Visiting Canada.
 

I shall be visiting my Daughter in Calgary from17-28 Dec. and would welcome an introduction to Private flyers in the area. I was over in September and felt very envious of all those small airfields. Didn`t see too many small a/c though. One Stearman flying over Downtown and no Gliders/ motorgliders at all. The EAA doesn`t seem to have a chapter there and I have found nothing about a Canadian EAA or PFA. Do you all operate in secret?

Regards

Mike W

You should look for an RAA chapter. Recreational aircraft association. The Canadian version of EAA.

Thank you johnv.
I have found just what I need now. Can`t think why my search engine didn`t find it but that`s the way it goes.
Thanks again

Mike W

See also the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, the Calgary Flying Club, and the Central Alberta Gliding Club.

The main VFR/training airfield for Calgary is Springbank (CYBW) which has a tower and Class D airspace, though there are lots of small airfields within spitting distance of the city. If gliders are your thing, try Black Diamond.
If you're visiting from the UK, the main things to be aware of are that an acknowledgment of your request to enter Class D, even without a clearance, constitutes permission to enter, and you can expect to be vectored in Class C while VFR though terrain separation remains your responsibility. There is a lot of terrain to the west!
Other things to note.... way cheaper AVGAS than the UK and Canucks are great people as long as you don't spill their beer.

And don't deride the Calgary Flames;)

Mike,

There are several gliding clubs in Alberta (see the Alberta Soaring Council website, but you are coming at the wrong time of the year. :( Gliding finishes when the snow comes - typically in October and doesn't start again until March/April.

The closest club to Calgary is Cu Nim at Black Diamond.

If you want to go flying in December (provided it is not too cold - not less than -15C should be OK :cool: ), I would recommend a mountain checkout and if you contact one of the operators at Calgary International (Morgan Air or Calgary Flight Training Centre), you'll get to fly off the same 13,000 ft runway that you arrived on from the UK!

PM me if you want more details

Ah, the Flames... The second best team in the NHL last season...
Yup, better not deride them!

Hey Lock,

Doesn't bother me - I'm from Toronto and NOT a Leafs fan so you can say all you want about either team;)
I was just warning Skylark about the absolutely insane Flames fans. They celebrate even when they lose :{

No hockey fan worries now that the NHL is out of business for the foreseeable future. If they miss two or three seasons, maybe there won't be any more fans ... for a while, at least.

A visit to the Red Deer airport would likely give you a day's entertainment, particularly if you were to phone airspray first, and ask for a tour. Gliders, Sabres, and damned near everything in between.

If you do visit Red Deer (and try to ignore the fact that the European red deer is genetically identical to the North American Elk, and thus the town should be called Elk, Alberta...) airport, go and say hi to the people who do "cloud seeding". It could be mighty interesting and while I doubt they advertise tours, it can't hurt to ask!

These are the guys who fly into and above hail-producing cells and drop chemicals to reduce the size of hailstones.

Here's the info on the nearest EAA Chapter
NAME EAA 923
President Joseph Harrington
Phone Number (403) 381-0574
Location Lethbridge, Alberta Canada
Meeting 4th Sat., 10:00 AM
Meeting Location Contact President
EMail [email protected]

And here's the info for the Edmonton Chapter
NAME EAA 30
President Christopher Falconar
Phone Number (780) 479-3515
Location Edmonton, Alberta Canada
Meeting 4th Tues., 6:30 PM
Meeting Location Contact President
EMail [email protected]


Just go to www.eaa.org, click on EAA Chapters, then Locate a Chapter.

If you do go to Red Deer, save yourself for lunch at Tipitina's restaurant at the airport - it is grrrrrrrrrreat :)

The Tyrell Museum - www.tyrrellmuseum.com - comes highly recommended too, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

There are of course, museums aplenty. Aside from nicely maintained aircraft, there are huge quantities of aircraft fanatics.
The Aerospace Museum of Calgary is one of my faves, simply because the Voodoo that used to wake me up out of a deep sleep,and shatter windows in my house, as well as the Twin Otter in which I was married, are there.
Aerospace Museum of Calgary

Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in Wetaskawin is a great souce of insight into Canada's Bush Pilots. I never flew, thankfully any of the older unheated stuff. All my bush machines had heat, and deice.
Hall of Fame Museum

Forty minutes outh of Calgary is the Nanton Lancaster Museum. Great collection of aircraft as well as BCATP gen. Never flew any of this stuff, would cheerfully sell all my kid's toys to do it however. The Lanc that is the subject of the museum was restored to airworthy condition, and last flown at an airshow in Edmonton by the restorers without any of the requisite Transport Canada paperwork, which generated a great deal of excitement at the time. Had they waited, the aircraft might still be on the ground 15 years later.
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca