skyking

hi dave: I posted one of the thunderstorm we just ducked under in Yorkton and one of us in Gimi waiting it out. I have another one or two of some taken in flight i will also post. I am on dialup way out here in the country ( i can hear you all laughing...LOL) and it takes a while to download so i only post one or two a day.

Finally getting time to post here after making the apologies via phone to Ned and pne other chap i did not get to visit. Unlike the 2008 trip this one was cut short due to weather and on-going carb problems. I needed to replace the carb in Windor. I finally got there and the engine was running fine but after leaving Windor it was acting up and a return to Windor was in the cards and there i sat for 3 more days waiting for a re-built carb. The weather was looking bad for the rest of the week through the praires ( hail, thunderstorms, high humidity etc) so i headed for home. HAd to go Windor, Gore bay, Thunder bay, Ignace, Dryden, Dauphin, Saskatoon and then home to avoid the real bad weather. Lesson learned never plan a cross country in the worlds most famous tornado and hail alley in June! I had to duck in between some real nasty stuff, but managed to stay legal the whole way! I will post some pics of the weather. Still managed to see the grand-kids and met some new freinds and managed to do the ambassador thing when i was hanging around some of the airports so it was not a total loss.

Plane is all fixed and we are waiting for the weather to clear this morning. Hope to get to Windsor later today and Ottawa tomorrow then on to the east coast. NED: Looking forward to seeing those pics. Sorry i missed out on PEI. Bet ya had fun

Good news, kind of.... Looks like i picked up a load of bad fuel in Kenora. When they opened up the fuel screens they were plugged up with rust and gunk. I had them all cleaned and checked before i left so we know thats the problem. Plus the left tank had some junk in it and that tank and the belly tank were the only tanks i filled up there. The right tank is still squeeky clean. So Mononday we are back in business.... Gonna miss the COPA convention in PEI but ned can fly the flag at that one.

carusoam: i just got the Thunder bay and lightning joke....LOL I guess i am more tired than i thought,,,, Usually i am much faster on the uptake... Yes. we are very lucky it happened when it did.. I made the runway no problem and Kovalckeck aviation took the plane in right away and moved me to the front of the line as i am in transit. The good news is it should not really impact the trip as we planned to spend a day ro two here to see the grankids etc. This whole area is a no-fly zone for the next 2 days due to the G8 summit anyway so no harm no foul.

The Good news: We made it to Burlington The bad news: My engine quit on final into Burlington. After all that work getting around the weather etc. I am now stuck here for the weekend. Looks like a gasket in the carb. has started leaking and the engine will not run below 1200 RPM. When i powered back on final it just sputtered and died. We had a great flight from Thunder bay to Wawa, Manitoulin island and then into Burlington. The weather held and we only had some fog to deal with in Wawa. We saw the largest Goose in the world in Wawa. ( The lengths some people go to for a tourist attraction...LOL) I hope Ned gets good weather for the trip to PEI as he is leaving this morning. Once the plane is fixed we will be continuing on.....So far quite the adventure...

Next up..Windsor, Ottawa to see Ned and the East Coast

We are on the road. Day 1 rain all the way from Edmonton to Yorkton Sask. With lightning off the nose we figured "what the heck, lets stop here"...LOL Got a hanger for the night from Yorkton Aviation and they gave us a free rental car for the night. booked us a hotel and had the plane fueled up and ready to go at 9AM as promised. Great place to stop if you are up that way. Day 2: Yorkton to Thunder bay. I am sitting here at the hotel listening to the thunder and rain again. Stopped at the Shell Aerocentre in Thunder bay to spend the night as we were surrounded by big wooly buggers .Pretty much the same treatment. Ramp agent arranged hotel and shuttle to the hotel. HAd a great supper, had a swim and we wll be on out final leg into Burlington tomorrow as the weather finally looks good. Getting lots of great pictures and will post some when we get back.

Well the day has finally arrived. The plane has had a good checkout, fresh oil and filter, flight plans are done for the first 4 legs and we are off tomorrow morning. Of course the weather looks like crud as i am writing this but hopefully it will clear up as we go. I will try to see if my blackberry works to post as i go.

Steph. Thanks for posting all the info. I have just had this prop installed about 100 hours ago and i am leaving on a cross country tomorrow morning. I will be putting about 60 hours on in the next few weeks. I will need to take a good long look at mine tonight. Russ

My annuals run $2500 plus any found work. Tyler spent 30 hours on my last one as the woodwings take a little extra time

Nobody can guarantee there will be no future AD's on anything. About 100 hours after i got my new engine i was hit with a AD on the cylinders. That was another 10 grand i was not expecting to spend. Guess how much the engine supplier paid towards that? You got it zip, zero, zilch!

Jim: I agree with the special care etc. i have mine completley inspected every year, new sealer applied to the spars etc and i had the wings totally rebuilt in 2008. I am very lucky that i have a AME that is a specialist in wood wing and fabric aircraft and he is younger than me so he should be around for a few years yet...

Jim: What in flight structural failures? i am not aware of any. There was the tail issue back in the old days but i can not find any records of any in flight wing failures.

Ned: that works too or i may just go to PEI and join you guys there and stop at your home base on the way back. I am working on an event for fredericton actually! Hope the weather is better there than it was for the St. Paul event.

Hi Ned: Yes i am aware that i am comparing US to Canadian, i am just amazed at the difference. I wll need to see who you are with when i arrive there. I am still planning for June 24 or 25th. Weather looks a little spotty but should be OK.

I use RV cleaner. It is made for fibreglass , aluminum etc.

Damn those are good prices. I have over 6,000 hours with about 400 on type and i pay wayyyyyyyyyy more than that.

rob: for $1100 bucks what coverage do you get? Full in motion etc or just basic? i pay twice that for full in motion etc coverage.

All of us here in Edmonton are over the moon about this development. Never in a miilion years did we expect this outcome.

I am with most of you. Anything more than 6.5 quarts in the pan will soon be all over the bottom of my baby.

As some of you may know the city of Edmonton Alberta is trying to shut down the city centre airport. A number of aircraft owners and businesses that operate out of the airport have sued the city as they signed 50 year leases only a few years ago. The news out today suggests that the courts are going to rule in favour of the owners and are going to order an injunction that forbids the airport to close until 2054 unless the city pays the aircraft owners and businesses so much money it will no longer be profitable to sell the airport property off. Yippee.

When i lived in Ontario we used to go to Sandusky all the time. Great spot and Ceder Point is always fun.