Well, it looks like winter is only days away, although with the weather we enjoyed in October, you would never know it. I had a few good flights since the last meeting, the first being a nice little jaunt down to Nanton with Stu Simpson. Ryan Cuncannon and I were in the Cessna 120, and along the way, we were joined by John Munchrath. It was an excellent flight down considering that when Ryan and I left my place, it was snowing like crazy. The Nav Canada forecast was actually correct that day, which was a nice surprise. I was actually thinking this was going to be one of those days where you drove out to the airport, hung around for a couple of hours, and headed home still in the snow.

When we arrived in Nanton, Stu did a precautionary approach on the field we were planning to land in and declared everything looked fine. I told him to go ahead and land. If he was still in one piece after the landing, we would follow him in. Of course, he had no problems with the Merlin, so John went in with his Rans. Now it was our turn. Ryan looked over and asked if I had ever landed in a farmer’s field before. I said, “No, have you?” “No” was the reply, so it was new to both of us. Instead of just practicing a forced approach, we would actually get to complete this time by landing. It was no problem as it was about 4000′ long, and although it was a little soft, it was quite manageable. We had a nice tour of the museum and a bite to eat before heading for home and ending another great flight, including a first off-airport landing for me.

I had a couple more flights, both being up to Lacombe. This was another new location for me. It is a very nice little flight, not being too long or too short. The local club there is a very hospitable group, and if you’re looking for a weekend destination, it’s an excellent choice offering coffee and doughnuts every Sunday morning. This past Sunday, Mike Sweere and I were the 16th and 17th planes to land there, making the day for the locals as it was one of their busiest Sundays of the summer.

I’d like to remind you of the elections coming up in December. If you’re interested in either the Vice President or the Secretary position, please let Dave Procyshen know. The elections will be held at the December meeting, with the positions starting in January.

I would like to thank Kyle Petryshen for lining up his aerobatic flying friend, Kevin Hopkins, and putting on a great presentation for us uninitiated in the sport of aerobatics.

If you have a suggestion for a new name for the club, please send me an e-mail as we will be putting forth the most popular ones at the December meeting for your consideration.

Troy Branch will be giving us an updated presentation on the construction of his RV-10 at the November meeting. If you’re interested in building a plane, you will be hard-pressed to find a better presentation than this one!

See you soon.