Winter on the prairies

March was a rough month weather wise and winter still has an unusually late grip on the prairies. It's been unseasonably cold and the weather has been patchy and changeable. We've had snowstormy days that have suddenly cleared into lovely evenings and beautiful blue sky days that have deteriorated quickly. Still, in between periods of weird spring weather, there have been some opportunities to take flight over the white, winter prairies.

I was able to take my dad flying again after almost six months. We had flown together at the end of September and then in early November he had a stroke. There were days when I feared the worst and I wondered if we'd ever have the chance to fly together again. But he worked very hard on his therapy and made an amazing recovery. We were able to fly togeher again on March 11, which happened to be a gorgeous, perfect, warm, calm, blue sky day. We flew from Villeneuve to Drayton Valley, a 47 NM trip. Our route took us over Hubbles Lake where, in my other life as a triathlete, I swim in the summers with my friends, then past Wabamun Lake, and finally over the North Saskatchewan River as we neared Drayton Valley. We stayed on the ground there for a few minutes, soaking up the sunshine, before heading back. My dad was mostly quiet as he looked out the window at the trees and farmland passing beneath us. He later said how nostalgic he had felt for all the years he had been a pilot; he said it was so special to be able to fly with me. I felt honoured.

Hubbles Lake

I went to Camrose twice this month, two days in a row. Camrose is a small city, southeast of Edmonton, 26 NM from Cooking Lake Airport, which is my home airport. On March 12, my friend and I had plans to go for dinner. I asked her if she wanted to fly somewhere to get a meal and she agreed! We chose Camrose because it's a short flight and it's near her childhood home on a farm in the area. We walked into town for supper and got a ride back to the airport with her dad, who just happened to be in town at the same time. The next day, I went back to Camrose, this time with my brother, to meet our niece who lives there. She brought pizza to the airport and we ate it in the lovely little terminal there. It was really fun and the flight was beautiful, even though it was very hazy that afternoon.

Departing Camrose

My friend Doug and I have been wanting to fly to St. Paul, 70 NM to the northeast of Cooking Lake, for some time. St. Paul is the pretend destination on the cross country exercise for the private pilot flight test and we have always said we would go there for real one time! The day we went had been stormy all day and we were sure we'd have to cancel our plans. But by the evening, things had cleared up and we were able to head off. It turned out to be an amazingly gorgeous and smooth flight and we marveled about how beautiful it was that evening. We landed at home in the setting sun, making it back before the thunderstorms - in March! - started.

On the way to St. Paul

March 25 was another strange weather day but was clear and beautiful out at the airport, so I took off again with my dad, this time planning a triangle to the north and east of Cooking Lake. We were about 2/3 of the way to our first stop when we ran into very low cloud and poor weather. We didn't actually get caught in it but I knew we couldn't go any farther. We tried to divert to the nearest airport but it was under cloud as well so we went to the next closest one, which happened to be Camrose again! We landed there, taxied back to the threshold, and departed for home. We were always safely under clear blue sky but wanted to be sure we made it back before the weather could move in further.

Staying where the sky is blue

On my final flight in March, I went up with my pilot friend Cam. It was another crazy day with weather all around us and we debated about going at all. But it looked OK to the south so we decided to go the 60 NM to Lacombe. It was bumpy at low altitudes but we cruised at 7500 feet, about 5000 feet above ground, where it was smooth and beautiful. I flew the outbound leg. It was a bit of a windy wrestle in the circuit at Lacombe and I had a crosswind on landing but I did a nice job with it! The terminal there is beautiful so we hung out for a few minutes before leaving. The clouds had rolled in by the time we got back to Cooking Lake and the wind had picked up to a good 15 knots; thankfully for Cam it was pretty much straight down the runway. We were glad we got to squeeze in another flight.

Off to Lacombe at 7500' ASL

The snowy prairies are stunning and every day I get to fly over them is a joy. It was a good month. Now I'm looking forward to some green views from the cockpit.