Well, another flightless month has come and gone for me. This has to be the worst stretch I’ve had for flying since I finished Chrissy with but a single flight since December 6th. The field in Carstairs has been a bit tricky with a single, narrow runway with high embankments for a large part of that time.

To remedy this, Glenn has pulled out the big guns in the form of an 18-ton Caterpillar with a 300 HP snow blower to subdue the field. Unfortunately, it creeps along at a paltry 1 MPH! Now that Glenn has been able to get most of the snow pushed back to give us a safe runway, the “Big Thaw” has hit.

For those of us operating from grass strips, this is a time of year when daytime heating melts the snow and ice on the surface, but frost a few inches below the surface prevents the water from soaking in. The result is a soft field that quickly turns to mud as we fly from it. What this typically leaves us with are a couple of weeks of no flying. If you get out early enough, you can get a quick flight in on the frozen ground before the heat of the day turns it back into goo.

Outside of the obvious reason of avoiding a muddy plane, the other reason we avoid flying in these conditions is that it damages the surface of the runway which take longer for the field to fully recover. For those of you operating from paved strips, please try to keep this in mind when looking for places to fly!

I’ve noticed that a few of our members have been out, but not many. I see from Facebook that Troy Branch has been able to get out for a bit of RV-10 flying this month. He has also been making excellent progress on his Super STOL with most of the plane covered and primed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in the air this summer!

Fortunately, the lack of flying, along the inspiration from Troy, has given me opportunity to work on my Buttercup project. Since Christmas, I’ve built most of the wing fittings and framed up the two wings. I’m now finishing off the last couple of ribs and getting started on the flaps and ailerons.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Stewart System fabric covering course this past month. SAIT hosted the course, but it was the Stewart System Canadian dealer, Western Aviation Services Ltd of Grand Forks, BC that put on the course. There were nine students from the Calgary area including three SAIT instructors. Even though I used the same basic system on my Christavia, I decided to take the course to get familiarized with the changes that have occurred with both the products and process now used since Stewart purchased the system. I found the course to be very informative. If anyone else is interested in doing the course, they should contact Western Aviation Services Ltd through their website http://www.westav.ca.

Stewart Systems has a number of advantages over other systems. The primary one is the use of waterborne chemicals making the whole process non-toxic and safe to use in an attached garage or basement of your home. This makes it ideal for homebuilders. It also claims to be significantly lighter than other systems as it uses only three chemicals: first, a glue to attach the fabric; next, a high solids primer that encapsulates the fabric, fills the weave and provides UV protection and third, the paint top coats.

Although I intend to use the system to cover the Buttercup when I get to that stage, I also have some potential work lined up through my company to cover a certified aircraft with the same system. The system is STC’d for use on most certified aircraft and they are willing to work with customers to add aircraft that have yet to make their Approved Model List.

Now, for something completely different. Having had the advantage of reading Bashar’s article, I have my own reflections on why our sport does not attract more women. Bashar suggests that it’s a lack of exposure and/or encouragement that keeps the fairer sex from joining in our passion for flying. True only 6% of all pilots are female, but I think that there is more to it than that.

When I was a teenager, I joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, Squadron 515. It was one of four squadrons in the St. John’s wing. We had a pretty even mix of male and female both in the squadron of about 70 cadets and the wing of about 300. The cadets were regularly exposed to aviation as it was required standard training for 1st and 2nd year cadets to learn the aeronautical basics. In addition, cadets were regularly taken on familiarization flights in both gliders and powered aircraft. Scholarships for both glider and power private pilot licenses were available to all cadets and all were encouraged.

Despite all of this, only 6 of the 50 cadets that attended the glider scholarship course when I did, were female… 12%. The power scholarship the following year had only 10 females out of a total of 60 cadets. Don’t get me wrong here, of the female cadets that applied, most did exceedingly well, flying just didn’t seem to have the same interest for the ladies as for the guys. It would seem that it’s not just a lack of exposure or encouragement that has kept the number of female pilots at such a low percentage. To be honest, the same can be said for many of the motorsports like motorcycling, snowmobiling, boating, etc.

I have also noticed that of the small number of female cadets I knew who did obtain their licenses, none pursued it as a career, nor did they continue flying recreationally. Even my mother and sister, both of whom were licensed pilots, stopped flying shortly after getting their licenses. Both had full access to the family’s Cessna 180 but were not interested in pursuing the sport. It’s interesting to note that my sister was top on her gliding course and went on to instruct with the cadets while attending university.

Personally, I’d love for Renee to take up flying. I have encouraged her and have taken her on numerous flights. However, she is quite content to be a passenger…