
BC. Great safety resource. Alberta published one in 2001, but I couldn’t find a
copy to buy. Ask the same for any area you fly. Be persistent. This is
important. We even found a private unregistered field above the Arctic Circle
along the Mackenzie River. These could save your life. This is the one thing I
prefer about U.S. charts. Restricted airports are shown for navigation and for
safety. And I wish the US had an equivalent of the Canadian Facilities
Supplement, and more commitment to ADF.
What did I miss? Because of weather, I missed airports at which I’d have had to
camp under the wing. I still have the tent and sleeping bag I took with me…
The future? I’ve never flown to the Yukon, to Alaska*. I do know that one can
only enter Alaska through Northway (a Customs issue), but one can reenter the
Yukon at Old Crow. So Alaska is done clockwise*. Then there are Uranium City,
Fort Churchill, York Factory, Moosonee and Moose Factory*, Schefferville (could
I make Iqualuit on Baffin Island from there?), Goose Bay, even Flowers Cove.
Looks like I’ll be joining the Ottawa Flying Club next!
We must have more dreams than we can ever hope to realize. Dreams propel us
forward.
Ken is a private pilot who began flying at age 20. He has SEL and SES ratings,
and nearly 1000 flying hours. He now (2007) owns a Savannah (www.skykits.com)
STOL Special Light Sport, which he has flown over 12,000 cross country miles in
5 months from Alberta to Illinois to Pennsylvania to Illinois to Texas to
Arizona to Texas to Florida to Atlanta to Texas. Off field landings are a
special joy with tundra tires and a 28 MPH stall speed! Amphib Full Lotus floats
(www.full-lotus.com) coming in 2007!
Ken would like to hear from pilots who like flying to remote locations in the
US, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. He can be contacted at kengraham8@msn.com
*Transport Canada no longer publishes the summer and winter lists of survival
equipment for flying outside inhabited areas. Your essentials are water, first
aid, shelter, food, being found and tools, in that order.
*2007 Update By early 2007 cross country flying included a return to Edmonton
Flying Club to fly Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska, and the North
West Territory with another pilot and good friend. (Look for a separate article
on this adventure) Alaska can now be entered through Eagle. “Clockwise” entry
and exit are still recommended if one wants to visit the top of the Yukon, since
Old Crow can still be cleared by CANPASS.
Solo flight in my Cessna 150 with long range tanks was completed from Illinois
to International Falls, MN, to Moosonee, ON, (tip of James Bay/Hudson’s Bay),
and return. Dual flight across the US from Kitty Hawk, NC, to Oceanside, CA and
return was done in 2006.
Solo flight from Alberta to Illinois to Pennsylvania to Illinois to Texas to
Arizona to Texas to Florida to Atlanta to Texas, over 12,000 miles was completed
in less than six months in a Savannah Special Light Sport. Ferry flight of
another Savannah from Alberta to Austin, Texas, completed March 2007. Ferry
flight of yet another Savannah from Alberta to Vermont is scheduled for May
2007.
Copyright 2004, 2007 Ken Graham
Where To Now?