By Patrick Gilligan, EAA Canada Council, EAA 1164458
From the January 2021 issue of EAA’s Canadian newsletter, Bits and Pieces.
The last piece of a puzzle!
A puzzle started the last week of June 2020. Since the start of COVID required social distancing, my spouse and I had much time to discuss our future. One subject was where we would like to be in five years. Now that we were both retired and I had recently completed my aviation commitment introducing a new flying boat to Canadians, what’s next?
Living in the Ottawa area was a job decision. Although we were both happy and very satisfied with our current home, thanks to COVID, the sense of change and adventure was gnawing at us. We both agreed we would like to move to British Columbia.
So we called a real estate agent. Within two weeks our home was listed and sold within 26 hours. Moving out was in 30 days, hence the puzzle started.
We were homeless for two and a half months and moved into our new home mid-October. Our 2,600 pounds of necessities shipped and stored in Kelowna was on its way to our house. After one month of unpacking and settling in, we were comfortable enough for me to leave for a while, to fly back with my aircraft from the Ottawa area. The theme was: It will take however long required to get home safely. “No get-home-itis.”
The last part of this puzzle was my RV-8 hangared in Embrun, Ontario, since mid-July. It was now the end of November, the worst time of year to fly across Canada, for my 5th time flying across Canada. I started planning this trip three weeks before, mostly looking at weather trends and forecasts. I selected the most favorable date to book my commercial flight one way to Ottawa.
I had installed a Trig ADS-B Out and did some testing before driving to British Columbia in August in search of a new home. I also asked a friend pilot to fly my RV-8 every few weeks to keep everything running and in good shape. Furthermore, I registered with FlightAware and each time my friend went flying I received an email that my RV-8 was in flight and I could monitor the flight, direction/altitude, and function ability of my Trig ADS-B Out.
FlightAware Alerts To: Patrick C-GKSZ spotted in flight near Arnprior.
As my departure for Ottawa was getting close, the weather was not looking good at all. On the first day I arrived in Ottawa it was sunny, but I just flew on a red eye and could not consider flying. My RV-8 was not readjusted, packed, and ready to go. The subsequent days in Ontario were discouraging — snow, rain, fog — and the weather across Canada was still not favorable. I took my time to get everything well packed and worked on three other flight plan routes, cancelling and rebooking hotels, fuel, and tie-downs.
The first day of my cross-Canada flight was not the best — slushy snow on the grass airstrip with low ceiling and light rain from time to time. I fueled up in Sudbury, rechecked weather, and flew off towards Geraldton, Ontario. The weather reports were not promising for this leg and I filed my flight itinerary including my flight path and intended diversion to Thunder Bay to my two responsible persons that were tracking my cross-Canada trip on FlightAware and FlightRadar24 through my ADS-B Out. Sure enough, 28 nautical miles from my destination, weather deteriorated and without hesitation I diverted to Thunder Bay requiring an extra 40 minutes of flying.
The second day was clear skies but headwinds to Steinbach, Manitoba, where I fueled up using the flying club’s self-serve and took off for Moose Jaw. As per the previous day, within a few minutes after take-off I received an email:
FlightAware Alerts To: Patrick C-GKSZ spotted in flight near Steinbach.
Just passing over Regina in clear blue skies and constant headwinds, I was required to descend to 2,000 feet because of a low ceiling. As I flew closer, approximately 10 miles from destination, blowing snow reduced visibility to 3 miles. I slowed the RV-8 and added flaps. On arrival in Moose Jaw, the sky cleared up, winds were gusting 30 knots straight down the runway. It made for a short landing and I taxied to the fuel pumps card lock self-serve. The wind was very cold and I was concerned about trying to tie down the aircraft and starting the engine the next morning. Luck was with me, I noticed a car driving to the hangars and I caught up with the driver. Within a few minutes, a hangar was secured, a hotel was booked, and we were offered a ride downtown. I am always amazed by the camaraderie provided by fellow pilots across Canada.
The third day was calling for clear blue sky to my destination. The next morning was very cold, clear, and crisp with a few snow drifts. I was so happy to have my airplane inside and warm.
I took off for Lethbridge, blue sky and moderate headwinds, during that flight I leaned my cellphone against the windshield. It was now receiving LTE cellphone signal and I selected the FlightRadar24 app to check my ADS-B and for traffic. Sure enough, I could visually locate other aircraft flying, mostly airliners, based on the information received on this app.
After fuelling up in Lethbridge, my last leg was to Penticton via Crows’ Nest Pass. This was more as a precaution and added an extra 20 minutes. Checking in with Cranbrook and Castlegar MF.
I arrived in Penticton area from the south so that I could pass next to our new home 500 feet above Skaha Lake, where my sweetie was waiting with binoculars in hand. I had texted to her my ETA over Castlegar.
Total flight time: 14:40 hours in two and a half days.
ADS-B Out was tracked across Canada except during a period of low level flying in northern Ontario where radar coverage was unavailable, although FlightAware did provide a trend line assumption tracking during that period. ADS-B Out is another useful tool in addition to ELT406 for tracking flights and aiding in SAR missions.
You can read about my ADS-B installation experience, first published in February.
You can also read about using FlightAware24 as another way of testing your ADS-B here.
http://go.eaa.org/ZEK1E08iO0200q0nn30BUSH