Eleven women in five planes, from all part of Ontario
gathered at the Rockcliffe Flying Club on June 20th for the 6th
Annual GCAR. Some came from Leamington, Pelee, Brantford, Toronto
and Ottawa. The teams were:
Team 1 Jocelyn Lecluse
and Janet Chesterfield Cirrus C-GTLJ
Team 2 Jean Franklin
Hancher and Marilyn Dickson in C-GYTI
Team 3 Eva Adams and Anna
Stromberg in C-GLXL
Team 4 Susan Begg, Mo Egan and
Sharron Lutman in Mooney C-FTEM
Team 6 Akky Mansikka and
Laureen Nelson-Boutet in C-GJYB
The route:
June
21st: DEPARTURE 9:30 AM FROM Rockcliffe
CYRO - Charlevoix (CYML) 260 nm, fuel stop
CYML -Sept-Iles (CYZV) 226 nm - Overnight
June
22nd:
1. CYZV - Natashquan (CYNA) 173nm, fuel
stop
2. CYNA - Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon
(CYBX) 199 nm,
fuel stop before St.Anthony as there is no 100LL at
St. Anthony
3. CYBX - ST. Anthony (CYAY) 42 nm---short flight
June 23rd: sightsee during the day, Rally Banquet in evening
Waiting for the low
ceilings at Buttonville to rise, Laureen and I were the last to
arrive at Rockliffe, flying under a 3,000 foot ceiling around rain
showers. The rally started with a spot landing that Team 2, Jean
and Marilyn, won. After a leisurely lunch and waiting to see if
the ominous weather would dissipate a group decision was made to
delay our take off for the rock until the next day. Dinner was in
Ottawa and overnight was at the homes of the Ottawa 99s.
We woke up to clear blue skies the next morning. The organizers
managed to supply each plane with a SPOT personal GPS lent by
Aviation World in Ottawa. It gave us peace of mind while flying
over remote areas. Our flight took us from Rockcliffe, north of
Montreal past the ski areas of Ste. Sauveur to the St. Lawrence
lowlands where the pattern of the long narrow farm field provided
a mottled quilted scene below us. An extra dimension was added to
the colourful scene as the fair weather cumulus started building
up providing blotches of shade. Near Quebec City we had to decide
above or below the cloud cover. We opted for under. C-GYTI and
C-FTEM .....went over the top. We listened to the Quebec ATIS and
were shocked at the winds which were gusting to 48 Kts. We were
landing in Charlevoix with no weather and wondered what the winds
would be there. We certainly would not be stopping in Quebec City.
Quebec Tower asked us about the helicopter that made an emergency
decent in front of us. We saw it crossing the St. Lawrence River
and make a steep descent to the north shore. It disappeared under
our wing and we could not spot it again. Later we heard they were
OK. After Quebec City the St. Lawrence River widened as we
followed the North Shore. The ski hills of Le Massif floated by
below us we reached the green hills of Charlevoix our lunch stop.
Everyone was able to handle the shifting and varying crosswinds.
Lunch was provided by the organizers of the rally since Charlevoix
does not have a restaurant. They had brought gourmet sandwiches,
wraps, fruit and drinks with them from Ottawa. After handing in
our rally challenges for the leg flown, we flight planned for our
next destination Sept-Iles. No wonder they called it that. The
Town was surrounded by “seven” beautiful uninhabited islands and a
beach on the main shore that rivaled Hawaii from the air. I
wondered about the water temperature. The FBO provided us with
rides to a hotel in town. Our driver was a charter
pilot/instructor.
Once again we woke up to clear blue
skies. After Sep-Iles we would enter the VFR traffic corridor up
the Quebec's north shore with its common traffic frequency. Not
much was heard on the radio except from the rally women. We did
hear from our one transport flight and the pilot announced he had
been our driver the night before. The green vegetation started
being replaced by rock and bog riddled tundra. There were no more
roads. Occasionally a cluster of cabins was spotted on a rocky
outcropping or island. We wondered how anyone got there. Patches
of snow appeared in sheltered crevasses. Two planes, C-GJYB and
C-GYTI also made a fuel stop in Natashquan. The refueler was
surprised that our planes were privately owned, but then he had
never seen women pilots there either. Our lunch stop was to be
Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon which was up the Quebec north shore at the
border of Labrador. Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon was chosen as a stop
because they had 100LL and from there, it was the shortest
distance across the water to Newfoundland. Our destination St
Anthony did not have 100LL. It was 35 KM to St Anthony and a
little more that 10KM across the water through an ADIZ. So far the
weather had been clear with some haze. The shore of Newfoundland
could be seen clearly yet the weather report from St. Anthony was
for low ceilings and fog. A pilot returning from St. Anthony
reported that the airport was clear, so off we went. Each leg’s
challenges had to do with spotting things from the air and issues
pertaining to our flight such as requirements for flight in remote
areas, procedure for entering the ADIZ, so we were well prepared
as we immediately entered the zone after takeoff from
Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon. As we proceeded across the water we
spotted our first iceberg. Sure enough as we approached the
airport a fog bank was rolling in over a nearby road. We would
have to hurry. As we approached, the fog seemed to be a living,
breathing, creeping organism but it vapourized as it acrossed the
road near the aiport. No need to rush the approach. Mary Norman,
another 99 from Toronto, vacationing in Newfoundland with her
husband and Alan a reporter for the Northern Penn welcomed the
group. After tying down the planes, interviews and pictures, off
we went to the Snuggle Inn where Sandra the owner greeted us. We
settled into our rooms overlooking St. Anthony's harbour and
watched the as the ceilings dropped and the fog thickened.
The
Awards dinner was held a kilometer up the road on a protrusion of
land where the lighthouse was located. Dinner was in the
Lighthouse keepers house turned restaurant. The winners of the
coveted gold cup were Marilyn and Jean. Well deserved and
congratulations. The challenges were not easy and added to our
knowledge of flying in that areas. Besides the gold cup, they also
received a bottle of Newfoundland Screech which they generously
shared. As the weather deteriorated the next few days were spent
sightseeing. We saw icebergs in the harbour, humpback whales,
sounding, breeching and coming in close to inspect us on our whale
watching boat. The whales seemed very interested in us humans,
came close to the boat, and even rolled over and seemed to wave at
us. We went to L'Anse aux Meadows, the first European settlement
in north America. We went to the Dr. Grenfell Museum and learned
about what he had done for the community. We saw moose, had cod
tongues for dinner (I didn’t know cod had tongues and that they
were as big as they were). We hiked along shore trails, met
interesting people and were ready to go home but the weather did
not clear. When the weather did not clear after a week of waiting,
Janet, Laureen, Moe, and Anna unable to wait any longer due to work or
other commitments decided to fly home commercially with WestJet
out of Deer Lake. Others waited out the weather.....and waited.
The four day trip turned to weeks. The last plane and pilot
arrived home on July 13..... 3 weeks later.
Their adventures
were detailed in daily e-mails. The trip was not over for any of
us until the last plane arrived in Buttonville. That was CGJYB!
