Day 8 - Cross-Canada Century Flight 2009

Tried to sleep in this morning, but my mental clock is to still wake up early for flying. :( As a result, I was awake to witness the lightning and torrential rain at 6am this morning. It was the first half of the storm I saw approaching last night on the weather radar. I rested until 8am, and then in frustration took a walk outside around the hotel. By now the rain and lightning had basically stopped, but the clouds were giving a 200ft ceiling and obscuring a little mountain to the south of Thunder Bay. Definitely not flying weather for VFR-equipped aircraft. I had been so hopeful that the weather front would give us a high ceiling, but at the same time clear out the fog. Not only was the fog still present, but there additionally was low clouds.

Met Bob and Brent and went to another hotel for breakfast. On the way back, we realized that the second half of this front had descended upon us: more lightning and torrential rain, the worst that I have ever witnessed. We were forced to delay in the hotel lobby until we could take a shuttle bus to the airport and once again make a visit to the Esso station and lounge. Nobody was flying today except the IFR aircraft, and we learned that rain is predicted for the next five days! :( Dad at breakfast had come up with a joke to send to the rest of the Century Flight group. We took off our jackets and tried to look like we were enjoying the sun long enough to snap a photo of the airplane and us in front of the esso station. We then returned back to our hotel to photoshop/paint/gimp it up to serve our purposes.

The final "improved" photo isn't perfect, but is shows all of us standing before the Beaver dressed in summer clothes, wearing sun glasses and drinking pop in Sydney, Nova Scotia, beneath a clear blue sky. Behind the aircraft is the Esso station with a superimposed sign reading "Sydney, Nova Scotia - Elevation 203ft". In the description Bob has added:
Flying at night, on 'the Great Circle Route" via Nunavut, Century Flight crews reach the destination of Sydney, Nova Scotia -- (wondering where the remaining aircraft might be on this Cross Canada Aviation Adventure) (;-)

It seemed like a funny joke this morning to send the photo a day from now to the rest of the group, after having reported by email of taking a "northern route" recommended to us by the Flight Stewart and which avoided bad weather. That was this morning. We still thought the weather might clear for us by this afternoon or by tomorrow to allow us to still catch up, but it has become obvious that the bad weather is here to stay. Not only that, Sault Saint Marie's fog quickly cleared up this morning and we learned at around 1pm that the rest of the planes were now safe in Brampton. The reality is that the trip eastwards is almost guaranteed over for us. :(

While the trip east may be over, my Dad, Bob and Brent are now eager to fly to Oshkosh to see the airshow. It's renowned to be one of the world's largest aircraft gatherings, and it's considered to be quite a feat getting there in itself: thousands of aircraft attend, and the air traffic and control zones are incredibly organized and directed. For me, however, the big expectation was to once again see the Maritimes and participate fully with the Century Flight group. I never imagined that our final dinner night in Branden under the beautifully clear prairie skies would be the last time we would see all of the other pilots. I can appreciate the allure of Oshkosh, but it doesn't attract me the same it does my Dad. For one thing, I have learned that there is only 3.5 hours of actual "air show" each day, while the rest of the time is devoted to static displays. Some of the static displays I'm sure will be interesting, such as a new electric-powered aircraft from China, but its not something that inherently attract me.

Right now it's 2pm, with nothing to do but catch up on my blog. It still gray outside, although the sky has lifted slightly to the west. It's still not VFR flying conditions, however. If there's one thing I have learned so far from this trip, it's the importance of getting my IFR endorsement and eventually getting myself an IFR-equipped airplane. For pacific coastal flying, VFR is adequate under most circumstances; bad storm fronts pass over relatively quickly, and if you are on floats, you can fly 50ft over the water. Anything east of the pacific coast, however, is truly different territory. We were exceptionally lucky to get clear skies over the Rockies, and the east coast is well known for unpredictable weather fronts, lightning and heavy fog around the Great Lakes. The prairies are, in fact, the only place where it is truly suitable to fly VFR because so little precipitation and builds up across the flat plains. IFR is truly the route to go IMO, although it is expensive to get and maintain.

Tonight we're going to go to the pool and plan to watch Friday night CFL football. There's nothing else to really do in Thunder Bay, except maybe visit the historical Hudson's Bay Fort. However, the weather is really not good enough for traveling and it's additionally a 20 minute taxi ride from town. I inwardly hope for clear blue skies all the way to Quebec tomorrow, but I know that it's almost 100% unlikely to happen. Technically we could still catch up to the group with good weather, but everything is indicating that our trip east is essentially over and that the trek across the border into Wisconsin is going to be the next leg in our journey. I am extremely despondent at the moment, but I have no control over the situation. I only know that the other 60 pilots who reached Brampton today took chances to reach there and they paid off: for example, three aircraft made it across yesterday to Marathon, even though my Dad pronounced the fog covering the lake unflyable conditions. Other pilots took off from Dreyden amid torrential rain and lightning to reach Marathon on schedule two days ago. We have videos of them taking off amidst these amazing conditions.

Will try to make the best of the remaining gloomy day in Thunder Bay. I would give almost anything to be safely in Brampton right now, but that's an impossibility. Will keep updating this blog for our trip (presumably) south to Oshkosh.