C-GZCC began as a kit in Montreal in the 1990s when it was purchased by George Minchau as he visited the city. By 2002 he had the plane basically built and inspected.

I purchased it and took over the completion. It required firewall forward, instruments, upholstery, painting and final inspection. ZCC sprang to life in the spring of 2003 and began a new adventure.

It kept busy flying to sites throughout Alberta, Sask. and as far as Swan River Manitoba. Many neighbors, friends, relatives and Young Eagles participated in and enjoyed flights until one day in Feb. 2006, when it succumbed to injuries.

It was a frosty morning with frost coating the entire plane where it was parked outside on the farm. My dad and I each had doctor appointments at Red Deer and didn’t want to be late. We packed our luggage and checked our fuel. All was well except for the frosty wings. An extra effort with brooms, scrapers and ropes the frost was mostly clear.

The plane was on skis and had made a couple of trips out of this field but the wind was different this day. The direction we chose was over a newly cultivated field but was neatly covered in snow. The takeoff was requiring more distance than normal and we were running out of field and with no brakes. We finally broke free and cleared the fence but the left wing caught the first tree. The tree and the wing were both broken and 2 propeller blades were stuck in the frozen ground, the skis and landing gear ripped off, the fuselage buckled and the tail section tangled in the trees.

During the first bit of silence my 92 year old dad straightened his cap and said “I don’t know how many more lives I have left”. We were not injured but the $70,000.00 plane was worth $0.17 per pound. We abandoned the wreck and took my dad’s car to make our appointments on time. Looking back that day we discovered the ski tracks were black from the skis dragging on the dirt ridges beneath the snow. This created enough drag to hold us back. I hauled the wreck home and salvaged the engine block for $5000.00 and the rest was scrap. I saved the instruments and radio.

Reluctantly, I phoned the original builder, George Minchau, and informed him of the incident. His reaction was that he would like to rebuild it. I delivered the remainder of the fuselage and he started over. After 16 years of laboring on it he handed the project over to me as he wanted to see it completed. George had done a great job of building a new fuselage and wings from plans.

He had to fabricate the ribs and spars etc. by hand because the manufacturer moved to China. It took me one and a half years to finish a wing, build a horizontal stabilizer, new landing gear, firewall forward, instruments and new paint.

Now we had to deal with Transport Canada for registration. In 2006 the plane was scrapped and deregistered.

When the rebuild was done I checked on the availability of the original letters and found them still available. I salvaged them and they are installed on the new plane, which is now registered as a 2023 Bushcaddy 120.

Dave From built the new engine and volunteered to be the test pilot. He checked it out, fueled up and off we went. Take off was good, the climb out was great and when we leveled off it would fly hands free. I was enthralled that weight and balance as well as trim were accurate and the engine performed perfect, all with no snags.

Now that Transport Canada does not like my state of health, my flying days are over but I do hope that future generations will enjoy the feeling of flight in C-GZCC.

Glenn