I had been waiting for this day for a long time. It is something special to me, this season of fresh crisp deep snow. We don’t see it too often around the Calgary area, at least not in the last few years. I’ve been working on my skis this fall. I rigged up new bungees at the tips and replaced a few fasteners and links for the rigging. I’ve been ready to go for a while now, but the ground has been bare and the wait has been long. Thanks to the climate cooling, snow has started to fall together with a few windy days. Winter is one of my favorite seasons to fly with stable air, crisp handling and landing places everywhere white. I often fly into and land on Chestermere Lake, just east of Calgary, for some Tim Horton’s goodies. Sometimes I order a take-out and enjoy my own onboard service with a coffee and a Boston Cream donut at a thousand feet. It doesn’t get any better than that.

On this day the snow hung in the air, I could see snow squalls here and there, but the wind had diminished to just a very light breeze. The temperature had settled on a steady -15° C together with a flat light with no shadows. I packed everything I could think of into my Jeep and headed out. I drove up to my hangar through snow drifts deeper than the bumper, with the snow cascading all over the hood and wind shield. As I got closer to the hangar, I saw something that I have never seen there. The snow drifts in front of the hangar doors were 5+ feet high and stretched way out. My grin disappeared but my enthusiasm still remained. The landlord at my field had a bobcat sitting in his warm shop and he said for me to use it to move the snow masses. When I opened the side hangar door and peeked inside, I got another surprise. The interior looked like a scene from Doctor Zhiwago. The snow had drifted in through every little crack in the walls, even through nail holes, leaving my plane with snowdrifts all over the wings and fuselage. My Merlin looked sad and frozen under the load of snow, and it took me an hour to clean up and get her out of this frozen winter scene.

The wheels were fitted into their tight-fitting boots, strapped down and the tail ski installed. Now my attention turned to the engine. I have a little propane heater that works really well to warm the engine up under the cowling. The oil bottle has its own electric heater that heats the oil reservoir in 15 minutes. Since I don’t have any power out there, I use a converter on my Jeep to get 110 volts. In 15 minutes, the oil was warm as was the rest of the engine. I pulled the choke, turned the starter key and after 2 blades the 912 roared to life, happy to be alive and breathing. I let the gauges come up to where they should be and advanced the throttle. We were sliding easily on the snow. I am always amazed at how easy the skis slide and I’m always getting caught stepping on the brakes to see if all is working. Well, the brakes don’t work with skis on.

The 10 acres I have out there now became my runway. I just ski around in sheer enjoyment on the ground, turning in circles with the snow blowing in huge clouds around the airplane. Then I turn into the breeze and gradually go to full throttle. The Merlin comes alive and anxiously wants to get off the ground. In about 300 feet the tail comes up, just a little and I float up, up and away. I do a visual check on my landing gear as the snow clears from the skis. Everything is coming along for the ride and is looking good. Climb rate in the chilly air is just great. The extra weight doesn’t seem to slow me down much or hamper the flight characteristics. With limited visibility I decided to just do a number of touch and goes on my field. I practice short approaches and short landings. The flat light without the sun and shadows makes depth perception difficult, but this is when practice makes you a better pilot. I can slow down and gently let the tail ski kiss the snow with the mains to follow. You become one with the airplane. What a great feeling. I must have made ten touch and goes. I just did not want to end this playing in the snow. My ski setup works really well for my Merlin. It is a safe and fool proof installation. The strapping on before flight and removing the skis before I put the plane away after flying is quick and simple.

Canada is a country of adventure with a nature that is unsurpassed in beauty anywhere. It gives the pilot of a ski equipped aircraft a big advantage in that he can land just about anywhere white. This whole flying experience is truly unmatched by anything I can think of. I often wonder why I seems to be the only one to embrace this. Skiing is believing.

I had a great day out there and I’m looking forward to another great Snowpilot® season.