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Thread: Where I Fly.

  1. #951
    Senior Member
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Yes Dusty, still pretty good up the valley - was 40 nm west the other day at cousins farm and it was all golden yellow! Here they have just finished making hay. Just hope it dry off and make a bad fire season.

    All the best for a great holiday period over the ditch and thanks for great posts throughout the year.

    cheers

    Ross
    Ross
    Mt Beauty, Vic
    OZ
    Sold to Richard and Scott Taubman in OZ, 2019. Kitfox SS7,Rotax 912is Sport, Airmaster CSP 75" blades.
    Landcruiser and Cub off road camper (doesn't get any kudos on this forum!)

  2. #952
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Hey Norm I seen your earlier post about a western Canada Kitfox gathering...if there is anything I can do let me know...I’m also hoping for a return flight to Oshkosh this year
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by wannafly; 12-23-2017 at 03:55 PM. Reason: Forgot picture

  3. #953
    Senior Member Norm's Avatar
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    Airdrie, North of Calgary
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Thanks We are trying to pick a date. Will include camping under the wing as CGB2 has a washroom with Shower facilities. The days fly outs will include Clearwater strip, Red Deer Forestry strip and Ram River Falls Strip. Of course a Barbque has to be included in the activities.
    One of the guys at my field is getting his KitFox ready for the trip to Oshkosh. Not sure if that will happen but we are thinking about it.
    I'll let you know what help might be needed. By the Way we now have three Model IVs at CGB2.

    New video just posted to youtube of my last flight for 2017. Not very exciting just flatland and snow, but if your bored with nothing to do here is.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLSEMOsZ0mg
    Norm
    Airdrie Ab, Can
    North of Calgary
    Flying SuperFox Model IV

  4. #954
    Senior Member Norm's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Merry Christmas and for those hoping for a white Christmas here is the landing at home from my last flight of 2017.
    Short video of uneventful landing at my home field.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3GJm-65Ino&t=2s
    Norm
    Airdrie Ab, Can
    North of Calgary
    Flying SuperFox Model IV

  5. #955
    Administrator DesertFox4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Thanks for the flights Norm. Call when you get to Arizona. I have a Gretsch waiting to be played. Hope to see Royal also. Merry Christmas.


    DesertFox4
    Admin.
    7 Super Sport
    912 ULS Tri-gear


  6. #956
    Senior Member Norm's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Truly looking forward to this year in the Sun. Treatments are done time to relax, enjoy the Sun, and rejuvenate. We will get together all three of us for some music and fun.
    Norm
    Airdrie Ab, Can
    North of Calgary
    Flying SuperFox Model IV

  7. #957
    Administrator DesertFox4's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Sounds good Norm.


    DesertFox4
    Admin.
    7 Super Sport
    912 ULS Tri-gear


  8. #958
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    This is a long story and even longer adventure. Hard to shorten down to this length and really tough to decide on pictures. 1000s to choose from.
    Good thing I kept notes on a daily basis.

    Extended CrossCountry
    bucket list flight


    It has always been my dream to take my Kitfox IV and fly across Canada and go to Oshkosh. It has been many years in the making and the summer of 2017 it was time to head for PEI.
    The journey began on July 7 and I had allowed myself a month to complete the trip. I had a basic route planned but no defined dates or stops. Tent, sleeping bag, snacks and small duffel bag is all I had room for. I didn’t want to be held to a schedule and wanted to see the country from a low and slow perspective, seldom in a straight line and usually around 1000’ agl. I usually flew in the mornings, visited sights and planned for the next day in the afternoon. I tried to stick to airstrips that were tent friendly and stopped as needed for fuel.
    The flying community really is amazing. I met wonderful generous people along the way that often went out of their way to accommodate me. Every place I stopped there were people to visit and more often than not we would go see the sights of the area and have supper together. Truly amazing. For the 15 days before landing at Oshkosh I only spent $120 on meals thanks to the generous Flyers I met.
    For a Praire boy as myself one of my biggest hurdles was crossing large bodies of water. My first crossing was a whole 10 miles across the north channel to Gore Bay. To me that was a lot of water! I climbed to 5000’ to give myself a bit of gliding safety. I have never doubted my engine but having never experienced being over water for that long with my Kitfox, it was a big deal. Later that day I flew another 15 miles over Lake Huron to Bruce Peninsula. The added bonus here was that there was so much humidity in the air I could not see the other side. I was closer to 8000’ for that crossing. Crossing the St Lawrence close to Cornwall seemed easy and only climbed to 2000’ but the two ocean crossings to PEI and back again was a bit intimidating so I was back up to the 7000’ mark.
    Arriving in Summerside, PEI was fantastic in that it was a dream realized. I had made it in my small Kitfox. This a great place to stop as they have renovated the barracks into a hotel and is within easy walking distance. Having achieved a goal I figured I deserved a hotel for the night. I met new friends Ron, Warren and Peter at the airport. Ron gave us a tour through the Vector Aerospace engine facility which was absolutely amazing.
    The next morning I flew to Charlottetown for breakfast with COPA Flight 57, more new friends. The “On the The Horizon” section in the COPA Flight magazine is a great place to find regular meetings of different flights across Canada. Charlottetown was the second flight I had met with as I also was able to stop in Morden, MB for Flight 145 Fly-Day Friday. It too was a great place to stop, meet super people and had an awesome meal put on by that Flight. Highly recommended stop over.
    Leaving Charlottetown I followed the bridge over the water enroute to St Stephen, NB. I flew over the Bay of Fundy and could see the tide waves rushing back in as I was crossing. Landing in St Stephen where I planned to make my first entry into the USA. I had read though all the info on the COPA website and talked to many who had done it before but it was still another mile stone for me. I had received my sticker months earlier so it was just a matter of filing the eapis. My iPad refused to let me file for some reason and would not recognize the log in. Fortunately St Stephen had a computer in the club house that I could use and I was able to file for next morning departure. The next morning was very foggy and I could not depart as planned so I was concerned about what to do. I called Bangor, Maine and enquired what to do with an eapis that was not accurate time wise. They were very understanding and I was told not to worry about it and that they would see me when I got there. I was also given my transponder code and was able to leave St Stephen 3 hours behind schedule. Landing in Bangor I taxied to immigration parking and was met by an officer. After showing my passport and answering a few questions I was on my way. It appeared I beat the rush as he was expecting 30 more aircraft from Canada in the next hour who had been held up by Weather. With the weather coming south I was hoping to make it to Kingston, NY. That afternoon I flew though Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. This was also my first experience with “flight following”. What an amazing way to fly. The eastern coast is very busy airspace and it was comforting to know someone was watching my progress. A couple of times I was asked to change heading and then resume navigation as I made my way to NY.
    My reason for landing in Kingston was so I could visit Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome the next morning. Permission is needed to land there and I wouldn’t receive it till the next morning. Check out their website. It is a replica Aerodrome from WW1 with a bumpy grass strip. The museum is excellent with more than thirty restored aircraft that they fly most weekends. I wasn’t able to witness that but had free range to look all around and took over 3 hours to tour and look at Old WW1 aircraft. Later in the afternoon I headed further south. With the humidity high my visibility wasn’t great. I could see forward and down but up was just haze. With Flight following engaged they came on the radio and asked if I had “Weather” on board. I said negative to which they replied “we advise you land immediately”. I was flying straight into a line of thunderstorms and didn’t even know it. I was over Smoketown at the time so I circle and landed got tied down and soon after was pounded by rain. Being a VFR pilot, flight following may have saved my life that day.
    Social media can be an amazing tool. Before leaving home I had posted on various flying pages I follow about my upcoming trip and had given my phone number and Spot tracker if people wanted to follow along. The evening I was in Smoketown I had a call from Jim. He informed me he has been following me and I should come visit him at his grass strip only 30 miles away. Why not after all that’s what this trip is all about. The next morning with coordinates in hand I head off to meet Jim. When I get there I see 4 grass strips within 3 miles of each other. I get as close to the spot as possible and land. Wrong one and am informed just takeoff turn to your left at end of runway and you will be lined up for a straight in approach to Bermudian Valley where I wanted to be. Another great place to stop. It’s private with a full lounge, fully stocked fridge, stove, microwave, bedrooms, shower and laundry facilities for anyone who stops to use. There were 7 or 8 hangers and we pushed the Kitfox into one as they were expecting late day storms to roll through. Jim had to go back to work but tells me he and the local EAA club would be back at 6 for a potluck supper and I was the guest speaker. It turns out they had a contingent of people, some flying, others driving who were going to Oshkosh. A fantastic evening spent talking about where I had come from and how I ended up in Bermudian Valley. Later in Oshkosh I joined them for their club supper as well.
    From Bermudian Valley I headed straight west passing south of Pittsburgh and landing at Hooks Field between Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio. Another Facebook acquaintance met me and we toured the Airforce museum there. That place is huge and you could spend days there if you wanted. Leaving Hook Field, Oshkosh was in sight but there was a front of storms between us. End up going straight west to Shelby County where I met a Cub flyer from New Orleans. Together we headed north for Oshkosh. We got as far as DeKelb before the oncoming storm grounded us. A fantastic FBO and they kept out planes inside as we got hammered with rain and hail over the next two days. Saturday morning it was marginal VFR but headed for Oshkosh. Landed in Dodge county where the Cessna group were meeting for their mass departure. They left as I was fuelling up. It took an hour and a half for 180 Cessna to lift off. Very entertaining to watch. Fuelled up and headed for Oshkosh. It is a real advantage to fly into Oshkosh to the ultralight strip. The sky and radio were extremely busy for the other runways. I watched and listened from my 300’ agl path to ultralight strip as the sky above was buzzing with activity.
    It was an amazing feeling to land and tie down having reached a goal. So much is written about Oshkosh I won’t try to re do it. Let’s just say it was overwhelming in a real good way, and I will definitely attempt to fly there again. Seven days of aircraft overload. Loved it.
    Leaving Oshkosh I made a direct tracks to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Devils Tower. From the air you are restricted to how close you can fly to the monuments and so was not as special as it might be from the ground. I landed in Spearfish, South Dakota to file my eapis and called Canpass. I chose Del Bonita, Alberta as my crossing point for its simplicity. It was a toasty 39 degrees landing but a nice grass strip. The crossing was mostly uneventful except Canpass didn’t have record of my call. It took some time on the phone but eventually they called me a “drop down” and gave me clearance to leave. A short 35 minutes later I was back home.
    Many ask, What was the best part? I’m not sure how to answer. The flying, people, sights and adventure all come together to make it awesome. I kept a daily diary of the trip so as not to forget. Some of the stats: 73.5 flight hrs, I seldom flew in a straight line so the miles will be on the short side but ForeFlight Canadian miles 2724, US miles 2714. Fuel costs $2150, the high was $2 a litre in Marathon, Ontario and the lowest $3.22 a gallon in Madison County, PA.
    A trip of a life time.
    Last edited by wannafly; 12-30-2017 at 11:20 AM.

  9. #959
    Senior Member Esser's Avatar
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    Great write up Mic, sounds like you had a lot of fun. I’ll hit Oshkosh this year but the year after that I want to do a long North American trip.
    ------------------
    Josh Esser
    Flying SS7
    Rotax 914iS
    AirMaster Prop

    Edmonton, AB, CWL3

  10. #960
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    Mt Beauty, Australia
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    Default Re: Where I Fly.

    A great Trip Mic and thanks for the story! Sounds like you had a great time and the KF didnt let you down. I would love to hear more - especially the camping spots and gear that you found most useful - its always a trade off what to take and what to leave behind and I think we all learn from hearing about each others unique approachs. Thanks again and look forward to reading abut more of your adventures.

    cheers

    r
    Ross
    Mt Beauty, Vic
    OZ
    Sold to Richard and Scott Taubman in OZ, 2019. Kitfox SS7,Rotax 912is Sport, Airmaster CSP 75" blades.
    Landcruiser and Cub off road camper (doesn't get any kudos on this forum!)

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