All pilots dream of the big cross-country trip. My dream was coast to coast across Canada, VFR. After purchasing a wonderful Cessna 172 with a 180hp Lycoming, for business and pleasure, the dream nagged me until it became a reality.

My wife and I decided we would take five weeks off, and take our time. Every pilot knows that weather can be a serious factor, especially if the trip is to be planned VFR.

I fly as a volunteer pilot for CASARA (Civil Air Search and Rescue Association) and in our area (the South Coast Region of British Columbia) we get a fair amount of training in the valleys, mountains, and coastal high traffic areas, which gave me the confidence to try it VFR.

We learn very quickly, here on the coast that the weather can never be trusted, and I felt if I kept that mind set throughout the trip - we should stay safe.
Our first day in July 2002, tested our weather sense, as low-lying clouds blocked the first leg from Pitt Meadows (CYPK) to Cranbrook over the coastal range, and VFR was not recommended.

After two days of sitting it out we decided to fly up to Hope to “take a look”. If it was still cloudy, we would head to Chilliwack for the famous “pie.” I’m most certainly not one of those who like to take chances, but we were on holidays, and I know the area well, so we filed a flight itinerary with my Son. We then headed off to see if any valleys would allow us access to the BC Interior, which was claiming CAVU weather, with all forecasts on an improving trend. We passed Chilliwack with the ceiling down to 2500 and it didn’t look too promising until we arrived at Hope.
The favorable south VFR route through Manning Park was right down to the treetops, and the Coquihalla northeast route didn’t look much better. The north route up the Fraser Valley looked much better with the ceiling at around 3500 broken, so we decided to creep up the valley and see how far we could get.
The Yale area can be a little tight, but was actually looking around 3800 scattered which gave us the green light to continue. While always making sure we had enough room to turn around if things turned ugly.

The further up the valley we went, the sunnier it got. By the time we reached Lytton, we were in beautiful sunshine, and it was time to cancel the itinerary and file a real flight plan. We called our Son, (using one of those cool cell phone interfaces) and told him to keep the house clean, and we would see him in about 5 weeks (did I hear and almost inaudible “Yessssss”?). Anyway, we were just about over Merritt B.C. when we contacted Kamloops Flight Service, and filed direct VFR to Nelson.

Taking a break in Nelson

One and a half hours later, we were sitting in Nelson, filling up with fuel and sandwiches, and planning our next leg. It was early afternoon, and the winds were 10 knots at 270.

I decided we would hop over to Cranbrook and top up my standard tanks (38 gal usable) and then see how far we could get. I was hoping for Maple Creek Saskatchewan.

After a lovely hop over the rocks to Cranbrook and a quick refuel, we were off to the Crowsnest Pass and points beyond. The Skies were clear and were comfortable at 9500 through the pass and our first look at the prairies was accentuated by the fact we had a 30 knot tail wind and our ground speed was showing over 180 kts.

East through the Rockies

Now the trick of real navigating began as natural checkpoints, such as rivers, lakes, ridges and mountains were almost non existent. As far as the eye could see was a colorful mosaic of yellow, green and brown hues of flat land.

I was using both of my VOR’s, NDB, and an inexpensive Garmin GPS to plot my way along, and felt pretty confident that we were direct on course. An hour and a half later, after departing Cranbrook, we were over the little town of Maple Creek, going for the mid field approach, for runway 23.

Maple Creek

We booked a room at a local motel, and they offered to pick us up at the airport, however, one of the flying club members dropped by to make sure we had everything we needed, and offered to take us into town. Our flying club member then picked us up again the next morning after breakfast, and we were back on our way.

We flew direct to Estevan Sask., refueled, and the next stop was supposed to be Altona Manitoba, but the winds were still pushing us along at around 35 kts, at 260.
I was a little concerned about the crosswind component on runway 17, so we opted for a runway that was in the wind at Winkler Manitoba, where you can get up close and personal with the “Ag Trucks” and really friendly people.

We met a chap who was very interested in my Avcon conversion, and wanted us to jump in his truck and go to his barn, which was only a few minutes away, and see his aircraft. Well we did, and he had a ’68 Cessna 172I (like mine) which had the Avcon conversion ( like mine) and was beautifully restored and painted with a Texas Taildragger conversion (NOT like mine). It was a beautiful aircraft, quite worth the diversion. My wife was starting to notice how much fun this form of travel really was.

Our next overnight stop was Atikokan Ontario, which looked like it would be the stop of choice, because of the beautiful lakes in the area, and it was close enough to the head of lake Superior to get us into south eastern Ontario the next day.
Two and a half-hours later, we arrived at the Atikokan airstrip, to find nobody home. The airport had a great runway, lots of tie-downs, but not an airplane anywhere. The place was all locked up. We found a phone booth in the lobby of the terminal. There was a notice on the wall that stated there was a landing fee, and a substantial tie down fee… and don’t even think about calling out the fuel guy, because it’ll cost ya an extra $50 bucks! Just then a fellow pulled up in a little Suzuki 4X4 with Texas plates, and told us to tie down where ever, and the fuel will be open in the morning, and then he was gone. I was wondering what that was all about when my wife found a number to the hotel written on the wall. We phoned them, and jokingly asked if they had “airport service.” They said we’d have to take a taxi, and there were no “no smoking” rooms available. Nice Place.

The taxi (or mini van) showed up and took us to our hotel which was about 10 minutes away, and all the while he was explaining to us how much taxi drivers like to rip off passengers in the big city. He then charged us $10.00 for our 10-minute trip.

The Hotel was more like a motel, but had big city prices. After another $10 bucks to get back to the airport, it started to dawn on us why there were no airplanes at this otherwise wonderful location. The young summer student who fill up our tanks was very friendly and apologized for the way things were at Atikokan. He said he really wished things were different. I didn’t press the issue, but it seems that there is a real political problem at that airport.

After filing our flight plan with Thunder Bay direct to Wawa Ontario, which seemed to be the most logical way to get over Lake Superior, I realized that due to the questionable weather conditions, flight planning each hop seemed to make the most sense. Since I was going to get a weather update from each stop anyway, and maybe even hang out at each place, this seemed to be the most logical way.

We were able to get 9500 over the lake head, and could see the shore line fog on the far side, but Wawa was up in a little bay area that was in the clear. Another wonderful little town, with facilities near the airport, and very friendly people.

The next stop would only be an hour away, which was Elliot Lake. We were planning to go to Gore Bay on Manatoulin Island, but the weather was down to minimums over there, and Elliot Lake was showing 2500 broken, but clear to the east, with thunder storms in the forecast.

The area is pretty barren between Wawa and Elliot Lake, but the cloud cover didn’t become a problem until we were around 5 nm out from the airport. It was easy to get down to circuit level, and the wind was right down the runway, so it just reminded us of our local weather back home.

After a quick refuel, we were back on our way, next stop Brockville Ontario, where I spent many summers at my grand parents place. We were planning to spend a bit of time with my cousin there.

The flight along Lake Huron was pretty nice, with scattered cumulous, and some light, mid afternoon mechanical turbulence. We watched a large cell build up to the north east of us, as we were cruising along, thankful that we took this route. We were listening to the en-route 126.7 when we heard a fellow looking for a weather update for Sudbury from Peterbourgh. The Flight Service reported that although the weather radar was down at the moment, nothing was reported. My wife and I looked at each other, and realized that the CB (which was quickly rising over 20 thousand feet) was smack dab in the middle of this poor chap’s route.

I immediately called Flight Service and gave them a PIREP on the position of the cell, and reported the winds as I was on the lee side of the cell. It appeared that there were a few other aircraft heading into the deteriorating weather, and they diverted to safety after hearing the location of the problem. Another good reason to keep PIREPS an active part of any cross-country. After passing the cell and heading into great weather, we closed our flight plan with Ottawa Center on approach into Brockville, and seeing a familiar town look completely foreign from the air.

Once on the ground we found a place to tie down for a few days, and enjoy a few days with family. A few wonderful flights over the St. Lawrence 1000 Islands area, was a totally new experience from my childhood.

Our next adventure was to go and visit my wife’s cousin in Ottawa, who is a curator at the Canada Aviation Museum. We flew right into Rockcliffe airport, and did a tour immediately. This museum has gone through a lot of changes since my last visit many years ago, and really worth the visit. The Ottawa terminal area surprisingly doesn’t have a VTA(VFR Terminal Area Chart). If you are familiar with the area, you’ll know there are lots of restricted air spaces in the area, which are not easily noticed using a VNC (VFR Navigation Chart).

After leaving Ottawa the next day, we headed to Cornwall Ontario, and we would then try for the Maritimes. The people in Cornwall were wonderful, and they have a great little flying school/FBO. We discussed travelling through American airspace, and the MOA’s en-route through the state of Maine.

My homework was done well, and we were off for a three-hour flight to Fredericton New Brunswick. The clouds were 5000 scattered to broken, but generally clear all the way.

I was concerned about flying through Quebec, as I noticed the amount of French being spoken in eastern Ontario, and I didn’t understand a bit of it. As far as I was concerned, a vague idea of traffic locations isn’t really the safest way to do a cross-country trip. I decided to hang on to my transponder code assigned by Montreal Terminal and go for flight following.

Over Sherbrooke, there was a lot of on-air-French advisories, which were becoming a concern, as I was no longer on radar. I decided to do an advisory of my location and route on 126.7, and also on the Sherbrooke MF and was delighted to have Sherbrooke radio respond with local advisories in English.

Finally, entering into New Brunswick to Fredericton Lincoln Airport, where I had my first airplane ride in a Piper Colt in 1963. My Dad was in the Canadian Armed forces and we were stationed in Gagetown N.B. from 1960 to 1966. My Dad, brother and I spent many afternoons watching the airplanes come and go just off the North East end of the runway.

We taxied up to Diamond Aviation, and were treated with exceptional service. The fellow who refueled us also booked our car rental and hotel, with excellent prices. After a wonderful day of exploring old memories. We were off over the Bay of Fundy to Waterville Nova Scotia to visit an old High School Buddy.

Bay of Fundy

St John NB

There was quite a concern about CYR724 restricted airspace, which is a large military operation to the south east of Fredericton. However, I just filed a VFR departure to the FREN intersection, and that put us well East of the zone, and we could head direct to Waterville (CCW3) from there. That way we could stay East of St. John air space as well.

Enroute to Halifax

Crossing the Bay of Fundy was absolutely spectacular. The shoreline ridges and rock formations were truly a site to see. After reaching the other side, just North of the Annapolis Valley, we checked in with Greenwood, and scooted south to Peggy’s Cove for a quick look, then north where we were cleared to Waterville, where our friend was anxiously waiting for us.

We wanted to go to P.E.I. and possibly the Magdellin Islands, but a low pressure system had set up over the north coast of Cape Breton, and brought poor weather over the next week. We did a few short sight seeing trips over Lunenburg, Peggy’s Cove, Mahon Bay, and Liverpool while there, and convinced my buddy George, that flying lessons would be a great idea. Another converted?

East Coast

After five days in Waterville, it was time to head back. After the late afternoon fog lifted we headed north to St. John, and wait out some thunderstorms moving across the State of Maine. The next morning we were totally fogged in, so we took the opportunity to rent a car, and visit the area of St. John, St Martins and the Fundy National Park, which was well worth the diversion.

The next day was CAVU, and with a 10-knot headwind, we decided Sherbrooke would be our refuel stop. The trip across Maine was done a little higher, and we kept flight following with Boston Center right through to Sherbrooke. Now how cool is that? Our next stop was back to Brockville to mooch off of our cousins (they didn’t seem to be complaining) until the western thunderstorms subsided, and we could head for Winnipeg to visit another High School Buddy.

We followed the same route from Brockville to Elliot Lake, and then decided to spend the night in Wawa, just on the North East of Lake Superior. The airport staff was more then willing to drive us to and from the motel in Wawa, but we also found the motel owners were more then obliging. I love it when everyone fights over giving you service.

The next morning, we had a light fog over the bay, but had no problem departing to the North West, direct to Dryden Ontario, where I hoped to get an up-to-date Winnipeg VTA. The flight was wonderful, however, at Dryden the thought of carrying VTA’s was of the lowest priority. “They keep going out of date before we can sell them” said the friendly chap at the pumps. Well, I did have a current flight supplement, and it looked easy enough to head direct to St. Andrews, if we stayed North of Kenora, and below Winnipeg Terminal airspace.

All was going as to plan, until we reached Kenora, where the visibility went down to 1000 AGL, with a huge black thunder cell about 3 nm north of the airport. We decided to transit south of the airport, and contacted Kenora Radio about the situation. They seemed to have a few airplanes up in the area, and I helped them get an idea on the cell’s size to the North.

After clearing West of the airport, we were back on route, and on schedule. As we approached St. Andrews, I called about 8 miles out, and the response was quite immediate. “C-FXLM squawk code 3107 maintain current direction and you are cleared to join left downwind for the active… switch now to Inner Freq.”
Wow I thought… these guys are efficient! I switched to inner and advised I was unfamiliar with the airport, however, I had a visual. The controller replied, “ If you maintain current heading, you are lined up for left down wind, for 13, you are number two behind the aircraft on right base…. and you’ll be having a friendly visitor at your aircraft when you land.”

Oh, oh… I thought… where did I bust the airspace? Did I forget something? I thought I was being helpful in Kenora. I couldn’t for the life of me think of why I would have a “visitor” other then a ramp check. as all of our gear was properly stowed, paper work in order, etc. etc. Anyway, as I asked ground for progressive taxi to the Winnipeg Flying Club, she advised me that my “friendly visitor” was none other then one of the Air-Traffic Controllers whose dad used to own my airplane! Now what are the chances of that? The Air-Controller guy showed up on his 10 speed. The first thing he said was “ It’s been painted!”. Well, it turns out, his Dad owned XLM from 1972 until 1978. Well, my maintenance logs show the sale, and the Avcon conversion to an O-360 with the constant speed prop was originally done in 1980. The paint job came in 1990 with a “0” time engine and a rebuilt propeller. The interior, however, is still very much original, and brought back memories for our new friend.

We visited my old buddy from high school, for a few days, and had a wonderful time. Winnipeg is absolutely a gas in the summer time! There is so much to do! Unfortunately we had to start going back home but we had to make one more stop in Calgary to visit my cousin who was feeling a bit left out.

Winnipeg

I was starting to get “get-home-itus” and the weather was really co-operating. We left Winnipeg and headed to Estevan Sask., then back to our favorite little town of Maple Creek Sask. Upon arriving at Maple Creek, there were thunder cells coming from the south west towards Calgary, and if we timed it right, we could get in before dinner. We kept in touch with flight services, as we went for Chinese food in Maple Creek. Finally we had a break, and off we were to Calgary.

We kept to the lee side of one of the largest thunder cells we have ever seen. Calgary Center kept in touch with us to make sure we stayed VFR, and then handed us off to Springbank where the wind direction changed 3 times in the short time I was in the zone. We landed and taxied over to Springbank Aviation, and secured the plane down good and tight. My cousin was waiting to whisk us away back into the thunderstorm, but this time by car. We were glad to be on the ground for that one. I watched the weather on the news that evening, and it looked like a large low-pressure system was moving down from the northwest and would probably bring poor weather within the next 48 hours.

The next morning we had 10,000 broken and forecasted winds at 11 kts at 9000, so I thought that would work for a direct VFR to the Enderby VOR, and we could be home by lunch time. On the climb out, we were showing 110kts indicated airspeed, but the GPS was showing 85kts ground speed. That means we were getting a head wind of 25kts, and I have a personal passenger limit of 20 kts in the mountains.

Banff

As we reached 8500 feet, it was getting worse. We were being buffeted all over the place and the groundspeed dropped to 68kts. I kept the airspeed down to 90 kts indicated. We decided to cancel the direct plan and head for the Banff Valley to Lake Louise, but the buffeting was actually getting worse in the valley.

We continued on, as we knew the winds were calm near the Rogers Pass, and further westward was CAVU. However, as we reached the turn at Banff to Lake Louise, a huge thunder cell met us, blocking the valley in all directions. That was it… my wife and I had just about enough of this, so we did a 180, and returned back to Springbank.

Lake Louise

Flight Services was very interested in the amount of turbulence we experienced and immediately posted a PIREP. The winds at the top of the mountains were now reported at 35G45. We borrowed the Springbank Aero Service’s courtesy car, and went to get a bite to eat and wait for the winds to calm down.

Springbank Aero Service is a full service FBO with all the necessities, including a lounge with Satellite TV, flight planning areas, and a real friendly atmosphere (home of the “OurPlane” service…a real class act! ). By sun down, the winds were still gusting to 25kts., so we called it a day and checked into the lovely “Tie Down B&B” right beside Springbank Aero Services.

The next morning, we visited the Calgary Flying Club for some pointers on flying VFR through the canyon. I was surprised to find out that the instructors present, never spent much time in those beautiful hills off in the distance. I went back to Springbank Aero Services, and talked to Mitch, who not only flew the areas I was heading to, but had lots of information regarding what to expect. After topping up the tanks and last minute check we were off again, and following the VFR route. The trip was timed perfect for the least amount of wind, and higher cloud, and turned out to be a beautiful flight.

All the corners and valleys through Rogers Pass were as expected according to Mitch at the FBO, and we ended up safe and sound in Vernon B.C. We refueled and headed for Penticton, for a relaxing evening, and to have dinner with my wife’s Dad.

The next Morning, we flew Direct to the Princeton VOR, and due to the same claggy conditions around Hope, we decided to head south to Ross Lake, and wind up west of Hope, and finally at home, and clear to land in Pitt Meadows.

The total flight time from Pitt Meadows B.C. to Waterville N.S. was approximately 24 hours, and approximately 2500nm. (not including the little local trips in each area en-route.) We logged about 63 hours total, and had the time of our lives. I clearly thought that this trip would be a once in a life time trip, however, in our spunky little 172, we can’t wait to do it again!