Pat invites me to fly often; I seldom accept. However, today, August 29, 2009, I accepted.

I love the beautiful, cool, calm morning air as we step out of the car at the hangar. Other pilots gather, and everyone offers each other a friendly hello as they go about prepping their planes in anticipation of the joy of the flight to come. Soon, the aircraft are fueled, dusted, inspected, and ready to fly.

We climbed aboard, and I got a quick little briefing on doors, seat belts, and headsets — just as a refresher. (Perhaps I should go along more often). By now, Ken Beanlands had already departed for Linden. Pat and I followed Mike Sweere as he zipped down the runway. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning. As we were flying, I said to Pat, “That sounds like Gerry McDonald on the radio.” I gathered that he was behind us as he mentioned Carstairs. It wasn’t long before we heard Glen Clark as well. I was feeling right at home, recognizing voices. There’s a certain amount of comfort in hearing friends if you tend to be a bit timid of flying in small aircraft. I think, “OK, I’m doing great, and it is going to be a wonderful day.”

Soon enough, we landed in Linden. What a great town! We were greeted by many people who seemed really interested in all the “BUZZ.” There were many pilots… aviators are a great group of people. They don’t seem to have any competitive attitudes, and each person respects the others and their equipment. Pilots aren’t rushed, and they enjoy taking time to “catch up” on all the adventures that have been happening. I often think of how wonderful it is that people who were once strangers can become such great companions simply by their passion for flight. It is great to see such a unique group unite and gather to offer support, knowledge, and friendship to the community.

A group of us walked over to the local restaurant which provided a complimentary buffet breakfast for all the pilots. Obviously, I am not a pilot, but I, too, enjoyed a fabulous breakfast. I would certainly recommend continuing to patronize Country Cousins. Our server was very polite, had a great sense of humor, and a permanent grin.

After a few minutes of chatting and a washroom stop, we strolled back to the airport. I understand there was to be some type of ceremony at 11:00 AM in recognition of the buried power lines (would that be like a funeral?). We did not stay for this gathering.

Pat had sent out an email earlier in the week to advise that we were planning to fly to Ram Falls. Now, the next leg of the journey begins. After saying our goodbyes to our friends, Pat and Mike had a quick review of the flight plan for Ram Falls. We loaded, and off we soared. I have never seen so many people waving as we departed. I think that is a good thing in aviation… right? I believe it must have been nearly as exciting for the children and seniors on the ground as it was for me to be looking back and waving “so long till next time.”

The skies were nearly picture perfect. The flight was smooth as glass. After what seemed like a fairly short time, the Rockies became very visible. They just seemed so vast as we continued to climb to about 7,500 ft. (Pat will kill me if I get these details wrong). Pat and Mike kept conversing as we crept nearer to the passes and they navigated the route. I had the camera and a map on my lap and was pretty interested in knowing that we were on course in the event that the fancy little GPS decided to take a nap. I can’t believe how many roads criss-cross the area west of Sundre… Wow! I was thinking, “I bet we could land there if we had to!!” Now, we are reading 5 miles on the GPS, and we start asking each other “Do you have a visual on the airstrip yet?” There were a lot of negatives on that. Yikes, I was hoping we would see it soon. Okay, there’s the road, and yeah… Mike affirmed that he saw the strip along the road. (See Barry, we didn’t get lost).

The pilots radioed to advise of their intention to land. Remember, we are surrounded by the Rockies, and I love the mountains; but I am looking forward to an opportunity to get out of the plane and have a little land time. We are in the lead, and Mike is following behind. As we are descending toward the runway, I hear Pat give a bit of a sigh and say to me, “I’m way too high.” Pat radioed to indicate that we were overshooting the runway. That is when my heart felt like it may have stopped. I felt suddenly hot and a bit scared. I did not let my fear be known to Pat. I did not want him thinking of my discomfort but to just fly the plane. I started wondering if Pat planned for this possible occurrence. Do we have space to climb up and around to make another approach? Will we head for the valley and start heading out? What about me? Should I hold on? Should I just sit here and shut up? Should I pray? Yes, I did. Then I thought, I should make myself busy, so I am not concerned about something that I had no control over and leave it to the man in charge. I went with Pat when he took his mountain rating a few years back, so I felt confident that he would make the best choice. So, I kept busy taking photos and adjusting settings on the camera, Pat brought the plane up and around to the spot where we could make another final approach, and he performed a perfect landing. As we hopped out of the plane, Mike told us that he had seen six sheep on the runway when he was landing. The guys agreed that it was the perfect flight and weather. They commented that it was too bad that more of the guys hadn’t come along today. There was only one other plane at the strip, a Cessna 185.

We took a leisurely walk over to the Ram Falls and stood enjoying the view as people fished in the pool below the falls. As with all good things, it had to end, so we made our way back to the planes and prepared for the flight home. Sure enough, those sheep were on the runway again. Great, that’s all I needed… another possible obstacle. Because the runway parallels the road, the sheep would move from the grass strip towards the road, only to have the traffic drive by and flush them back to the airstrip. As we started taxiing down the strip, the sheep kept running a distance ahead; finally, they jutted into the forest on the side of the strip away from the road. We were able to fly out without conflict.

We came out of the mountains through a bit more northerly pass than where we had entered and enjoyed another smooth flight at about 8000 ft. From the Sundre area, we could see a huge amount of smoke in what we thought was the Carstairs area. As we approached Carstairs, we saw that it was a grass fire, which appears to have started along the railway tracks. Descending was bumpy, and yes, I did hold on at this point; however, it was another smooth landing to end the flight.

It was a glorious day.

Thanks to everyone for your friendship. I always feel welcome when I join your group, whether it is for a flight or a function. Until next time… happy flying.