CFC e ATIS - Calgary Flying Club · 2016. 5. 27. · previous CFC Baja trip a couple of years earlier in the e-ATIS and thinking, at the time, what a great trip that would be. By

CFC e-ATIS

“ONE PASSION SINCE 1927” http://calgaryflyingclub.com Volume 7, Week 21, May 27, 2016

Contact Michael Anderson [email protected] or call him in person 403-560-6393 with suggestions, comments or even better, material to publish.

Published by the Calgary Flying Club © 2015 –Subscription changes contact Logan @ Dispatch at 403-288-8831

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In This Issue

It’s PUB Night today come on out; starts upstairs 5:30pm!

Members “Club” Survey

Board Member Bio – Ken Yewell

Events Calendar

Journey Log – BAJA 2016 Trip Report

CFC Members Survey *Final Week

Thanks to all those that have already taken the few minutes required to complete it. We are still looking for further input to gain as broad a cross-section of opinions as possible. Students, Members (and past members still receiving our CFC eATIS) are encouraged to fill in the open ended questions with long form answers that the few multiple choice questions might not cover. Please click on the link below to help us support your passion for aviation:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F2PZPHQ

Board Member Bio – Ken Yewell

I was born and raised in a farming community west of Olds. After attending the local Air Cadet 185

squadron for several years, I won a scholarship towards a private pilot’s license at CFB Penhold.

Joining the Canadian Military in 1974 my target goal was to fly high performance aircraft but the

window of opportunity never came and I served as a naval office on warships instead.

As an active member of the Olds flying club in the early eighties, I served as President of the club during

the construction of the new Olds Didsbury airport.

http://calgaryflyingclub.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F2PZPHQ

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My professional career within the energy industry in Calgary as a marketing director involved in the

designing and marketing of financial derivatives to manage commodity market risks for large energy

companies.

Today I fly an uncertified Zenair about 100 hours per year. Even though I did not build the aircraft, I am

allowed to function as the manufacturer which in turn allows me a limited amount of latitude to modify

the aircraft, which I have done. I succeeded in achieving an IFR certification in this aircraft and log

several hours of IMC time each year. This is by far the best all-around aircraft I have ever flown.

I am a member of the BOD of CFC because I want to give back to a sport and a passion that has

consumed a lot of my life. When it comes to flying, I believe that unless you are getting better, you are

in decline.

CFC Flying & Events Calendar

***The Summer flying calendar is filling up but feel free to pass along any other flying destination events you may have heard of or are interested in.

Date Event Description May 27

th Friday

5:30pm – 9:00pm CFC Family Pub Night

(last Friday of the month)

Always a great hangar flying opportunity and a chance

to meet a few other Members. This will also be a great

time to compare notes on those summer flying

destinations. Grab the spouse, the kids and the

airplane partners and come on out for beverages and

burgers if its not raining too hard!

May 28th 9:00am

Saturday Sortie?? Once again it’s not looking great for VFR weather this

Saturday but, if it breaks in the morning long enough for

a local flight, write it on the Sortie Board!

http://calgaryflyingclub.com/mailto:[email protected]

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May 29th

Sunday Camrose Annual Fly-In Breakfast (CEQ3)

Sunday weather forcast looks quite a bit better for

flying. See mini-poster at end of this newsletter.

Always a great photo op of your arrival, don’t forget to

smile for the camera!

June 1st

7pm

(1st

Wednesday) IMC Club at the CFC This is a Member led discussion of IFR flight. Come on

out to explore scenario based learning (or refresher) on

various topics for the instrument pilot.

June 8th

7pm

(2nd

Wednesday) Members Night at the CFC Members Night will be just that. Come on out and

share your thoughts on summer flying destinations.

Intro presentation on crossing the US border at the

unique Porthill ID airstrip. Airventure OSH pre-planning

will be covered. 2016 NOTAM on their website now!

June 18-24th

2016 Yukon Midnight Sun Challenge – Century Flight Club

This year’s trip led by Jim Moffat will include fly-outs to

Dawson City, Haines Junction and Carcross. Join in a

well-organized group flight to the North.

http://www.centuryflightclub.com/#!this-years-flight/cee5

July 1st

- 3rd

Long Weekend Priest Lake - Cavanaugh Bay ‘66S’ via ‘1S1’ Porthill for customs

Come on down to the jewel of northern Idaho for the

long weekend and stay for the U.S. 4th

of July fireworks.

Long smooth grass strip suitable for any aircraft.

Check out: http://www.cavbay.com/ or

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-

News/2014/August/04/Pilot-Getaways-Priest-Lake-

Idaho

*We’ll do a briefing on the unique Porthill border

crossing at the Wednesday June 8th Member’s Nite see

above.

July 10th

2016

Sunday Calgary Flying Club

Annual Stampede Breakfast

Our flight lead for this event, Greg Morsky, will be

looking for plenty of volunteers needed for this year’s

annual Stampede Breakfast. The power of the internet

made for big crowds last year and we expect the same

in 2016. Drop a note to eATIS to get put in touch with

the organizing committee.

July 7th

-9th

2016 Arlington WA Fly-in

A western warm up for OSH, the EAA’s Arlington WA

fly-in is closer and more accessible for many. Put it on

your flying calendar and take some time off from

Stampeding. http://www.arlingtonflyin.org/

July 15,16&17 Hinton Wild Mountain Music Festival

Head on up to the Hinton Entrance airport; camp in the

pilot campground; walk across the field to enjoy the

sounds of the Wild Mountain Music Festival.

http://www.wildmtnmusic.ca/

http://calgaryflyingclub.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.centuryflightclub.com/#!this-years-flight/cee5http://www.cavbay.com/http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/August/04/Pilot-Getaways-Priest-Lake-Idahohttp://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/August/04/Pilot-Getaways-Priest-Lake-Idahohttp://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/August/04/Pilot-Getaways-Priest-Lake-Idahohttp://www.arlingtonflyin.org/http://www.wildmtnmusic.ca/

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July 25th

-31st

2016

Oshkosh EAA AirVenture

Make the annual pilot pilgrimage to see all things

General Aviation!! Mark it on your calendar now.

Planning meetings will be held well in advance (First

one noted above June 8th

).

https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure

Journey Log – BAJA 2016 by Bruce Cawston

The notices for a Calgary Flying Club group trip to Baja, Mexico first appeared in the e-ATIS in the November 11th

edition

but I was already making plans for a trip to the southern USA to visit friends. Still, I recalled seeing an account of a

previous CFC Baja trip a couple of years earlier in the e-ATIS and thinking, at the time, what a great trip that would be.

By the December 4th

edition of CFC’s e-ATIS, “several planes”, were already interested and in early January the initial Baja

trip planning meeting was set for the CFC Members Speaker Night on January 13th

. By this time in 2016, the Canadian

dollar was plummeting compared to the US dollar and I was having second thoughts about the $1.40 cost for every dollar

I would be spending on a USA trip. A quick check of current FX showed the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso had stayed

fairly equivalent over the last year so I was off to hear what was being proposed for the Baja trip.

The planning session on January 13th

was organized and lead by Michael Anderson and Andy Schultz, two veterans of

previous CFC Baja trips. They were a great resource for what to expect when going through Mexican customs among

other things. And a great source for other resources, like the Baja Bush Pilots website, which made filing eAPIS

notifications for Mexico and the USA much simpler.

After conferring with my better half on a change of vacation plans and with the final itinerary for March 17th

to 28th

for

the “Baja Pig Run” set, we were officially “in” on January 24th

. There was a second ad hoc planning discussion following

the CFC AGM on February 6th

and a final planning/discussion meeting on March 10th

. The general trip itinerary was set up

as:

Day 1: i) Springbank to Montana – Fuel & to clear US Customs ii) Montana to Northern Nevada/Southern Idaho – Fuel iii) Northern Nevada/Southern Idaho to Jean, Nevada – Fuel & The Gold Strike Hotel & Gambling, (45

km south of Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas) Day 2: i) Jean, Nevada to San Felipe, BC, Mexico – Fuel & to clear MX, Customs ii) San Felipe to Alfonsina’s Resort Baja Hotel, BC (Bahia San Luis Gonzaga) Day 3: Alfonsina’s to Mulegé, BCS (Hotel Serinidad) Day 5: Hotel Serinidad to Loreto, BCS (La Mission Hotel) Day 7: Loreto to Punta Pescadero, BCS Day 10: i) Punta Pescadero to Loreto – Fuel & Mexican Customs exit ii) Loreto to Calexico, California – Fuel & US Customs ii) Calexico, California to Northern Nevada/Southern Idaho – Fuel & Overnight Day 11: i) Return to CYBW

http://calgaryflyingclub.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.eaa.org/en/airventure

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We were up early and out to CYBW on the morning of Thursday March 17th

, only to be greeted by snow showers from an

easterly flow causing pop up precipitation and poor visibility along the mountains, flowing southeasterly over the ports of

entry into Montana. A long day of waiting and looking for alternate routes continued to be met with frustration, so a

delay to Friday March 18th

was chosen. Two of the planes in the group had decided to leave the day before, had made it

to Jackpot, Nevada on the 16th

and were already on their way south while we were stuck at CYBW. A third plane in the

Baja group, was able to file IFR out of CYBW to Spokane, Washington to clear US customs, then picked up a good tail wind

heading south and made Jean, NV in two legs. Note to self … start IFR training and save money for a turbocharged plane.

Friday March 18th

brought a better weather forecast and prospects for clear conditions over the mountains in Montana.

Two planes left CYBW early, with wheels up at 7:30am local time, en-route to Cut Bank, MT to clear US customs. A third

plane joined us at Cut Bank, having had mechanical issues that delayed them a day. That made for six CFC Baja Pig run

trip planes for 2016. A relatively routine US customs stop, outside of losing some of the fruit we’d planned to snack on,

and a three way, speaker phone, weather briefing/flight plan filing and we were all off from Cut Bank, MT to Elko, Nevada

or Jerome, Idaho if bladders couldn’t last the four hours to Elko.


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We had some beautiful views of the Rockies as we climbed up to 12,500’ and headed direct to Missoula. Clouds clearing

off to the southeast allowed us to modify our routing more directly towards Jerome, ID and after a little convincing, direct

to Elko, NV where the skies were clear and it was already getting to be too warm for long pants. A quick refueling,

weather brief and flight plan at the great El Aero Service FBO and we were off on the last leg of the first day. Some more

great scenery through the high country of northern Nevada with snow capped peaks and desert valleys. We used VFR

flight following out of Elko, losing radar coverage part way and picking it up again as we came through the MOA’s north of

Las Vegas class bravo airspace. It’s a busy spot to be sure, but relatively easy to navigate through using flight following.

The final destination of the day was Jean, Nevada, 45 km south of Caesars Palace on I15, and the Gold Strike Hotel &

Gambling. A great airport, that can be busy with Sin City first time sky divers and area soaring, but it’s a short walk from

the airport to the hotel and past the busy Las Vegas class bravo airspace. As long as you have a room, of course. Which

wouldn’t have been a problem had we arrived on Thursday as we had planned but turned out to be a problem when we

arrived on Friday and Jean, NV was getting the overflow from a busy Las Vegas, Easter Break weekend. Some quick

googling and dialing got us a room 20 km down the road at Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino in Primm, NV. Some sweet

talking by Rick Pow landed us a ride with a lovely lady, not only willing to take us from Jean to Primm, but to pick us up

and bring us back the next morning! Thank you Rick!

After a much needed night’s rest at Wild Bill’s, the second day of our trip south greeted us with beautiful blue skies and

definitive shorts temperatures. With a little later start after breakfast at Denny’s, we were the last of the group to leave

and head for the USA-Mexico border. With mid-morning temperatures already starting to climb, some altitude was

needed to escape the bumps from convective heating, just like summertime back home. With a little bit of deviation

around some of the military restricted airspace close to the border we crossed about 10 NM west of Yuma, AZ heading

for San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, which would be our Mexican customs clearing, airport of entry. Jean to San Felipe

was a relatively quick 2 hours and 20 minute flight which was great because the customs and immigration procedures at

San Felipe lasted an hour and a half, with nobody else lined up ahead of us. Fortunately, we had been well briefed by

Michael and Andy to pack our patience and relax, we’re on vacation.


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Despite the myriad of forms (customs declaration, multi-entry authorization, arrival flight plan, departure flight plan …)

which need to be stamped by a seemingly endless number of people (customs, immigration, flight services, cashier …)

and the fees for which no one ever has change, everyone we dealt with was very courteous and friendly. By mid

afternoon we were back in the air heading to Hotel Serinidad in Mulegé, BC and overflying Alfonsina’s Resort, which we

missed due to our one day delay leaving Springbank, as we followed the Baja coast along the Gulf of California. The views

are magnificent and cruising along the coast, just out over the water, the air was silky smooth. The great scenery made

the 2 hour flight go by quickly but after two days in the plane, we were ready to kick back and relax in the hospitality of

the Hotel Serinidad. The hotel is responsible for the well maintained gravel runway at Mulegé and after a quick review of

our flight plan by the Mexican military stationed next door, we unloaded for our first real stop in Baja. Hotel Serinidad

was to be the site of the Baja Pig roast on Saturday March 19th

, giving this year’s CFC Baja trip its name, but the only

disappointment of the trip turned out to be the lack of a pig because of an accident blocking traffic to the Hotel. The

chicken & rib BBQ put on by the hotel staff was great anyway.

After two days of Pacifico cervéza and margaritas, expertly prepared by Roman, at Hotel Serinidad, it was time for a new

venue. A short 40 minute flight down the coast and across Bahίa de Concepcion to Loreto, BCS, a town of 15,000 on the

Sea of Cortez coast. Accommodations in Loreto were at the beautiful La Mission Hotel where all of the rooms looked out

over the Gulf of California and across to Isla Carmen, part of the Bahίa de Loreto National Park. Loreto was founded by

the Jesuit Missionaries in 1697 and the Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó, or the Mission of our Lady of Loreto,

founded by the Jesuits, is still there. In addition to the history lessons offered by the Jesuit Missions Museum located

beside the Mission, we enjoyed two evenings of great dining, the first at La Palapa Restaurante and the second local

restaurant on the Courtyard discovered by some of the CFC’ers having an after-hours night cap with the owners on the

first night in Loreto.

After enjoying the variety of Loreto cuisine, some souvenir shopping along Avenida Salvatierra and stocking up on

margarita supplies we were off from Loreto International airport, which boasts a 7000’ paved runway, for the solitude of

the Punta Pescadero Paradise Hotel, the southernmost stop on the 2016 Baja trip. The hotel also maintains its own paved

runway which has a beautiful final approach over the water and beach houses if you’re landing to the north. Hotel staff

were quick to arrive at the aircraft parking to pick us up and bring us the short hop over to the hotel check in. The hotel

was aptly named as it truly was a paradise with gorgeous beaches that stretched for miles in either direction.


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There were hotel provided activities like kayaking and quad’ing and great snorkeling right out the front of the resort. Or,

you could just kick back, relax, and watch the ocean from the deck off the back of your room. Evenings provided dinner

on the main hotel patio overlooking the Gulf towards Mazetlán, watching the full moon rise, with Jupiter just above it, if

you were sharp enough to pick it out. Conveniently, dinner coincided with two for one happy hour and live entertainment

for the dancers.

After three days and nights of enjoying paradise at the end of a Calgary winter, it was time to pack up and head for home.

A less than promising forecast for southern Idaho and central Montana for two days hence prompted a long day of flying

for the first day after leaving Punta Pescadero. The return trip followed, mostly, the same route as the trip south.

Departing Punta Pescadero for a short two-hour leg north up the Baja coast back to Loreto where we re-fueled and made

our Mexican Customs departure and US Customs phone call.

A quick turn-around and we were back in the air headed for Calexico, California, a four-hour leg, to clear US Customs and

more fuel. Calexico is less than half a kilometer north of the USA-Mexico border and we flew in over the city of Mexicali,

MX, a very cool view.

Calexico was recommended by Michael and Andy and offered a quick and uneventful customs review, as advertised. A

second quick turn-around and we were back in the air once again, headed past Sin City to our fuel stop on the way south

at Elko, NV and, this time, the Red Lion Hotel & Casino. The descent into Calexico and the trip north to Elko offered the

first real convective turbulence of the trip, not bad for 3700NM of flying. By the time we had reached Elko we were ready

to have our feet on the ground. Dinner at Red Lion’s Aspen Bar & Grille never tasted so good and after a long day heading

north, an early evening was in order.


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The final day of flying on the CFC Baja 2016 trip started very early with the first of the group off the ground shortly after

7:00am. We were the last to leave Elko at 8:15am and probably just in time as low ceilings and precipitation were moving

south east from Oregon and NW Idaho into northern Nevada and western Montana. We benefitted from route info

passed back by Michael Anderson on conditions ahead and from John and Linda Cardiff, who filed IFR from Elko to

Springbank, and were our “eyes up high” for areas that were clearing as we flew NE passed Idaho Falls and north passed

Helena, MT.

One final stop at Cut Bank, MT for fuel and to make our call to Canada Border Services for our arrival time at Springbank.

The leg from Cut Bank north to CYBW was relatively clear after leaving the mountains with only gusty winds greeting us

as we descended into Cut bank. We arrived back at CYBW at 4:30pm on Sunday March 27th

. Weary from two long days of

flying on the return trip but full of great memories of a wonderful experience. Thanks to Michael Anderson and Andy

Schultz for organizing and arranging. If you have ever thought about a trip south, it is highly recommended!

Ed. Thanks for the great trip report Bruce!

** How about Oregon coast and/or Washington wine country this summer? Just need one member going somewhere to start ! Bring your ideas out to Pub Night or Members Night June 8th and you might be surprised at who’s done it before and who’s just waiting for an excuse to go. *** One of our members asked about a group trip out to Vancouver Island later this year. Any of our members done this trip recently? How about one of you volunteering to lead an extended 3-day weekend trip this summer?

FROM AROUND THE WEB

I’ve been running low on content for this section. Feel free to forward any links, photos or content to: [email protected]

BOOKMARK THIS LINK FOR FUTURE REFERENCE:

Link to previous e-ATIS editions: http://www.calgaryflyingclub.com/the-club/eatis-newsletter

…BLUE SKIES AND TAILWINDS
http://calgaryflyingclub.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.calgaryflyingclub.com/the-club/eatis-newsletter

Documents

CFC e ATIS - Calgary Flying Club · 2016. 5. 27. · previous CFC Baja trip a couple of years earlier in the e-ATIS and thinking, at the time, what a great trip that would be. By