Another local flight. I took a visiting employee from our California office for some sightseeing.
Date: 2007-Sep-20
Aircraft: C-FENF, DA20-A1
Passenger: Joe R.
Route: CYKF CYKF
Flight Time: 1.3h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
Flew to the Sharon and Mt. Albert area to photograph my parents’ house, and the farm of a friend from public school. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure exactly where the latter was, so didn’t get any pictures of it. I’ll have to try again some other time.
Date: 2007-Aug-31
Aircraft: C-FPME, DA20-A1
Passenger: none
Route: CYKF - Sharon - Mt. Albert - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.7h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
I’m a bit behind on recording my flights on my blog, so rather than go back and write something about each one, I’m just going to post the details that I’d write in my regular log book.
Date: 2007-Aug-08
Aircraft: C-FPME, DA20-A1
Passenger: Elin L.
Route: CYKF - Stratford - Ontario Corn Maze - Elora - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.4h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
Our Norwegian Fjordhorse farm sometimes attracts young Fjord riders who wish to spend a few weeks or months on our farm during their summer vacation. A few years back, Sofia from Sweden stayed with us, and last November, she introduced us to her friend Elin while we were in Sweden on a combined business trip and vacation. Elin is a Fjord owner and vet student, and she decided to come to Canada for six weeks this summer. It’s always great to have a foreign visitor, as it really opens one’s eyes to the wider world out there. It also gives me a passenger! (I bet you were wondering what this had to do with flying.)
The two main aerial sightseeing attractions around here are Toronto and Niagara Falls, so we decided to take in both on the same flight. We started a 9:00am (early to avoid the inevitable afternoon turbulence on a sunny summer day) and headed towards the shore of Lake Ontario and then along the shoreline to Toronto. I’d hoped for more direct routing through Toronto Pearson (CYYZ) class B, but the winds favoured a runway that would have put a lot of traffic in our path (and us in theirs).
As we approached the downtown, we asked for and received clearance to overfly the city in a clockwise direction, with the 1800′ high CN Tower about a mile off our right wing. It’s a strange feeling flying at 2000′ ASL and having part of a building that’s above the horizon (the top of the tower is at 2055′ ASL). We completed the Toronto circuit by overflying the Toronto Island Airport (CYTZ), and then headed back out along the shore towards Burlington. Traffic was quite heavy, and both the Island tower, and later Toronto Terminal, frequently called out traffic above or below us. They were doing a great job keeping everyone separated, and flying in that area without flight following (by staying below the CYYZ airspace) is just plain dumb.
Upon reaching Burlington, we made a gentle arcing turn eastbound and climbed to 5500′ at Toronto Terminal’s request. Over Grimsby, we cancelled flight following in order to switch over to the Niagara Falls sightseeing circuit frequency, and started to descend to 4000′. There is restricted airspace over the Falls below 3500′ for the official tour operators’ use, and I like to keep a 500′ buffer between me and that airspace. On the US side, this space is a “permanent TFR” which I really don’t want to bust.
We made three circuits of the Falls and Elin took dozens of photos (the joy of digital photography). There was another plane in the circuit behind us and about 500′ below, and we kept each other advised of our positions as required by the sightseeing circuit procedures. There were also a number of tour operator planes and choppers in the restricted airspace below.
After getting our fill of the Falls, we headed west towards Welland, then Ohsweken, and finally back to Waterloo Region International (CYKF). The ground was starting to heat up, forming puffy cumulus clouds about 1000′ above us and tossing us around a bit. Towards the end, Elin was getting a bit queasy (but not scared), but she was fine once we landed, glad we went, and looking forward to flying again.
If you’re thinking about flying the Niagara Falls circuit, here are some tips:
- Make sure your medical is up-to-date by US standards. Private pilot medical validity periods in the US are shorter than those in Canada.
- Study and understand the procedure as described in the Canada Flight Supplement (or the US equivalent if you’re flying from there).
- Take a photocopy with you and review it briefly before approaching the entry point.
- File a flight plan, since you will be crossing the border.
- Use flight following until about 10 miles from the entry point, and then ask ATC to let you keep your transponder code (I wasn’t aware this was important, but Toronto Terminal suggested it when I cancelled flight following).
- Once in the circuit, make all the required position reports, and pay attention to everyone else’s reports. Think of the circuit as an uncontrolled airport with no runway.
- When leaving the circuit, follow one of the published exit routes.
Date: 2007-Jul-22
Aircraft: C-FPMC, DA20-A1
Passenger: Elin L.
Route: CYKF - Toronto - Niagara Falls - CYKF
Flight Time: 2.6h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
On Thursday’s AvWeb news there appeared an article about a proposed three-parachute recovery system for light aircraft. The concepts involves jettisoning the wings which then each descend on their own ‘chutes, while the fuselage descends on a larger main parachute. Aviation Safety Resources, the company proposing to build this product, has produced an animated video showing it in action (you can see it on their web site).
I watched this video, and couldn’t believe what they were proposing! In the video, a plane carrying a family of four suffers an engine failure while cruising above the clouds. A gliding descent ensues, and once below the clouds, the pilot decides that he can’t make it to the runway. He decides to activate the parachute system, at which point the wings separate from the aircraft (!) via explosive bolts (!!), and then the aircraft’s main parachute opens, bringing the fuselage to a reasonably soft landing in a field.
This is ludicrous! First of all, if I suffered an engine failure and glided to a situation where I could see the ground, and there were fields around (as there are in the video), I think my course of action would be a forced approach and power-off landing. If conditions were slightly less favourable (e.g. forests, water, or rugged terrain), I might consider pulling the ‘chute if my plane had one.
Second of all, the situation would have to be extremely dire before I’d consider activating a recovery system that ejected the wings from the plane. What if the parachute failed to leave the aircraft? Even in rugged terrain, it would be nice to still have the option of attempting a forced landing. With the three ‘chute system, the wings are now gone, and I would be the pilot of a giant lawn dart.
This just seems like a really dumb idea! ASR claims that the descent is more stable without the wings still attached, but who cares! As long as it’s slow enough, I don’t really care if it’s a wild ride on the way down. The three ‘chute system also violates the keep-it-simple principle. There are far more things that can go wrong (such as one wing failing to separate, in which case you’re going down sideways).
Sorry, not for me. If you think it’s a good idea, they’re looking for investors.
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