The Red Deer Forestry strip is a destination I have enjoyed a couple of times and I hoped that I could share this adventure with other club members.

The thought of having a Smokie Barbecue was just too good to pass up so I put a call out to the club that we would try to have a SmokieFest at Red Deer Forestry on the 30th of April. The weather looked good and we decided to head out. The forecast that I was checking called for cloudy skies but nothing that should affect our flight. I headed out to Carstairs at 6am to try to be the first plane in so I could set up the Barbecue and I was airborne about 7am with my flying buddy Royal off my wing. The air was wonderful smooth and we cruised calmly to the strip. The closer we got though the more the clouds seem to descend. Finally at about 5 miles from Red Deer Forestry we decided it was best to divert to Sundre.

As we landed at Sundre we heard Bob fly over calling Sundre traffic that he was preceding to Red Deer Forestry. We called to let him know we had landed and Sundre and thought he would do the same. (Bob was the only pilot to make it to the strip in his 701 but I am not sure he was happy about that.)

We got the word out to other pilots that we were going to have the Barbecue at Sundre instead of the Red Deer Forestry and we were joined on the ground by eight other aircraft. (We did take off and do circuits in our quest to reach Bob, but we were unsuccessful in our communication to him.) Bob did finally fly back to Sundre to join us for the Barbecue but had to follow the river back as the clouds had dropped even lower.

In all we had ten planes on the ground. Jim in his Kifox V with Ken, Glen in the BishCaddy, Peter and Kevin from Indus in their Rans and Merlin, Andy in his Merlin, Bob in his 701 and Sheldon in a Challenger, Royal in his Savage Cub and I in my Buzzard, and we were joined by Thomas Thomas in his Dehavlind Beaver with his granddaughter on board. It was a great turnout for a SmokieFest that was sort of impromptu.