One of my pet peeves occurs this time of year. Okay, sure… September has arrived. However, summer has not ended! There’s still another two weeks before that auspicious event occurs. Despite popular belief, Labour Day is NOT the end of the summer. With a forecast of mid-twenties and calm winds for this weekend, even Mother Nature is on my side this year. That hasn’t always been the case. I can remember more than one September when snow arrived early in the month!

Fortunately for me, the end of the summer season actually marks the beginning of my favorite flying season! Cool autumn days provide for stable, dense air that the planes love. Crisp take-off and climb performance go hand in hand with easy running engines with low cylinder and oil temperatures. Of course, these aren’t my favorite aspects of autumn flying – that would be reserved for the scenery! The foothills west of here become a beautiful pallet of vibrant colours. The farmers’ fields become a patchwork quilt of greens and golds, the stripes and swirls of the patterns formed as crops are cut. The sun settles a little lower in the southern and evening flights become a stark relief of shadow and light. What could be better!

However, as I said before, we’re still enjoying late summer flying and it’s nice to see that the fly-in season is extending well into September with events planned for every weekend this month! The first fly-in was on Saturday, September 8th, at the newly registered Olds North 40 Ranch (CTY4). These folks certainly know how to host a fly-in and have definitely raised the bar for other organizers despite it being only their second time. Tim Horton’s coffee and doughnuts were served until 10 am, when the Bar-Be-Que was fired up for hamburgers and hot dogs. Being the home for a rather large herd of horses, horseback riding was offered to the fly-in visitors and seemed to be a popular event.

My wife, Renée, happily accepted my invitation to attend the fly-in this year. We got to Carstairs at around 9 am to find Mike Sweere readying his Cessna 170 to join us. We also noticed that our fearless leader, Norm Vienneau had already left for the fly-in before our arrival. Both Mike and I had full loads, with Mike’s wife, daughter and daughter’s friend in the 170 and Renée with me in Chrissy.

As we taxied out for runway 16, I noticed that the Bishell’s family Border Collie, Pharaoh, was following right behind the 170! I warned Mike as he swung the plane around, but it was not needed as the pup got out of the way on his own. Unfortunately, he decided to take shelter directly behind the 170 as Mike started his run-up. His ears, tail and long hair were straightened out behind him in the propwash. Given most canine’s propensity for sticking their heads out of moving cars, I’m not sure if this was bliss or hell for the dog. Either way, he lasted only a minute or so before seeking more appropriate shelter in the trees beside the runway! Renée and I shared a guilty laugh at Pharaoh’s expense.

By the time we got in the air, we had been in contact with Stu Simpson and his contingent from Chestermere, and Gerry MacDonald and Barry Wood in the 182 from Airdrie. Gerry and Barry arrived first with Stu’s flight right behind them. Mike was ahead of me making my arrival the last one.

Everything was proceeding well until Renée, and I were on downwind for runway 16 at North 40. That’s when we saw an RV-7A heading directly at us, at our altitude! Renée and I both registered him at the same time, and she yelled a warning. I was about to turn right and avoid him when he made a left turn! I altered to the left instead. At that point I heard Troy call in his approach to the radio call warning him of an aircraft flying around over the field at circuit height but not following the pattern. The offending RV-7A called back to say that it was him and he was trying to find the airport at 4500’. With a field elevation of 3400’ and change, that put him right at circuit altitude! He also said that he was turning west to cross the field, which would put him on a direct course for Troy. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed as someone from the ground told him to hang a 180 and join the downwind from where he was. What a mess!

I made my turn to base and on to final. At this point, I should describe the North 40 runway. It is a picturesque 3000’ strip in a field lined on the north end with mature hardwoods. There is a gap cut in the trees on north of the runway allowing for a safe approach. The ramp and ranch are on the east side of the runway with the south half lined with a rail fence on the east and south and more mature trees on the west side. Crops line the north half of the runway on the west side. What this all means is that once you’re 1000’ down the runway, the only way to exit the runway is to backtrack to the taxiway and onto the ramp.

Okay, back to my approach. I touched down at around the 600-700’ point and stopped at about 1300’, about 300’ south of the taxiway. I made a quick 180 to backtrack only to be face to face with the RV-7a AGAIN!!! He was already over the end of the runway, well below the tree height, and was not appearing to go around. I headed as far to the east as I could as he roared over the runway just a few feet above us making his “overshoot” radio call, with a tone of exasperation in his voice … as though I had somehow screwed up. Even if there was somewhere for me to clear the runway at the south end, there is no way I could have been anywhere close to there before he touched down. On his next approach, he did touchdown with a Mooney Mite on the runway.

As I’m not good with confrontation, I decided to leave it alone, but it is worth analyzing. First, it’s perfectly fine to have trouble finding an airstrip. With all the trees and fields around, it can be difficult to pick out that specific green strip amongst all the rest. I had similar problems finding it the first time I went in. However, what is not acceptable is to search for a busy airfield AT CIRCUIT HEIGHT!!! There was a lot of traffic in the area, and they are all going to be 1000’ AGL. Personally, I would look from 2000’ AGL. It’s actually easier to spot an airfield from a higher altitude and all the circuit traffic will either be at 1000’ AGL or 1500’ AGL (those crossing midfield from the active side for the descent).

His second error was to turn to the left when he discovered me ahead of him. CAR 602.19(5) states that aircraft approaching head-on must alter their direction to the right to avoid collision. This is done to prevent two aircraft from turning into each other. Fortunately, I had time to see his turn and react accordingly. I also had the advantage of a high wing which meant that I didn’t lose sight of him as we turned.

We won’t even talk about joining the downwind from the opposite direction with a 180. However, attempting to land on a runway where the aircraft ahead of you has yet to clear is neither safe nor legal. CAR 602.19(10) states that “No person shall conduct or attempt to conduct a take-off or landing in an aircraft until there is no apparent risk of collision with any aircraft, person, vessel, vehicle or structure in the takeoff or landing path.” An aircraft still on a runway after landing would certainly apply as an “apparent risk”. Even if he had asked my approval to land behind me on the runway, I would have refused as, at this point, I certainly did not trust his piloting skills. However, since I never did hear a call on final, I had no idea he was right behind me.

To be honest, none of this would have been that bad if Renée hadn’t been in the plane with me. She was my responsibility and was put at risk as well. In addition, she was quite rattled by the experience, especially when she saw the plane about to land on top of us. While we were on our way back home, a Harmon Rocket passed about 600’ below us, which due to our previous experience, made Renée very nervous, despite my explaining that there was plenty of clearance.

Guys, it is really important to practice proper circuit procedures and airmanship techniques, especially around fly-ins. It’s also important to assume that not everyone else will be doing the same and to keep a vigil lookout. Use passengers to help and make a game out of seeing other planes first. Finally, make sure the passengers know to avoid distracting you in the pattern except to point out traffic.

Fortunately, we had a great time on the ground visiting with good friends and enjoying the great weather. Numerous club members showed up including several significant others! There were also a number of folks I hadn’t seen in a while and was able to renew friendships. Even the Royal Canadian Air Cadet staff members showed up around noon both by ground and air in one of their Scouts.

There were a number of interesting aircraft including a Husky on amphibs, a Stearman and an Antonov AN-2 biplane! There were also three Cessna 150’s. Although a relatively common airplane, not many are seen around Calgary given their poor high altitude performance.

At 11 am, the flour bombing contest started. I opted not to participate but enjoyed watching it. About half a dozen planes participated and it was clear that the STOL aircraft had a definite advantage. However, none of the pilots were more than 300’ from the target and a number of them actually hit it.

We finally departed shortly after noon. Taking off from this field is another treat. South of the runway is about 2000’ of field terminating in more mature hardwoods. With two of us on board and only 20 minutes of fuel burned out of a full tank, coupled with an outside air temperature of 22°C and 3400’ field elevation, the takeoff performance was lackluster at best. It wasn’t helped by my attempt to rotate a bit too early, but we were off in about 1500’ and headed for the trees ahead. My first thought was to make a right turn at the end of the runway (around the end of the trees that line the west side of the runway) and climb to the west. This was quickly thwarted when I saw that there were even closer trees in that direction than straight ahead! Of course, there wasn’t really any issue as I was more than 200’ above the trees when I passed them, but they do present a bit of a worry when you’re below them and approaching at 70 mph.

Well, that’s it for this month. See you all on Wednesday evening!