Sunday, February 19th, 2006, was a great day for a little tour by air. Alan, a co-worker, asked me well in advance if I could take his wife up flying for her birthday. There is nothing better than taking someone for a ride in a small plane for their first time. I checked the weather Saturday night and confirmed that Sunday was definitely a go.

Sunday morning, I checked the weather again, and the winds were forecasted to be 22 knots out of the NW at 9,000 with no ceilings in the morning. I got to the airport early to spend some time wiring up more panel lights before they arrived.

When they arrived at 9:30, I gave Alan and his wife, Rose, a briefing all about the aircraft. I had already done the walk around but performed a second one just so they could learn about the aircraft and see how it was built. I had Rose get in the right seat while the plane was still in the warm hangar so she would not have to rush into the cold air. She was clearly getting quite excited for the trip! I called Flight Services for a weather briefing and filed a flight plan. A flight plan makes going through Calgary airspace very easy. Flight Services informed me that the winds were now pushing 30 knots out of the NW at 10,000, so I warned Rose that a flight into the rocks might get quite rough. She wanted the grand tour, so the plan was Banff, Calgary, Drumheller, and back to High River.

I got in the plane, fired it up, and proceeded to the run-up area. She was very interested, so I explained every step of the run-up procedures. We then backtracked runway 24 to get ready for takeoff. I turned around at the end of the runway and asked if she was ready. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone be so excited to go flying. She sure was, and I slowly pushed the throttle to the stop. We were off the ground in no time, climbing at 1,200 FPM with the glow of the mountains in the foreground. She could not believe how smooth the ride was and how small everything looked.

We left High River, and I contacted Springbank Tower for clearance through their airspace. Halfway through Springbank’s airspace, I decided that I should start the climb for the rocks, so I got permission to switch over to Calgary Terminal to get clearance to climb into Calgary’s Class C. I was quickly given a squawk code and had permission for a climb to 8,500. Rose was quite surprised when I told her that Calgary Terminal could see exactly where we were and how high. She knew exactly what ‘climb to 8,500’ meant – going even higher – and she couldn’t wait! We were under Radar Service until just before the rocks, and they had me keep my squawk code for the return flight. The climb later took us to 10,500 with a great view. There were very few bumps at that altitude, but the wind was clearly out of the NW. As we rounded the corner at Canmore, the air bounced us around quite a bit, but I ensured her that every rivet was set right!!! 😉 These were bumps from the north wind creating lee-side rotors that were swirling off the mountain’s edges, whipping down the north/south valley. At 10,500, we weren’t much above the peaks on the east side of the valley, so we were not quite clear of the bumps.

Not wanting Rose to spill her cookies on her first flight, I opted to turn around. I banked over in the middle of the valley with the tunes cranking! Looking out the unobstructed canopy in a 45° bank was quite impressive. I said to Rose, “This is what flying is all about!” Spectacular scenery! I wanted to keep her mind off how rough it was, and this sure did the trick.

I started the descent and entered Calgary Zone at 9,500 and then got clearance to descend to 7,500 – the altitude at which we crossed the city. Four minutes across town sure beats driving and is a whole lot less stressful! Calgary sure is spread out. Calgary Terminal asked if we wanted to descend lower and circle the core. It would have been nice, but our next tour was Drumheller. As we were going through Calgary airspace, we had perfect timing resulting in a WestJet 737 passing right under us. Definitely a different way to look at them! We cleared Calgary Zone and were off to Drumheller.

We flew over Horseshoe Canyon, circled the town of Drumheller, and then headed back to High River. The air was smooth, so it was a perfect opportunity to show Rose how to fly. She was able to make gentle turns and get the wings back to level quite well – instant pro! Must be the RV!! Right after this, she said something that caught me by surprise… ‘Well, I think now I should have no trouble going up in a passenger jet.” “You mean you’ve never been in an airplane?”, I queried. “Never.” “Well, I’m sure glad to hear that you think flying with me is more comforting than WestJet!” What a compliment!

We finished the tour with the remains of the Carseland grass fire, followed the river to Nature’s Hideaway and then back to High River. An hour and 45 minutes later, Rose’s grand tour, and first time in an airplane, was over, and we settled back into High River. Flying sure is the best possible way to take in all the sights!