Well, the Cessna 120 is finally back in the air again after receiving the LSTC (Limited STC) making it once again airworthy. It was a long stretch from taking it in for the annual on Jan 17th and back in the air on May 22nd, but all is well now. The first flight was the Poker Run, and it turned out to be a beautiful day of flying. The turn out looked good when I was in Indus and although I haven’t seen any numbers, there were plenty of people milling around. Another good job by Garrett and Marilyn Komm, thanks a lot guys!

The other good flight was up to Camrose for their annual breakfast on May 31st. There were nine of us in five planes that went up from Carstairs. The day was cloudless and calm when we left but we were expecting and received a pretty strong wind on arrival of greater than 15 kts but pretty much down the pipe. However, it switched to a 20 deg crosswind for takeoff which needed some attention. I had never been to Camrose for their breakfast before, but I knew it was going to be a busy one from everything I had heard, especially with the good weather they were expecting (Ed. Note: Troy Branch reported that he was number 166 to sign in and that they had sold over 1000 breakfasts. I suspect the final tally was close to 200 aircraft). Before we left, we discussed which way we thought would be the best to approach for joining the circuit. We all agreed that we would fly south of the town to the east of the airport and join the circuit from the upwind side by crossing midfield at circuit height and joining a left-hand downwind for runway 32. As we neared the airport the chatter on the radio was extremely busy and it took a lot of concentration to sort out were everyone was and where they were going.

Fortunately, I had an extra set of eyes with me which saved what could have been an interesting outcome. As we leveled out on downwind following Richard Schmitt in his Stinson, the wife said there was another plane down there. Sure enough, right in front of us but 200′ below, a plane appeared out of nowhere. Now we were number five as we turned base, but we were far too close to this other plane as we turned final. I had to aggressively slow and did a few S-turns to give us enough room to safely land. While in the pattern (for approximately 8 minutes) I heard no less than five planes entering the pattern incorrectly! It’s very important that when we attend fly-in’s, especially at uncontrolled fields, that we properly follow the rules. There’s enough stress at the busy ones with all the traffic. Throw in some strong winds and things get interesting real fast. I’m no saint when it comes to following rules, but I did make sure I knew everything I needed to before attending this one and that included verifying the proper way to enter the pattern with my fellow flyers. I’m happy to say that while flying with my fellow club member’s, professionalism and courtesy is always at the forefront!

I would like to thank Tim Morrison for his informative talk on engines at the last meeting. This is a hot topic that could have gone on for hours. We’ll look at a similar topic for the fall.

Bob Kooyman has lined up John Scharrer for our June meeting. John is a member of a formation skydiving team and is bound to have some interesting stories to tell so plan to attend to hear all about it.

Our second club fly out will take place on June 14th. We are planning to fly to Vulcan to meet up with our fellow COPA friends from the Lethbridge Sport Flyers for some good food and good company. Just a short walk from the airport is the Vulcan golf course, where we’ll meet for breakfast. We are planning to meet at 9:30 am at Vulcan so mark your calendar for this always enjoyable morning. The rain date for this event will be July 5th meeting in Vulcan at 10:30 am.

See you soon!