The Chestermere/Kirkby fly-in was on for Saturday but I was going to another fly-in in my car, as the Buzzard was still wingless and in my garage. The paint was on the plane, but it was still waiting to be trailerd to the hanger so that final assembly could take place.

The weather for the morning of the fly-in was not the best but it was flyable. Talking with Ken and he mentioned that the puppy rescue flight to Winnipeg would be postponed for a day due to bad weather in Saskatchewan. Ken also reminded me that we had a couple of Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) books that would expire before our next meeting in September, so a plan was hatched to give them away to the first two pilots to arrive at the Kirkby flyIn breakfast. Andy Gustafson was the first in with C-IKEA and Jim followed in his KitFox Model V. They each received a CFS. (Ed. Note: The third CFS was donated to the dog rescue efforts occurring that weekend… time constraints prevented us from getting all the CFS’s we needed)

I was the second to arrive by car just after Ed Wawzonek, although my quick feet got me to the breakfast line first. Breakfast was good with pancakes being grilled and sausages sizzled to perfection. I left fairly early as I had planned to move my plane with Jim Corner’s help. By the time I left another three or four planes had landed, and a small crowd was enjoying breakfast and hanger flying.

The Buzzard is now in my hanger at Carstairs, and I took the wings and tail feathers off the KitFox to maximize the room available for the Buzzard. For those that have not heard, I picked up this KitFox project and will be getting to work on it shortly. The motor on the KitFox is a 582 Greyhead and I plan to decarbon and reseal that motor for use in the Buzzard to get me in the air as quickly as possible. I still have the 4-cylinder Suzuki motor and that may end up in the Buzzard but for now, a two-stroke engine will fill the bill.

There were still some things that I could have done on the Buzzard in the garage, but I figure Judy has been patient enough and it was time to give her the garage back. With the hail season in Alberta, it is almost more important to have a garage in the summer than in the winter. Now that the Buzzard is out of the garage, I gave the garage floor that coat of paint I had promised myself and now the cars have their home back.

Things still to complete on the Buzzard are tail feather and wing assembly, hang the motor, run fuel lines, connect electrical, put the letters on and a bunch of little things that will probably take another 40 or 50 hrs. Time to get the lists out. Hopefully I will get in the air before the next newsletter.

I also want to thank all who attended the Burger Roast/June meeting. We served up about 70 burgers and I set the budget at $120, which is what we pay for hall rent. Unfortunately, by the time I added condiments and Romaine for the Caesar salad cost was closer to about $180. We collected a similar amount through donations for the Freedom to fly Fund so I think we can rate this one as a success. Thanks to Carl & Barb Foreman and my wife, Judy for helping with the cooking and a great big thank to Bob Kirby for hosting the event and even letting us use the fridge in the hanger for storing some drinks etc. Again, a big thanks you to everyone who attended.

Till next time, good lies and smooth skies