By Mike Davenport, EAA 89102; Vancouver, British Columbia
In June, the lower mainland of British Columbia was the site for a number of area pilots to participate in The Ninety-Nines’ annual “Poker Run.” Sunday, June 14, set a record for temperatures that soared above 30 degrees Celsius. This didn’t faze the people who were “forced” to sit under a canopy in the sunshine. If you live here or are familiar with the Fraser Valley, some of this will be old hat.
A brief description of the area. The Fraser Valley, centred by the Fraser River and bordered by the mountains to the north, runs west from Hope to Vancouver and the Strait of Georgia. The many airports in this high-density area include Boundary Bay, a former RCAF training base; and Delta Air Park, where you can hone your landing skills on the grass and in crosswinds. Langley, with two runways, is home to a large recreational complement of pilots. Pitt Meadows has parallel runways that are usually occupied by flight school aircraft. Abbotsford, another former Air Force training base, today is home to not only business and recreational aircraft, but scheduled airline flights. Chilliwack and Hope have always been personal favourites. Chilliwack is well known as a destination for the $100 hamburger. Hope’s grass runway, located in a narrow mountain valley, provides a great site for photography as well as sailplane training.
The Ninety-Nines’ BC Poker Run requires landing and drawing a playing card at at least five of these airports. Each airport has different procedures that must be followed. For example, Boundary Bay requires that you call Vancouver prior to calling Boundary, a requirement some miss. Thus, landings at such a variety of airports in such congested air space, most within minutes, can be a valuable learning experience.
The Poker Run finished at Pitt Meadows (YPK), and there your cards were registered and prizes were handed out. These prizes were for the best to worst poker hands, oldest and youngest pilots, and many others culminating with, well, just because or perhaps just for attendance.
Yours truly was the F/O in Bill Eby’s Volmer, a position previously known as the navigator which has been replaced by the machinations of the GPS and assorted mysterious screens on the panel. Bill and I picked our first card at Langley then went on to Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Boundary Bay, and finally to our last stop at Pitt Meadows.
These Poker Runs are presented by the Ninety-Nines at many locations across the country, so there is no excuse for not participating. If you aren’t careful, you might even learn something — I know I did.
