EXERCISE WHOOPER FINN: FIELD REPORT NO. 9

The weather was good, but we had time to kill while we waited for the strong gusty wind to abate. Larry Wiesner, an aerobatics instructor has a Pitts S2A aerobatic plane in the same hangar, and runs a small company giving aerobatic rides in the best barnstorming tradition. It was too good an opportunity to pass up and both Steve and I signed up for 20 minutes flying. The plane was never the same way up for more than a few seconds. I was concerned that it would make my vertigo worse (caused by flying in turbulent conditions for more than 5 hours a day) but of course I was fine when I was moving, it was only when I stood still the world seemed to sway around. My only regret was that my shoulder straps weren't quite tight enough and this led to a feeling of insecurity when upside down. It was a stunning flight and I can now add a Pitts to the list of aeroplanes I have flown.

The airport was busy and I had a slight problem with the first Air Traffic Controller I contacted, who wouldn't accept the altitude I wished to fly at - which was in accordance with the published departure procedures. I agreed to fly at 3,900 feet, despite my better judgement, and took off for North Battleford. About 5 miles out, at the declared height, I was handed over to the Radar Controller. He asked me to maintain my height of 2,900 feet and immediately started to talk to a twin-engine turboprop on an opposing heading at 4,000 feet! I didn't want to argue the point so I descended very rapidly to 2,900 feet. Two minutes later the turboprop passed immediately overhead. So much for carefully co-ordinated air traffic!

The rest of the flight to North Battleford was uneventful, and we arrived to find the groundcrew had made contact with the occupants of the Air Terminal, a weather briefer, whose job in life is to send weather observations to Regina once an hour. We made ourselves comfortable in the Terminal overnight. I had to ring Regina for a weather briefing as the local weather briefer could only input observations into the system and was unable to extract any useful information from the system. We needed to get up early (05:30 a.m.) so as to depart before the weather deteriorated at Edmonton.

The first stop was Lloydminster, and the welcome there was in stark contrast to that in Saskatoon. As we pulled up to the fuel pumps we were approached by Dennis Foss, the Airport Manager, and were treated to the rudest 'you aren't allowed to land here!' introduction. We weren't even allowed to explain who we were or what we were doing. We adopted the policy of politely ignoring him and he wandered off to continue to operate the push - pull lawnmower, a job we felt was well suited to his abilities.

We departed Lloydminster, relieved to be away, and headed West. We arrived in Edmonton, at Cooking Lake, two hours before the wind blew up strong and gusty. Another phase completed, just in time.

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