I am sure that all of us would agree that Troy was dedicated to building the RV-9. Every weekend and evening we all knew where Troy was. It was a given that I could show up at any time and there would be some deburring or lifting that I could do in the shop. I am a “hurry-up” kind of builder, but Troy was simply conscientious. Despite that, you would be hard pressed to find a rivet that was dumped. I had the opportunity a week back to check out many of those rivets as we went to Regina in the RV.

When we heard Troy give his presentation on the RV-9, his goal was to use it to fly back home to New Brunswick. Since I have never seen anything in Canada further east than Quebec City, I had offered to be navigator, copilot, and ballast. He said it would be OK, but I think what convinced him was when I offered to pay for some of the fuel. Once it was agreed on we started planning in earnest. Now Troy has been very methodical in all aspects about the airplane. His requirements of the aircraft had always been that we had to have good cruise speed and a bit of economy thrown in for good measure. I would simply nod in agreement and not burst the bubble in his imaginary world.

Initially, it was going to be a trip to Grand Prairie, but the day we had picked was not going to let us go in that direction. So, we looked for other places. Everything to the east was supposed to be good on the morning set aside for the adventure. All of us are feeling the pinch of fog, fog, fog, and then more fog. Such was it again that day. We had resigned ourselves that we would go to High River and see for ourselves what could be done, if anything at all. The fog wasn’t thick and I am sure that we would have been through in mere seconds, but Troy, ever the professional, said that he was concerned about what the aircraft would pick up on the way through. After two seconds of thought I agreed and waited a little more. The plane was loaded and the new flight plan was loaded into the new GPS. Meanwhile, outside the sun was poking through and we decided to take off heading to the east. Our destination was to be REGINA.

With the flight plan phoned in and more checks made, we were taxiing in no time. The sensation that the plane was giving me was that it wanted to go. Even at idle it pulls you along smartly to the run-up area. A touch on the brakes here and there keeps the speed manageable. With the run-up complete we were off with Medicine Hat 43 minutes away. Now I have had the misfortune of driving to Regina too many times, and my own sense was telling me that we would get there three times faster, so 3 hours. No problem.

The GPS that is in the plane is nothing short of amazing. All kinds of terrain are shown. With full color, radio frequency, course, wind calculator, track, ETA, ETE; it does everything except the dishes and vacuum. When following the heading, it shoots out a line ahead of the plane on the screen, so directional management is a dream… unless I am flying. I had the tendency to look at one instrument for too long while all the others started moving, requiring my attention. It felt like I was trying to get a room full of cats to do synchronized swimming. Then Troy saved the day by opening up the map and blocking the view of the panel; when he finally put it away we were on track and at altitude. I now know that IFR stands for ‘I Follow Roads.’

We sidestepped the Hat and were on our way to Swift Current. There was nothing to see from the air in Saskatchewan, so we played with the GPS some more and turned on the CD player while I tried to find a rivet that was out of alignment. No luck. Clouds were starting to build in the area, and by listening to the AWOS, we found that the wind was gusting on the ground at 28 knots. You wouldn’t have known it since it was as smooth as a horse outside of Wal Mart with no quarters. So, we pushed on to Moose Jaw. Did I mention that there was nothing to see in Saskatchewan? Rivets still OK. When I lived in Regina I would say that Saskatchewan is a place where you could watch your dog run away for miles. You can see further from the air. We decided to call up the Snowbird base en route but were not sure about the reception we would get. The controller mentioned that he was dealing with three frequencies, so we were given our instructions in due time and continued on to Regina. We did manage to see a Herc and a couple of jets, but not enough to thrill us.

Regina. I hadn’t been to the airport since I worked on its expansion 21 years ago. The clues I was looking for didn’t come together, but it was dead ahead. When calling in, they gave us directions to join on base for runway 13 with winds at 20 and gusting. Once again, the GPS gave us a runway line extension that we joined onto with no problem. When slowing down in the RV to the approach speed of 80, it feels too slow, especially when you consider that we were showing 160 MPH most of the way. The winds didn’t disappoint us, and on final, Troy was working the stick like Betty Crocker making meringue by hand. While we were flaring, the controller was already giving us directions to taxiway Mike, thinking we were down. It looked as if we could have landed across the runway. It seemed so wide.

We asked for directions from ground to the pumps and took a picture of the terminal on our way past. No one would believe we were there in 2 hours and 35 minutes. We pulled up to the pumps. I was off to drain the lizard, and when I came out, I noticed a Snowbird pausing briefly down the ramp. The fuel guy was really helpful, and we were into the terminal for lunch. It wasn’t the $100 hamburger. Instead, it was soup for me and a ham & cheese sandwich for Troy. Lunch lasted about 12 minutes, after which I was off to see how my building was holding up while Mr. Branch went back to the plane to file a flight plan and pay for fuel. I came back to the plane to find Troy pleased with the $78 fuel bill. We managed 6.6 US gallons per hour! I don’t know the conversion, but my truck doesn’t get that kind of economy. I was impressed.

It was cold outside in the wind, so we were in the plane when we phoned to file the flight plan. As long as you can answer all their questions, you are good to go. We cracked the canopy to avoid having two guys in a parked plane with the windows fogged up. While Troy was on the phone, the Snowbird taxied past with the kerosene smell here, then gone like a fart in the wind. Permission was granted for taxi and takeoff, and we were on our way again.

The trip back was great as well. It always seems that coming home goes by quicker than when you are trying to go someplace new. The clouds at Swift Current had closed in, so with a couple of graceful gliding turns we were VFR under the cloud layer. It was a little bumpy, but with the sun showing its perfect shape through the haze above, we lost track of time and before we knew it, we found ourselves clear from the cloud. The layer was 40 miles across, so we were past it in less than 15 minutes. I thought I would have a drink of cola. I brought it forward and was ready to open it when we both said, “Maybe that ain’t such a good idea.” We were 6000 feet above where it was purchased and a CO2 explosion in the cockpit would not have been pretty… accident avoided.

We flew right over the Hat this time. We had the luck of not having a headwind either way, so ground speed was normal, and we saw 7 US gallons per hour. Next thing we knew, we were minutes from High River. There is no feeling like when you fly over your home base and set up for landing after a trip such as this. A non-event landing again and we pulled up to the pumps for another low-cost fill-up. As the commercial says: Kit-plane approximately $50,000, Lentil soup in Regina $4.80, 100LL Fuel $78. Knowing we can fly a trip like this… Priceless.