This fine day, the family took the family airplane out to an airplane gettogether in Parry Sound.

The flight started out IFR. As usual at Brantford, since the local controller cannot be reached by radio, I had to plead with London flight service personnel to relay a suitable clearance. It took a good 20 minutes to get off the ground, grr. In bad weather, being at an uncontrolled airport does kind of suck. Once underway, the flight was uneventfully pretty (skimming a smooth broad layer of cloud) until the end. That was when we realized we cancelled IFR too soon, and ended up doing a less-than-VFR arrival circuit at Parry Sound airport. Low clouds to the southeast, clear to the northwest. Guess which side we transited through.

A quick refuel and an engine-restart followed, then a taxi to a faraway corner of the apron. (All the little airplanes, deemed sturdier on grass and easier to manhandle got the closer spots.) The social angle of such events tends to be at least 50% of the value of the trips. This time, the turnout was quite good (despite the earlier bad weather). The BBQ was fine, a local cowboy-hatted band was very fine, the weather was great. We got to hang around with and without others for a few hours.

Then it was time to return home. During my pre-flight walkaround, some curious event visitors walked by. I invited them over to the cockpit for a quick look, and they rewarded it with a “we walked all around, and thought your plane was the nicest of them all”. Well, probably a kind exaggeration, but still enough to fly home on a good note. I learned from my painful IFR departure and VFR arrival this morning, and flipped it around: I filed a VFR-to-IFR composite flight plan, so we could leave right away, and coordinate with the controller in the air for piercing the clouds back home over southern Ontario. It worked out great.

Other than that these fly-in events are winding down, the hint of colour in northern tree leaves indicates that summer is truly ending. It has been a busy one, full of mostly-positive changes in my insignificant little life. Come and do your worst, you canadian fall/winter!

Some pictures are here.