What a neat trip. Nothing like the fire-hose effect... my first flight with this company and I am aboard an unusually long flight to another country in the Navajo Chieftain.
Thursday we flew from Oshkosh to Wisconsin Dells, where we had to do an approach down to minimums to get in. Then we flew to Rochester, MN. We flew across the border to Winnipeg, Manitoba stopping to refuel and check in with customs, which was very easy. Then we flew to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for another fuel stop. Finally, it was off to Grand Prairie, Alberta which is waaay up there. Look on
Google Maps.
A night in a nice hotel and it was time to turn around and come back. Friday we stopped in Saskatoon again, and then Grand Forks, ND home of UND. There, customs was not as simple, this time requiring paperwork and inspections. But it didn't take long. Back to Wisconsin Dells after that and then finally to Oshkosh.
We flew through a lot of rain and clouds, but were often VMC and were able to get into most places without an approach. To make everyone feel better: I did not see any colored trees anywhere... so fall must not be catching up to us quite yet.
It was cold aloft, though. Saw snow for a few minutes. But a light jacket was warm enough on the ground.
Both the other pilot and I were new to Canada. We discovered many slight differences in radio phraseology. Also in Grande Prairie we learned about the system of flight service stations that provide advisories at airports and are almost like ATC, and are even inside a control tower type building, but are not technically ATC.
There were two big shockers to us on this trip. One was that both of us expected Canada to be solid trees and lakes as far as the eye could see. Well no, it was more like a repetition of North Dakota -- flat farm fields everywhere, with very few houses scattered around, and several small lakes and ponds. I was really surprised at the lack of trees. The other big shocker was the lack of radar coverage but more importantly RADIO coverage. I could not believe how there were certain chunks of half an hour or more where we were literally out of communications coverage. We'd be told to contact someone at a certain mileage, a number of minutes later, or even a certain longitude. Wow, talk about being on your own.
I like the Navajo. I flew from the left seat for several hours, maybe around six, and did some takeoffs and landings. I still have to tally it up. Total flying time was about 20 hours.
These pictures are all from Canada, most from the first day but the last three from the second.
Edit: Hey, where is the Canadian option on those little maps in our signatures?
