Langley to Dawson Creek
On the 6th of June in 2014 Anne-Marie and I flew from Langley to Dawson Creek and back in the Cherokee Challenger. We were going up to see her sister's student's play. I had been promising her for a long time that the aircraft would be perfect to fly to Dawson Creek. That is a 19 hour drive and a four hour flight. Obviously, an aircraft is an incredibly practical thing to own!
The trip to Dawson Creek had almost perfect conditions for a direct flight. We took off into a cloudless cool calm blue sky at Langley Regional. I had a small amount of trouble contacting Vancouver Terminal as they could hear me fine but I could not hear them. I got a stern talking to when I heard and responded to their sixth call! I had to press and hold the squelch while receiving in order to hear them. After a few minutes the TKM MK-11s that replaced the old Narcos warmed up and I could use them normally.
They kept me below 6,000 feet until some jets cleared overhead and then it was 9,500 feet straight to William's Lake. The Cherokee 180 had no trouble whatever climbing over the mountains and trundled along. No other traffic showed itself. Anne-Marie was very pleased with the snow covered mountains and valleys. It is rugged country north of the mainland. It is startling how remote and rugged the world is such a short distance away from a city like Vancouver.
The arrival into William's Lake was complicated by a piston twin that was arriving at the same time. We chatted for a bit and I pulled the throttle back a hair. Doesn't take much to slow down a Cherokee.
Fueling was quick as there is a self serve pump that takes a credit card and it was off to Dawson Creek. There was a reluctance for the vacuum to come up during run-up.
Scattered clouds at about exactly 9,500 feet meant that we went a bit lower for an hour, but the terrain is more gentle along this stretch. Rolling hills and valleys with everything very green. We could see the wall of mountains to the east. Eventually we had to climb through the clouds and get ready to go over the mountains.
Anne-Marie fell asleep as we climbed. My intention was to scoot along just under 10,000, and then pop up and over the last ranges at 12,000. This is getting rather close to the Challenger's service ceiling but there was only two of us and we'd burnt an hour of fuel. The vacuum was getting weak - just under four inches. We were operating with the throttle wide open, 2500 rpm, and the Challenger could still climb at 500 feet per minute.
As it turned out we had to spend about 10 minutes at 13,000 due to the cloud tops. There was a magnificent view with the mountains below, scattered clouds cut ragged, and the wide expanse of lower flat ground to the east. Shortly after reaching altitude we started our descent into Dawson Creek. There were plenty of wide gaps between the layers of scattered cloud. The wind was a bit gusty, and Peace River Radio was a bit hard to hear, but there was no traffic and the field was almost deserted. I had a nice chat with some friendly Americans in an Arrow on a trip south from Alaska.
Fueling was easy with a self serve pump. Tie downs on the grass field were all full up with old aircraft and I ended up having to improvise with the end of one of the tie down cables and a set of old floats abandoned in the weeds.
Anne's sister's students put on a lively version of Shrek the musical. Entertained the nieces and nephews. Anne went out for some drinks with her sister by I went to bed early as there was a long day planned tomorrow.
We had debated a trip to Saskatoon to catch a friend's wedding the next day but the weather put a solid line of thunderstorms in western Canada and I was rather tired. Anne wanted to see the scenery instead of falling asleep at high altitude so I decided on a casual trip south to Jasper, and then following the VFR route (and highway) past Valemont, Kamloops, and Hope to the lower mainland. This is an amazing sight as a person flies down the valley near Jasper.
It was a pretty flight over the foothills. We dodged around scattered CB with rain showers beneath them, so it was a bumpy ride. We stopped in at Jasper-Hinton for some fuel. This is a desolate airfield with a fenced tank. We called the number but the person at the other end really didn't want to drive out to fuel us up. We had more than enough to get to Valemont and one of the CB was starting to spit rain and gusty weather on us. We had some trouble starting the aircraft as the starter didn't seem to want to engage, but eventually, with enough climbing out and wiggling the prop by hand, I got it running. Dribbling some engine oil on the starter gear teeth helped too.
The trip to Valemont was a turbulent 1.2 hours. The scenery delivered as I zipped along a bit lower to keep out of the worst turbulence that was starting to develop just below the mountain tops. The wind was from the north-east which was unusual, but the weather was getting confused and jumpy and there were several ominous looking CB to the east. Nothing you could actually call a storm but each of them was doing their best to grow up to be one. There was some traffic, a 172 behind me headed to Jasper, but we never saw each other. I was ahead and faster at any rate.
Valemont was deserted and completely quiet. The tank was self serve with a really nice little shack that you can take a break in. We could hear the engine cooling and the flies humming. We ate a late lunch and rested as we had left the bad weather behind and I wanted to the afternoon to calm down the turbulence a bit more.
Run up showed that the vacuum pump was destined for the scrap heap. The vacuum would not rise above three inches and it was jumpy. The weather was clear and calm so we headed off on our last 3.4 hour leg.
There was a helicopter pilot taking skiers up to the mountains who was very concerned about our location as we departed Valemont. She was much higher than us and I never did see the helicopter. We were out of the area in minutes and she sounded relieved as we reported clear of the area departing to the south-west.
Scattered clouds up near 10,000 feet were dissipating and getting a smooth look. The wind had shifted back to the west where it belonged and the sun was shining directly on the east slope of the valleys. The track is mostly south so we picked up a lot of lift on that side of the valleys. It was a pleasant challenge to keep the aircraft in the smooth lift area. I didn't worry about holding a specific altitude and instead let the wind and sun lift up the aircraft. Saved some fuel.
Around Kamloops the vacuum pump packed it in. Suction went to zero and the AI flopped over. The air was smooth, the clouds were high, and the sun was shining so we kept on our way to Langley. Anne-Marie was a bit concerned at first but I reassured her that today all we needed were our eyes and ears to fly the aircraft.
The trip to Dawson Creek was 4.2 hours direct flight time. The return flight along the VFR route was 6.4. The scenery is amazing and dropping into the little airports along the way was fun. Valemont looked like the type of place you could fly in to camp at and I hope to give that a try someday.
The trip to Dawson Creek had almost perfect conditions for a direct flight. We took off into a cloudless cool calm blue sky at Langley Regional. I had a small amount of trouble contacting Vancouver Terminal as they could hear me fine but I could not hear them. I got a stern talking to when I heard and responded to their sixth call! I had to press and hold the squelch while receiving in order to hear them. After a few minutes the TKM MK-11s that replaced the old Narcos warmed up and I could use them normally.
They kept me below 6,000 feet until some jets cleared overhead and then it was 9,500 feet straight to William's Lake. The Cherokee 180 had no trouble whatever climbing over the mountains and trundled along. No other traffic showed itself. Anne-Marie was very pleased with the snow covered mountains and valleys. It is rugged country north of the mainland. It is startling how remote and rugged the world is such a short distance away from a city like Vancouver.
The arrival into William's Lake was complicated by a piston twin that was arriving at the same time. We chatted for a bit and I pulled the throttle back a hair. Doesn't take much to slow down a Cherokee.
Fueling was quick as there is a self serve pump that takes a credit card and it was off to Dawson Creek. There was a reluctance for the vacuum to come up during run-up.
Scattered clouds at about exactly 9,500 feet meant that we went a bit lower for an hour, but the terrain is more gentle along this stretch. Rolling hills and valleys with everything very green. We could see the wall of mountains to the east. Eventually we had to climb through the clouds and get ready to go over the mountains.
Anne-Marie fell asleep as we climbed. My intention was to scoot along just under 10,000, and then pop up and over the last ranges at 12,000. This is getting rather close to the Challenger's service ceiling but there was only two of us and we'd burnt an hour of fuel. The vacuum was getting weak - just under four inches. We were operating with the throttle wide open, 2500 rpm, and the Challenger could still climb at 500 feet per minute.
As it turned out we had to spend about 10 minutes at 13,000 due to the cloud tops. There was a magnificent view with the mountains below, scattered clouds cut ragged, and the wide expanse of lower flat ground to the east. Shortly after reaching altitude we started our descent into Dawson Creek. There were plenty of wide gaps between the layers of scattered cloud. The wind was a bit gusty, and Peace River Radio was a bit hard to hear, but there was no traffic and the field was almost deserted. I had a nice chat with some friendly Americans in an Arrow on a trip south from Alaska.
Fueling was easy with a self serve pump. Tie downs on the grass field were all full up with old aircraft and I ended up having to improvise with the end of one of the tie down cables and a set of old floats abandoned in the weeds.
Anne's sister's students put on a lively version of Shrek the musical. Entertained the nieces and nephews. Anne went out for some drinks with her sister by I went to bed early as there was a long day planned tomorrow.
We had debated a trip to Saskatoon to catch a friend's wedding the next day but the weather put a solid line of thunderstorms in western Canada and I was rather tired. Anne wanted to see the scenery instead of falling asleep at high altitude so I decided on a casual trip south to Jasper, and then following the VFR route (and highway) past Valemont, Kamloops, and Hope to the lower mainland. This is an amazing sight as a person flies down the valley near Jasper.
It was a pretty flight over the foothills. We dodged around scattered CB with rain showers beneath them, so it was a bumpy ride. We stopped in at Jasper-Hinton for some fuel. This is a desolate airfield with a fenced tank. We called the number but the person at the other end really didn't want to drive out to fuel us up. We had more than enough to get to Valemont and one of the CB was starting to spit rain and gusty weather on us. We had some trouble starting the aircraft as the starter didn't seem to want to engage, but eventually, with enough climbing out and wiggling the prop by hand, I got it running. Dribbling some engine oil on the starter gear teeth helped too.
The trip to Valemont was a turbulent 1.2 hours. The scenery delivered as I zipped along a bit lower to keep out of the worst turbulence that was starting to develop just below the mountain tops. The wind was from the north-east which was unusual, but the weather was getting confused and jumpy and there were several ominous looking CB to the east. Nothing you could actually call a storm but each of them was doing their best to grow up to be one. There was some traffic, a 172 behind me headed to Jasper, but we never saw each other. I was ahead and faster at any rate.
Valemont was deserted and completely quiet. The tank was self serve with a really nice little shack that you can take a break in. We could hear the engine cooling and the flies humming. We ate a late lunch and rested as we had left the bad weather behind and I wanted to the afternoon to calm down the turbulence a bit more.
Run up showed that the vacuum pump was destined for the scrap heap. The vacuum would not rise above three inches and it was jumpy. The weather was clear and calm so we headed off on our last 3.4 hour leg.
There was a helicopter pilot taking skiers up to the mountains who was very concerned about our location as we departed Valemont. She was much higher than us and I never did see the helicopter. We were out of the area in minutes and she sounded relieved as we reported clear of the area departing to the south-west.
Scattered clouds up near 10,000 feet were dissipating and getting a smooth look. The wind had shifted back to the west where it belonged and the sun was shining directly on the east slope of the valleys. The track is mostly south so we picked up a lot of lift on that side of the valleys. It was a pleasant challenge to keep the aircraft in the smooth lift area. I didn't worry about holding a specific altitude and instead let the wind and sun lift up the aircraft. Saved some fuel.
The trip to Dawson Creek was 4.2 hours direct flight time. The return flight along the VFR route was 6.4. The scenery is amazing and dropping into the little airports along the way was fun. Valemont looked like the type of place you could fly in to camp at and I hope to give that a try someday.
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