As David B had posted on the Pacific Pilot blog a week
prior, our flight plan was going to be taking us to Courtenay Air Park, located
on Vancouver Island, just outside of CFB Comox's military airspace.
Courtenay Air Park is an 1800' paved strip with many hangars
and outside tie-downs for the planes, helicopters, and floatplanes that call
Courtenay home. The air park also boasts a little cafe, as well as a few
restaurants a short walk off the airport property.
This trip up to Courtenay was going to be the first time I
would be bringing my Dad (Daryl) along for some Pacific Pilot fun.
We were slightly delayed leaving Vancouver for Delta Air
Park, and once we got to the Jodel hangar, I sent David B a quick text to see
where him and the gang were. I got a reply saying that they were just airborne.
My Dad and I didn't want to keep our friends waiting in Courtenay, so we expeditiously
got the Jodel out of the hangar, pre-flighted, and fuelled, then got a squak
code from Kamloops FIC, and then we were off.
We departed CAK3 (Delta Air Park) and passing through 600'
we contacted Boundary Bay outer tower on 127.6 to get clearance to fly direct
to the Alex Fraser Bridge. From there it was over Burnaby Lake, through
Vancouver Harbour, along the Sunshine Coast, over Lasqueti Island and across
the strait to a point just north of Qualicum Beach. All this had been familiar
routing up until now, but I hadn't flown in the Courtenay/Comox area before, so
I was cautious and constantly checking the map to be very sure of my position
in this new and unfamiliar area.
Thankfully, I did some pre-flight planning and found the
Comox VFR Terminal Porcedures Chart in the Canadian Flight Suppliment (CFS). It
all looked straight forward and simple. The hardest part would end up being
identifying the call up point "Bowser." Talking with Comox tower was
painless and while we edged closer to Comox, we could hear radio calls from the
gliders and towplanes of the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Gliding School operating
at the base.
Upon reaching the call up point "Royston," we switched
to Courtenay's air traffic frequency of 123.35, and joined the circuit to land.
The winds were quite strong from the north and we ended up following a local
ultralight on a right downwind for Runway 31.
Because Len and Lee, and David B were already there, it left
very little space in the visitor parking area for my Dad and I to park the
Jodel.
In fact, there wasn't a space in the north parking area, but not wanting
to taxi all the way to the south parking area, I was able to tuck the Jodel in
beside David B's Tornado and all was well.
With the Jodel chalked, my Dad and I wandered across the
apron to the cafe where Len, Lee, David B, and his parents Frank and Silvana
were enjoying a coffee on the patio while they waited for us. We sat and
chatted a while and then the two Vagabond drivers decided it was time to head
home. Soon after they took off, we bumped into Grant, who David B had been in
communication with regarding previous pacific pilot fly outs. But, this was to
be the first time we would be meeting him in person. Grant had flown up from Nanaimo and was rather impressed with David B's Titan Tornado.
After a close look
at the Tornado, and a brief sit down in the cockpit, Grant invited us down to
where he parked his Zenith 601, that he had flown up in.
We had a good chat
with Grant, and taken a good look at his plane too, but with our stomachs
grumbling, we knew it was time to find a place to have lunch.
David B's parents had driven up from Nanaimo, so we had
ground transportation to wherever we wanted to go. We ended up at the Black Fin
Pub in Comox, where we all enjoyed a very nice meal and chat.
After Lunch, David's mom got on his case for not having a
life vest for his over-water flights. So, before heading back to the airport,
we found a marine supply shop, and David's parents bought him one.
Now back Courtenay Air Park (CAH3), we topped up our tanks,
said our good byes to Frank and Silvana, then took off for home.
I kind of felt bad that my Dad wasn't able to meet the all other
regular members of the Pacific Pilot group, but it was still a very enjoyable
day.
Southbound we flew, then across the strait, past Sechelt and
Gibsons, and through the harbour to the Second Narrows Bridge.
At this point I
decided to try something new. Normally I would continue eastbound over Burnaby
Lake, decent to below 1200', then fly directly to the Pattullo Bridge and call
up Boundary Bay tower for clearance to the Alex Fraser Bridge, then directly
south to Delta Air Park. That routing is perfectly fine and keeps you clear of
YVR's approach, but the last time I flew through there I watched a Cessna 172
cut the corner closer than I ever had and even though I started out well ahead
of him, he ended up getting to the Alex Fraser Bridge a few minutes before me.
He had flown from the Second Narrows Bridge directly over top of Metrotown,
then on to the Alex Fraser Bridge, and eventually on to Boundary Bay Airport
(CZBB). So this time, with my Dad on board, we plotted a new course and flew
home via Metrotown.
It indeed shaved off a couple minutes from our trip and it
expanded my familiarity and understanding of the somewhat intimidating airspace
surrounding Vancouver International Airport.
Once on the ground and with the Jodel tucked away for the
night, we drove over to King George Air Park to meet up with David B. While
there, Darryl, Sharon, James, and Stumpy (Greg) retuned from their excursion to
Bamfield. They were all going to be joining us at Courtenay, but the lack of
fog in Bamfield was too tempting, so they had gone there for the day.
After all the planes had been put away, we headed to the Big
Ridge Brew Pub for dinner. It was really nice because it gave my Dad the
opportunity to meet some of the other members of my flying community. As it
turns out, the two Dar(r)yls had far more in common than their first names, and
everyone had a great time. As we were finishing dinner we got an invite from
Jodi Rueger to help her solo dunk her tailwheel student, Frank Baker. He had
already completed his private license and was dunked accordingly. Now he was
learning the art of tailwheel flying and that night was going to be his first
solo on Pro IFR's Citabria. To mark the occassion, Jodi enlisted our help in
getting Frank drenched.
So we arrived at Boundary Bay Airport and met up with Jodi,
who was outside monitoring her pupil's solo circuits. While she did so, we filled
up some buckets for the impending soaking, and then we waited for Frank's
return to terra firma.
Jodi wanted it to be a surprise, so she staged a fake photo
shoot of Frank in front of the Citabria and kept him distracted while David B
and I snuck up on him with our buckets of cold water. Needless to say, we got
him good!
After the soaking, we clearly had to go for some celebratory
beverages with Frank, but as it was getting late, we didn't stay long, we
wished Frank one last congratulations, and then we all headed home. What a day.
Until next time, fly safe, and fly smart!
David McIntosh
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