From: dfr@usna.navy.mil (PROF D. Rogers (EAS FAC))
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: Northern Canada trip report
Keywords: Canada, trip, IFR horror
Date: 12 Aug 92 22:17:34 GMT

G'day,

Below is the trip report of our flight to northern Canada. It's
rather long but contains an interesting IFR horror story. It is
nearly verbatum from a trip log that I maintained each evening as
we progressed.

Dave Rogers


                   Grise Fiord Adventure
                   Nathan (Bill) Morris
                      Dave Rogers
                     C-182 N58845
                   Spirit of Maryland
 
26 July (Sunday)
 
Lifted off from Bay Bridge (W29) airport at 1315Z (0915 EDT) with Dave
flying. Nan, Dave's wife, was watching. Climbed out in IMC to 7000 feet
direct Sea Isle. Reached altitude at 1342Z (0942 EDT). Ground speed is 137
kts at 20/20. Joined V308 to East Hampton.  The ground speed decreased to
130 kts.
 
We broke out into VMC south of Long Island which we reached at 1500Z (1100
EDT).  The ride was smooth.
 
About 50 miles south of Gardner we asked for and got direct Augusta, Maine.
The ground speed again picked up to 137 kts. At Augusta asked for and got
direct Houlton, Maine.  We arrived at Houlton in good VFR weather at 1808Z
(1408 EDT).  Refueled with 55 gallons of 100LL for a burn rate of 11.2 gph
at a gross weight of 2700 lbs. Indicated airspeed was 110 kts for a true
airspeed of about 123 kts.
 
There is now no customs at Houlton and after calling Sept-Isle in Canada
Bill concluded that there was no customs on a Sunday in Canada. So we
decided to stay in Houlton for the night.
 
Caught a ride into town with Greg from the FBO to the Shiretown Motor Inn.
Got a room and then went across the street to Irvings, a truck stop, for
lunch/tea. Wonderful coconut cream pie for dessert.
 
27 July (Monday)
 
Awoke to low ceilings, light rain and hard IFR predicted for most of the
day.  Had breakfast at Irvings and caught a cab to the airport. Decided to
go to Sept-Isle (CYZV) to clear customs. Lifted off Houlton at 1355Z (0955
EDT) with Bill flying. Entered IMC almost immediately in light to moderate
rain.  Momentarily broke out at 7000 and then back in all the way to
Sept-Isle. Hard IFR. Bill was rusty but we managed between the two of us.
Dave was doing the navigating and talking to ATC because of Bill's hand.
 
[Aside---Note to Dan Masys or anyone else at Bay Bridge --- This
part is NOT to be repeated outside rec.aviation. Bill is a friend.
This part is provided for the education of rec.aviator's only.]
 
For me this was the IFR flight from HELL. Before leaving for
England for the three weeks just before the planned departure for
the Canadian trip Bill and I had quite thoroughly discussed what charts,
approach plates, etc. we needed. He either had them ordered
or agreed to order all new charts, etc. Most of it had arrived before
I left and I had checked them but there were one or two pieces missing.
 
Upon returning from England there was washing to do, two tubs of
mail to go through, the aircraft to load etc. I asked Bill if
he had all the charts and he assured me that he did (wrong question).
 
So here we are enroute Houlton to Sept-Isle in hard IFR. I start looking
at the Canadian low altitude enroute chart. Hmmm, seems rather used. Look at
the front 1990! It's two years out-of-date! Bill where's the new enroute
chart? Either they didn't send it or I forgot to order it is the answer.
Pull out my current US low altitude enroute chart which shows most of the
route and cross check the VOR frequencies, airways etc. Ok most of the way
but Sept-Isle is not shown. Pull out the Canadian Flight Supplement (AFD)
which is current and gives the VOR/LOC etc. frequencies and they correspond.
Ok so we have some breathing room. We're at 7000' which is well above the
MEA and I more or less know the country having been born and brought
up near the beginning of the St. Lawrence River. We're also in radar
contact. So we're not going to run into anything.
 
I am now suspicious. Pull out the IAP's. Oh no, again 1990 two years
out-of-date! Bill the approach plates are out-of-date. Same answer.
The obvious thing to do is to turn around and go back to somewhere in
the U.S. where I know I have current enroutes and IAP's. This will
be fun since almost all of Maine is socked with 5-700 foot ceilings.
We have plenty of fuel --- 10 hours when we started.
 
However, I know that won't work because there is no way I am going to
convince Bill that we should do this AND the cockpit of a light aircraft
in hard IFR is NOT the place to have an argument! The answer I am going
to get is that up in Canada the approached will not have changed!
 
It gets worse. I ask Bill if he is IFR current. The short answer is
no. The long answer is I never pay attention to 6/6/6. I've been
flying for 52 years etc. I am now legally PIC and in the right seat.
 
So, what can I do to stay alive?  Check the old approach plates. Sept-Isle
has an ILS-7. Check the current Canadian Flight supplement. Sept-Isle still
has an ILS-7 and the frequencies are the same. So the basics probably have
not changed. Where is the wind? When we left it was at about 090 and
predicted to stay there. So we should get the ILS-7.  Check the altitude for
the initial approach segment -- 2200 feet. Ask Montreal center what their
minimum vectoring altitude is at Sept-Isle -- 2300 feet.  Ask center for
the current weather at Sept-Isle (Canadian controllers are much more
accommodating with this sort of thing). Still more or less at 090.
 
The aircraft has a reasonably good autopilot and an S-Tec altitude
hold with glide slope intercept. I know they work because when I checked
out in the airplane I flew some coupled ILS approaches.
 
So, all things considered the plan is to let Montreal center, as is normal,
give us radar vectors to intercept the localizer for the ILS-7, to not
decend below 2300 feet until glide slope capture occurs and to let the
autopilot fly the approach. If anything looks bad, I'll insist on a missed
approach even to the point of taking control of the aircraft (and hope the
missed approach procedure has not changed -- actually I'll ask for it if
need be).
 
As you can see from below, this worked almost as planned except that
the S-Tec did not capture the glide slope but Bill flew the approach
in rather nasty turbulence within  +-1--1.5 dots on both the
glide slope and the localizer.
 
After I got new (xeroxed) approach plates in Churchill Falls (see below)
I did some comparisons and pointed out to Bill that the ONLY approach
(of those I compared) that was the same was the ILS-7 at Sept-Isles!
 
At Sept-Isle I went to flight services and asked if they had an
enroute chart for sale. No, but use this one for your flight planning.
He then turned and walked away. It was rather obvious that the
chart was to disappear. Nice people. So I had a current enroute for
the next leg.
 
Don't bother with the flames -- hindsight is 20/20, you weren't there
AND the cockpit of a light GA aircraft is NOT the place to have
an argument. Further after a missed approach we would have had
7 hours of fuel to go to an alternate.
 
[end aside]
 
Sept-Isle conditions worsened enroute. Down to 500 feet in light to moderate
rain with fog and more wind than anyone could want---25G35---but nearly down
the runway. Very rough approach. Broke out at 500 feet on the ILS as
predicted.
 
Arrived at Sept-Isle at 1615Z (1215 EDT).
 
The aircraft was rocking and rolling on the ground enough that we thought
we might actually turnover at one point. Taxied to the line but
when the customs lady arrived asked if we could move to the
gate to get some protection from the wind. She was quite agreeable.
 
We had some difficulty clearing customs. Bill had brought a semi-automatic
rifle to satisfy the survival requirement for flight in unpopulated
areas. Unfortunately these are prohibited in Canada although this is
not clear from the information provided. After much discussion
we were issued a special permit to carry the rifle. How he does it
is amazing. It probably has something to do with his birth date of
1907 and the fact that he has been there several times before.
 
The weather in Churchill Falls was good (Bill also called a friend) and
predicted to continue to be good, so we decided to depart Sept-Isle mainly
because the wind conditions were so bad we did not want to leave the
aircraft outside.
 
Conditions at Sept-Isle were still bad but looked doable. Filed for
Churchill Falls and were cleared via Wabush. Started engine at 1805Z (1405
EDT) but after taxing to the runway were delayed for 15 minutes awaiting
incoming traffic. Finally off at 1820Z (1420 EDT) again in terrible weather.
Definitely hard IFR. Bill is flying with Dave navigating and talking to ATC.
Got a rather confusing clearance but eventually sorted it out. Climbed to
7000 and leveled out in solid IMC.
 
We had decided not to refuel in Sept-Isle because of the wind and rain
so began transferring fuel from the auxiliary tank. A good tailwind gave
us 150 kts GS and once 161 kts at 20/20.
 
Finally made ground contact at 1940Z (1540 EDT) just south of Wabush but
almost immediately back into solid IMC with moderate rain but little
turbulence.
 
Just after turning the corner at Wabush for Churchill Falls broke out under a
high stratus layer into the clear at 1945Z (1545 EDT). Fifty plus miles
visibility. Even on such a dull day as this the country is fascinating.
Literally millions of lakes. Our course more or less follows a single dirt
road and single track rail line. No sign of habitation except the very
occasional fishing camp. Lots of stunted tress and whitish looking caribou
(reindeer) moss which is really a lichen. Dave thought it was snow at first.
 
About 50 miles west of Churchill Falls called the airport FSS to ask that
Bill's friends Ray and Marie Cole meet us at the airport.
No worries.
 
Just to the west of Churchill Falls is a large mothballed hydro-electric
plant that has been replaced by the Churchill Falls project.
 
Churchill Falls was clear, canceled IFR with Goose Bay radio and
made an uneventful landing at 2046Z (1646 EDT).
 
Enough hard IFR already!.
 
Refueled and Marie drove us into town to the `center'. This is a company
town. Nearly all the facilities are concentrated in the center ---
hotel, restaurant, grocery store, school, bowling alley, library, etc.
The current population is  900+- with about 300+- workers. During
construction of the project it was as high as 6500.
 
Got a room in the hotel and had a nice dinner in the restaurant
with Marie and a friend Mary. Ray Cole was at the fishing camp.
 
28 July (Tuesday)
 
Took a tour of the Churchill Falls power plant. Very impressive. The plant
produces, when all 11 turbines are on line, 7,000,000 hp. It supplies power
to all of Quebec +- and Labrador +- at either 234kv or 735kv. Some of
the highest voltages currently used anywhere in the world.  The plant ---
spillways, pentstocks, control room etc. are carved out of a solid granite
mountain. The plant is largely underground some 900+- feet.  This is a
large scale project, e.g., each rotor on each turbine weights 600+ tons!
 
Weather is really terrible. Ceiling 3-500 feet in light rain and fog.
May be weathered in tomorrow.
 
Al Faulkner, the pilot of the company Super King Air 350, let us xerox the
Jepp IAP's. I am much relieved.  Got a tour of the Super King Air's cockpit.
Beautiful airplane.
 
29 July (Wednesday)
 
Sure enough the weather has not improved. Still low ceilings (2-300'),
light rain and fog. Suspect we are not going anywhere today.
 
Called flight service early in the morning. Churchill Falls is still bad and
predicted to stay bad. North of here the weather improves but can't get off
in these conditions.
 
Bill called Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay -- Baffin Airways) to see if the
information from flight service that no Avgas was available was correct.
Unfortunately it is. So need a change of plans. We can either cancel the
northern part of the trip of find another route.
 
After discussing it, it looks like if we refuel in Kuujjuaq then we can
overfly Iqaluit to get to Resolute via Hall Bay. Bill called Baffin Airways
in Iqaluit and talked to Jeff Mahoney. There is fuel available in 55 gallon
drums at both Broughton Island and Pond Inlet and they will make it
available to us.  That would mean overflying Iqaluit and going up the east
coast of Baffin Island rather than the west coast and across to Hall Bay.
However, we'll need pumping or siphoning equipment. We have a five gallon
gas can so we could siphon from the 55 gallon drum into the can and then
pour it into the wing tanks.  Looks doable if the weather is good.
 
Borrowed Marie's car and went to the warehouse to see if we could get hose
or a suction bulb.  Gentleman there directed (took) us to the local Skidoo
shop (in a home garage) where Ken fixed us up with a siphon starter hose.
 
Went out to the airport to check on the plane, get Bill's belt --- his new
Levi's are falling off him --- and to move some weight forward to get a more
forward c.g. Also picked up a xerox copy of the IAP's for Kuujjuaq. We'd not
known that there was an approach there now. There had not been one there
two years ago.
 
30 July (Thursday)
 
Again the weather is lousy but good enough to get out of Churchill Falls.
Ceiling 7-800', visibility 2.5-3 miles in moderate rain. Checked out of the
hotel and borrowed Marie's car to go to the airport.  We'll leave Marie's car
for them to pick up later.
 
Rechecked the weather with flight service after getting to the airport.  The
weather north of Churchill Falls is deteriorating, so rather than stay at
Churchill Falls we decided to abort the trip north to Grise Fiord,
principally because of the lack of fuel at Frobisher Bay. Unfortunately fuel
will not be available there for two weeks.  So we decided to fly back south
and east to Prince Edward Island which has much better weather.
 
We waited at the airport for the weather to clear a bit and for Al Faulkner
to come in from St. Johns, NF with the new Super King Air 350. That way we
could get a first hand report on conditions.  Al says the icing level is at
about 12,000 feet well above our planned altitude of 6000 (it was 7 degrees C
when we got up this morning) and it is pretty solid up to 8-10,000 feet.
 
Finally lifted off at 1433Z (1033EDT) with Dave flying after about a 20
minute delay in getting our clearance. Sitting on the end of the runway with
the engine running no less!  Solid IMC almost immediately after lift off.
Climbed to 6000 feet after a right turn onto course for Wabush. Level at
6000 at 1447Z (1047 EDT). Got a call from the Churchill Falls Flight
Services station wanting to know if we were still sitting on the end of the
runway! He can't see the end of the runway and the STOL equipped C182 climbs
at such a steep angle that he totally missed our take-off! Al Faulkner
wanted to go out again with the King Air and they couldn't find us.
 
Perfect carburetor icing weather so pull the carb heat periodically and
watch the manifold pressure closely.  No structural ice. Solid IMC in light
to moderate rain with an OAT of 40 degrees F. A headwind gives a ground speed
of 124 kts.
 
Coming into Wabush got a hold at the VOR to maintain separation with a
Canadian Air flight into Wabush. There is no radar coverage in this area.
Fortunately we got a visual on the Canadian Air flight at 7000 feet (between
layers but we could not tell) so the hold was cancelled and we turned on
course for Sept-Isle at 1530Z (1130 EDT).
 
Weather is improving a bit and we occasionally have ground contact but then
right back into it. We reached Sept-Isles at 1651Z (1351 EDT) and turned to
fly down the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Gaspe and thence to Chalottetown on
PEI.
 
Broke out at Sept-Isle long enough to get 2--3 pictures of Sept-Isle but back
in again. Finally broke out a few minutes later east of Sept-Isle at 1700Z
(1400 EDT). Reached Gaspe at 1752Z and started across the water. First real
VFR conditions on this trip!
 
Landed at Charlottetown at 1920Z (1520 EDT). Taxied down to the
flying club to refuel (201 liters) and then back to park under the tower.
 
Got a car and hotel and went off to the New Glasgow Lobster Dinner. Great!
Deliberately got `lost' on the way back in order to enjoy the wonderful
pastoral scenery of PEI.
 
31 July (Friday)
 
Weather is beautiful and sunny. Seems good to see the sun again. Packed up
early to go to St. Pierre a French island just off the Canadian coast.
 
Got to the airport about 1145Z (845EDT), turned in the car and checked with
Flight Services. Weather enroute and at St. Pierre is expected to be good so
decided to go VFR. Filed a VFR flight plan (required in Canada) to follow
the coast of Nova Scotia after crossing the water from PEI. Filed for 5500
feet.
 
After eating a light breakfast, lifted off at 1240Z.  Bill's flying, Dave's
talking.  Reached 5500' at 1300Z. Had a nice tailwind giving us 136-139 kts
GS.  Reached the western shore of NS at 1320Z.  Looks like there is a broken
layer below at about 3500 feet. Canada does not allow VFR on top so called
Sydney radio to convert the VFR flight plan to IFR.  Had to give all the
information again. Took awhile.
 
Finally cleared present position direct Sydney VOR then V312 to ATLAN at
7000 feet. About a 120 miles over water.  Tracked outbound on the Sydney VOR
and tried to enter ATLAN intersection into the GPS. No luck. Probably the
wrong data base or we are doing something wrong. Set up our own way point by
entering the LAT/LON coordinates. Worked fine after that.
 
Contacted St. Pierre tower about 50 miles out. Boy is the female controller's
French accent thick. Had interesting problems communicating all the way to
taxi and shutdown at 1456Z.  Rather windy with 20+ kts but nearly straight
down the runway. Cleared immigration and customs with no problem.  The
immigration officer offered us a ride into town to the Hotel Robert. Only
room available is brand new in the annex (Hotel Pierre) and not quite
ready.  Left the bags and went off in search of lunch at a small crepe
place. Good lunch.
 
After lunch settled into the room and then walked the waterfront and up the
hill overlooking the runway of the airport.  The runway has an interesting
barrier at one end --- a small quonset hut style building painted red and
white. The town is right below the end of the runway! St. Pierre is
only about 20 square miles in size.
 
The typical fisherman's boats are lined up along the embankment.  They are
pulled up above high tide using rollers (logs) and a wooden drum windlass.
 
Went back to the same small restaurant for dinner. Again good.
 
August 1 (Saturday)
 
Nice calm sunny day. We had made arrangements with Reme' Mahe', a
taxi driver, to take us cod fishing if the weather was nice. 
He duly showed up at 0900 local time as arranged and shortly after we
finished a wonderful French breakfast of croissant, butter, jam and coffee.
 
Reme' took us to a small (18-20') cabin fishing boat and off we went
directly out the harbor entrance to the sea buoy. Cod fishing is done with
handlines with 9 hooks +- trimmed with red (or other color) wool `lures'.
The line is lowered to the bottom, lifted two arm lengths and then jigged as
the boat drifts.
 
Bill caught the first fish --- a quite small cod --- too small to keep.
Surprisingly they are really rather slimy. Moved to a second spot where Bill
caught more small cod. In the third spot Reme' caught a couple of small
ones. Dave caught nil!
 
After about two hours we headed back. Reme' drove us to the hotel to checkout
and collect our bags and then to the airport.
 
After getting the weather and filing a VFR flight plan with `our' female
friend the controller we lifted off at 1410Z (noon local time) made a right
turn out to fly up the island and then cross to Lagare and Miquelon.  The
small islands were capped with cloud. The sand spit between Miquelon and
Lagare was formed when literally hundreds of ships were wrecked on the bar
between the islands --- many by ship wreckers. You can now drive along the
sand spit between the two islands.  The Miquelon airstrip is now paved. The
last time Bill was here it was gravel.
 
At Miquelon made a left turn and climbed from 2000 to 8000 for
the over water flight to Sydney, NS. Joined the airway at ATLAN.
Nice flight but with a good bit of a headwind for a GS of 112 kts.
Nice at Sydney, NS where we landed and shutdown at 1607Z.
 
Cleared customs with no problems, got a car and drove into town (Dave gets
to do the driving because of Bill's hand) to Ketty's Motel on Kings Rd.
Shortly after we checked in the weather deteriorated into rain, fog and low
ceilings. None the less we drove out to Fort Louisburg. Fort Louisburg is a
restored French fort of considerable military and commercial importance
during the early to middle 1700's. It was besieged twice by the British and
finally taken in about 1755. The Fort is rather large and very well done.
 
Perhaps the best part is that Bill got us both in as `OAP's' (Old
Age Pensioners) for free. An OAP is 65 and over! Bill says he just added
our ages together and divided by 2!
 
2 August (Sunday)
 
After breakfast --- I introduced Bill to Belgian waffles with strawberries
and cream --- we drove out along the Bras de Ora lakes to Beddech to
Alexander Graham Bell's museum where we spent an hour or so.  The drive was
beautiful and the museum very interesting. After `inventing' the telephone
Bell worked on airplanes and hydrofoils.
 
Drove back to the airport, picked up our clearance and departed for St.
Johns, NB at 1632Z with Bill flying and Dave talking. IFR on top at 8000'
with a stiff headwind of 30+ kts giving a ground speed of as low as 78
kts! Reevaluated our fuel state and decided to drop into Charlottetown for
fuel. Shut down at 1820Z --- it's 122nm.
 
The weather between Charlottetown and St. Johns NB is good VFR. So decided to
stay low and go VFR at 2500'. Lifted off at 1905Z with Bill flying. A bit
turbulent but a pleasant flight. Landed on 23 and shutdown at 2036Z at the
FBO. Bill rented a car and we drove into St. Johns to the Hilton Hotel.
 
There was a street carnival just outside the hotel and we spent a bit of
time watching the street buskers. Had a light supper and an early night.
 
3 August (Monday)
 
Nice day but rather hazy which gives the impression of a cloudy day.
Ceiling is low early in the morning 5-800 feet but improves to 3-4000'
scattered by noon.
 
Had a rather nice buffet breakfast at the Hilton. After breakfast went
across the street to Market Square to look around again but we were to early
(0900 local time). It was also New Brunswick day. So checked out and drove
out to the reversing falls. Not far out of town. Streets are deserted on a
public holiday.  The falls were at low water (tide). The turbulence was
rather impressive. Bill and I both bought a few small gifts.
 
We had planned to depart for Bangor mid afternoon but changed our minds and
drove back to the airport. Had some difficulty turning the car in.  No one
at the Budget desk!  Finally left the money with the girl at the Avis desk
and left.  The weather was predicted good along the route. Still filed IFR as
it is easier when clearing customs.
 
Lifted off at 1437Z (1137 EDT) with Dave flying and climbed to 6000 feet.
Good VFR but a good solid headwind of at least 25 kts giving a slow ground
speed of 99 kts.  Found Bangor international with no problem but thought we
might not have enough runway!  Landed on the first 500 feet of the 11,000+
runway and had to taxi 6000+ feet to customs! Over a mile! Next time I'll
fly halfway down the runway at 2 feet agl.
 
Cleared customs with no difficulty.  Dave setup for Bill to fly the next leg
to Bar Harbor thinking it was about a two hour flight!  Turns out it was a
30 minute flight. He got a good ragging about that.
 
Lifted off VFR with Bill flying at 1630Z for the short flight to Bar Harbor
at 2000 feet. Pretty country. Landed at Bar Harbor at 1700Z (1300 EDT).
There were 6--7 large private jets parked in front of the terminal (at $37
per night).
 
Bill went to get a car to drive into Bar Harbor but had difficulty.  Only
one car available at a rather high price, the weather was predicted to be
bad in New England for the next three days so we decided to come on home.
Grabbed a quick lunch at the airport restaurant, did some quick flight
planning and launched at 1800Z with Dave flying.
 
We had decided to go VFR GPS direct in three legs at 8500 feet to avoid all
the TCA's etc.  The first leg was direct to Portland International to avoid
the prohibited area over George Bush's summer place, the next direct to
Norwich and then direct Kentmorr. West of Boston decided to go direct
Kentmorr (about 350 miles).
 
In the New England area the tops of the scattered layer were at 7500'+-
so no worries.  As we got south towards NYC the tops started to rise so we
went to 10,500'. Around LaGuardia we had to play dodgums with the tops and
at one point descended to 8500' to go below a layer and then climbed back up
to 10,500' to again clear the tops.  The scattered layer thinned
significantly as we got south of the Philadelphia TCA.
 
Started a long gradual decent at 2-300 fpm north of Kenton (EMI) which put us
at pattern altitude at Kentmorr. Landed at Kentmorr at 2253Z for exactly 5
hrs time from start-up at 1753Z.
 
A great trip even if the weather and fuel availability did prevent us from
getting to Grise Fiord.

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