I hate to be a pessimist, but this summer marks one of the worst for me in terms of flying hours. Between trips to the cabin and poor weather here in Calgary, I had a four-week abstinence from flying. It occurred at a time of the year (July 18th to August 17th) when I usually see between 30 and 40 hours!

Fortunately, I did make it to one of the best fly-in breakfasts of the summer. As mentioned in the other two articles in this issue, Linden celebrated the grand opening of their airstrip. Although we’ve been visiting the strip for years, there’s has always been a bit of an issue with the power lines located just a few feet south of the button of 34. Over the past year, the Town of Linden has made efforts to have those lines buried, which has finally been accomplished. Ironically, the active runway on Saturday was 16, which the power lines don’t normally cause an issue with. I counted 35 aircraft on the field when I was there. However, I heard a couple of aircraft leaving before I arrived and a few more arrived after I left. I would estimate that somewhere near 60 aircraft showed up. A big “Thank You” goes out to the Country Cousins for providing free breakfasts to all the pilots that arrived.

Saturday was also the Medicine Hat Fly-in. Fortunately, it was a lunch affair allowing for attending both events! I left Linden at about 10:00, missing the actual grand opening ceremony there, but giving myself lots of time to make Medicine Hat before that event ended at 14:00.

Despite the 20-30 kts headwinds enroute to Medicine Hat, I had more than enough fuel to make the two-hour flight. As I cruised by Brooks, I noticed that my #3-cylinder EGT was running at 800°F, well below its normal 1400°F. Since everything else was running normally (RPM, manifold pressure, oil temperature and oil pressure) and there was no unusual noises or vibrations, I was about to chalk it up to an instrument error. However, I then noticed that the CHT was also low at 150°F rather than the normal 275°F. Although the two needles are in the same instrument, I couldn’t believe that both would be reading low at the same time. Suspecting a real engine problem, I did a 180° turn and headed for Brooks. Within a minute of making the turn, I noticed that the cylinder temperatures had come back to normal. I continued on to Brooks with no other issue, so I decided to head for Bassano. Again, no further issues so I headed back to Carstairs. This was a very quick trip averaging about 120 kts!

Once on the ground at Carstairs, I did a magneto check and, after shutting down, a compression check. Again, no problems. At this point, I have decided to blame it on either an instrument error or a stuck valve (possibly some carbon stuck under the valve?). I plan on swapping temperature leads between instruments and keeping an eye on the gauge over the next few flights. If it happens again on the same gauge, then it’s an instrument error. If the problem follows the cylinder, then I have a far more serious problem… Hopefully, it’s not another Cunningham Oil Leak!

Despite the lack of flying, this was not my only exciting flight. Last Tuesday, I decided to go for a flight to Sundre for a few circuits. It was a wonderful evening, and I was thoroughly enjoying the flight. On my first approach, the locals around the airport were being quite friendly, waving at me as I flew over the golf course. The landing was looking good as I flared into a three pointer. Just as the runway disappeared behind the nose, I caught a glimpse of something on the runway ahead. As soon as I touched and stabilized on the runway, I pushed the nose back down to see a big 12-point buck standing on the right side of the runway! I knew I couldn’t get stopped before I got to him, so I decided to pour on the coals and get back out of there. I was just off the runway as I passed by the deer. He had made it to the runway lights on the right side, and I had slid over to the left as far as I could, giving us about a 30’ clearance. With the deer and runway being very similar shades, I didn’t actually see it until it became silhouetted against the horizon in the flare. Fortunately, no harm was done, and I continued into the circuit with no further sign of wildlife.

For those of you that are interested, there is another fly-in breakfast on Monday, September 7th in Stettler. Hope you can make it!

I look forward to hearing from all of you next Thursday evening at our first fall CRUFC meeting. There is no feature speaker this month as we plan on hearing from the membership and all your adventures over the summer.