1st International flight, Nova Scotia

I wanted to post this trip report for numerous reasons. I wanted to encourage builders who think the work will never stop, I wanted to give some insight on how easy it is to cross into Canada, I wanted to thank our Canadian hosts for going ABOVE AND BEYOND the call of duty to make us feel welcome, and lastly to show how great the people associated with RVs really are. Hopefully the 5 RVs that made the journey and the crew will contribute to this thread as well.

Like most of us, I am pretty busy. My -8 build has been neglected for a month or so and I have a ton of other interests/obligations that need attention. My Russian cousin had been trying to talk me into going to Canada with a bunch of RVs but I was reluctant. I am so glad he persisted and convinced me to go. I wanted to tackle the challenge of filing the necessary paperwork and arrangements of an international flight.

Anyway, he walked me through the eAPIS filing procedure for customs and we were all set. We would launch before dawn and meet over JFK enroute to Plymouth, MA to meet the others.

The weather was perfect but I was surprised by some early morning ground fog. A quick check on the air-to air freq confirmed my cousin was also airborne 20 miles north of me. I would catch his slow -9A along the way!


I had never watched the sun come up as I was in the air before. Pretty cool.


We all met up at Plymouth and planned our route and finalized the require coordination with authorities.


Our favorite Russian!




Climbed out over Boston class B and jumped over some friendly clouds.


We all fueled up in Wisscasset, ME and departed as a loose gaggle flight of 5.

The (2) -7s and the -6 hung up front while the slow pair of -9s conserved fuel in the rear. Some inflight photos...

This is #3 who turned out to be the fastest RV so he was actually #1!


This was #2.


I didn't see much of #4 and #5...they were a couple miles behind!!

And after a short but beautiful flight....


We all arrived in St John and waited for customs...


To be continued...

Awesome trip guys! I look forward to the rest of the story.

I apologize for being so surly when you visited Wiscasset (KIWI). I was absorbed in flogging my backup electron into obeisance with my proton-plated crescent-hammer.

Hey Nick....don't worry about it. We didn't have a lot of time to hang out anyway. Beautiful -8 by the way.

Now that I've had some sleep, hopefully I can do a better job with this report. We did ALOT of flying yesterday (7.5 hours) and the trip home involved some nasty weather down here near Philadelphia.

So we land at St John and many of us got our first taste of "Canadian" flight rules. The frequencies listed on our GPS's and iPads listed St John "RADIO" as the Unicom. We all figured this was an uncontrolled field, at least I did, without a tower. As we spoke to "Radio", the controller never once said "Tower" but we could tell she was a "Controlling" entity versus just someone "Advisory" in nature. #3 made it in first before the rest of us and he landed rwy 23. The configuration isn't ideal so after landing, you have to back taxi and then cross another runway to get to the terminal. the remaining 4 RVs had to extend downwind so the first RV could back taxi and clear the runway. The rest of us landed together and started to backtaxi on the left side of the runway as the others were still landing on the right. The runway must have been 200+ feet wide. We all exited the runway and parked on the terminal ramp. We waited for the Russian cruise director to show us the way. He seemed just as confused as all of us newbies. There were no customs agents anywhere to be found. We decided to call CANPASS and announce our arrival. They said we were all fine and gave us a confirmation number. Wow....how easy was that?

We loaded up to depart for our next and final leg of the day. Stanley!
Enroute, we cross a bit of water, Capt John donned his life jacket just in case. Safety first and away we go. I was the lead on takeoff....but was quickly overtaken by #3....I like to conserve fuel but Rich likes to cruise. The scenery was gorgeous...but the water did look COLD!!




This was my route of flight BTW.


We arrived at Stanley to a welcome Unicom voice. This airport was definitely uncontrolled but since our last experience, we weren't quite sure. the guy on the radio gave us the landing runway and preferred direction of traffic. The 4 "A" drivers were concerned about the grass field condition so we let the only taildragger, #3, who was ahead anyway, go first. He reported good conditions and the A models felt better. Finally, we had arrived.

On the end of the row you can see Paul Tuttle's freshly minted -8 and the -4 belonged to one of the RV-1 pilots! We were among RV royalty.

Of course Vlad had to have his limited edition "Canvas" painting signed by the artist.


Of course he also had it signed by the RV-1 pilot. Vlad's mission was now complete. That's what he had come to do!


So there he goes taxing out to survey the local area....he had only been on the ground less than an hour. Restless! (the ribs weren't ready yet so he had to kill time!)

As we waited for the ribs to smoke to perfection, the first lady, Linda, kept us entertained in the club house with margaritas and pina colodas. They call her the first lady because she is married to the club president, Kevin who was busy smoking our ribs. More on these 2 later....

Next came dinner. I was so anxious to get those ribs in my stomach I forget to take the obligatory picture of the first plate. But I remembered on the second.




By now the drinks were flowing for most of us on this beautiful day.


Our gracious hosts even went out of their way to dig up an American flag to welcome us. When I inquired as to why the US flag was on the bottom they replied "Because Canada is north of the US"

Nick, the REAL rest of the story must only be told verbally over homebrewed ale. I am sure we will get that opportunity soon!

Here is a group photo of the entire lot (taken at KIWI) of intrepid aviators who made the International trek:



From Left to right we have Al "Token Lib" Girard, Solar Steve, The Russian, Tony "TKATC" in rear, Glen "Humptybump, Captain John, Don a.k.a. Hot Cylinders, Omega Devil Dan and last (only when he is on the ground) Machine Man.

Here is the conga line for departure:



Hands on throttles, ready to launch!

After flying along and discovering a "pecking order" we saw Machine man was out front by a margin. His 7 is truly a machine! TKATC and Dan were mixing it up too much to know who was truly the dominant male of the two. If they only had guns we could be certain!

The -9's were flying "bomber-style" as Vlad would say. He and I kept everyone out of the glue!



Here is a picture of the line of planes at Saint John, Canada.



I snapped pictures of the flight teams while I was there.

Here is Machine Man in front of his "Rocket Bird" with Solar Steve:



Tony "TKATC" on the wing of Tweety Bird:



Dan and Token Al:



...and Don with Humptybump:



No picture of Vlad and I. Photographic evidence is strictly prohibited by KGB!

Here is our conga line departing Saint John. Vlad said that must wait for a flying boat to land before we could shove off!



More pictures to follow upon our arrival at Stanley, Nova Scotia!

CJ

In the "Last Supper" picture above you can see Linda chuckling in the corner by herself. I think she was so proud of herself that she got most of us drunk before dinner.

After dinner, they broke out the hay ride! These boys do it all up here. We tried to made Vlad pull the cart but that clearly wasn't going to work so we busted out the Massey Fergusun.


Everyone got some fresh drinks (some of us got TWO) and boarded the wagon.






You'll notice the Russian still only drinking Coke....he wanted to fly at sunset to he maintained discipline.


We took the tour and told tall tales...

Kevin, the club president was our hay ride tour guide. Here he is displaying the KR2 he built embroidered on his jacket.


Tales were told as we toured the backwoods of Stanley. Adelle told us there were murders back here they couldn't discuss and Paul admitted he committed one of them. I didn't believe them for a second until I took this picture....now I have second thoughts!


Shouldn't this pic be in the VAF hat sighting thread???

With the hay ride complete I hopped in Vlad's -9 for a few sunset circuits. I tease him all the time about his -9 and the imperfections I love to find but I have to be honest, "Bad Bravo Kilo" (AKA Cowl Plugs) flies like a dream. Simple and pure!




Here is the gang from the air. If you look close they are taking pictures of us as we are taking pictures of them. (Sorry for the blur, at RV-9 speeds the camera cannot keep up!)

With the moon on the rise many of us were ready to hit the rack.


Here is the Stanley Hilton that sleeps 8.


Problem...we have 9 visitors. Hmm. No worries...Steve found a bunk in the club house.


BTW, fair warning, do not sleep within 3 city blocks of this guy if you expect to get any sleep. Vlad had to use ear plugs AND his Bose ANR headsets in an attempt to sleep next to this LumberJack and it STILL wasn't enough!


To be fair....he wasn't the only one sawing logs! Sleep was escaping many of us as the close quarters not only SOUNDED great, it also smelled great as 8 drunk aviators slept off the booze and Paul's homemade baked beans! (Maybe that's the reason Tanya opts for cookies?!?)

We awoke to a breakfast spread that rivaled any pancake fly-in.




Something is just not right with this next picture but I can quite put my finger on it....


After breakfast we will depart for Yarmouth.


I can't thank our hosts at Stanley enough. Not only Paul and Adelle but everyone on that field. Many were not even RV people. They all went out of their way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. I can only hope that Americans will return the favor should they ever visit our country. They may be the top hosts we have ever encountered.

After departing Stanley we flew down the west coast of Nova Scotia to see RonB. This was some of the most picturesque and fun flying I have ever done. Pictures don't do it justice and some pics just WON'T get posted here!!

Vlad trying to collect "Mud" strips as well as grass.


That -9 is fast when it wants to be! he knew I was on his 6 and didn't want to be swimming.

I like lighthouses and there were PLENTY.


Plenty of waterfalls too.






As Vlad was distracted by all the beauty, Dan snuck in on his 6 and shot the Russian down!!

More lighthouses.




I kept looking for the whales that the Russian coordinator promised but never saw any. I did see plenty of seagulls and even a few seal. the first seal I saw ducked into the water as I approached but the next pair had their heads up out of the water and turned to watch me as I flew by. Pretty funny looking. Of course, no pictures.

The wind farm just outside of RonB's place.


Our welcoming crew at RonB's perfectly manicured grass strip. Reminded me of Augusta National.




RonB is a previous -10 owner/builder. He currently is fixing some maintenance issues on this beauty as he waits on the next kit of the -14 he is building.


RonB showed us around a bit, showed us his boat building yard then Vlad directed him to take us to the local eatery. He was hungry, AGAIN! After a delicious lunch, Ron took us back to his field so we could check weather and depart.

Preparing to head back to the states we called CANPASS and filed our flight plans and they gave us squawk codes on the phone. We bid farewell to Ron and gave him and his crew a quick fly-by before heading out. Here we are departing Nova Scotia for the water crossing.

Nice!

Tony

Thanks for sharing the pictures. It sounds like you guys had a great trip. I wish I could have joined you! Maybe next time....

Here is our track from Stanley, down the coast, and then back to the states.

I had to throttle down as we crossed over the water because the Russian needed to use me as his artificial horizon. It was quite hazy and bright so the horizon was hard to distinguish. As we approached Bangor, ME our flight lead Dan suggested an overhead approach. I had never flown one but was quite familiar as I work fighters all the time. Vlad was not as familiar and we gave him a quick lesson as we approached. The break would be to the right with a 4 second delay between ships. Tower approved our request and cleared us to land. Dan broke over the numbers and we followed as planned. I think it work out beautifully since the only conversation I had with the customs official that checked my passport was "That was cool!" Without any other questions, we were cleared. Wow, how easy was that! Dan called FSS to close our VFR flight plans and we were done. Time to fuel up and depart for our home bases.

We all went our separate ways from Bangor. Vlad and I departed as a 2-ship but quickly split up to dodge clouds. We gave each other pireps to avoid the building thunderstorms approaching the coast. My XM weather was telling me I was in for a challenge as I neared Philadelphia. 3/4 mile vis at my home airport....Dan said just close 1 eye and that's like having a mile and a half. (He's obviously NAVY). I was supposed to stop at Plymouth with Vlad to drop off Capt John but I decided to press on without stopping. Vlad disposed of Capt John and called me as he departed PYM for pireps. I was down near Kennedy and was able to tell him what I saw. It was going to be a challenge for both of us. I called the approach control where I worked and got exceptional service. They helped me plan a route around the massive cells over central Jersey. I was glad to have the help! I landed uneventfully and watched Vlad's tracker as he snaked through the cells. I was relieved to see he made it too.

I did over 7.5 challenging flight hours yesterday and parts of it were the most fun I've ever had flying. This is the last pic I have for this thread but I'm sure there will be more added by the group.

Stanley, Nova Scotia

TK, Great write up, and great pictures. I?m not sure I have a lot to add about the hospitality or the accommodations but I will underscore one of your comments. The odor of the Stanley Hilton (aka the bunkhouse) definitely too a turn for the worse after we occupied it! I sure hope it ?airs out? before the next occupants. As you noted, the hospitality we received was second to none, and anytime someone from Stanley needs room and board in central Virginia, they?re welcome to use a bedroom here. If they fly in, they?ll simply love the fuel price they see on the pump at KXSA (but I can sweeten that with a discount).

You photos captured the trip up to Stanley marvelously. I only wish we had something like the Stanley Sport Aviation club here in the States. Three runways, dirt cheap hangars, a club house that you could live in, great people, very few neighbors, and lots of planes and pilots and some others just interested in the camaraderie. Next time though, I?m bringing bug spray (pure deet, to use and leave behind).

Here are a few more pictures to entice those who are considering making the trip ?next year.?

Here's a shot of the Stanley "tower" - with the club house and porch right behind it. The tower actually doesn't lean...the photographer may have sampled a "few" Canadian ales prior to taking this photo.



This was the RV line up. The five of us that flew in and Paul's RV-8.



When it comes to the bombers in attendance, I don't think there's any question, this one had the nicest paint job (of course the other bomber hasn't spent enough time on the ground to get a paint job yet). I may have to post this as my most awesome photo of N257SW on the ground.



Vlad was going to drive the MF for the hay ride but first he had to take a check ride with TK. Apparently it didn't go well and Paul drove us around while Adele told stories you'd expect to hear from Stephen King.



Vlad doing a fly-by.



And finally, Vlad dancing in the sky as the sunset Saturday evening. If you look closely, his right wing and the propeller are reflecting the sun (though it looks like hot shot Russian pilot's right wing is on fire).




What I?d like to add to your report was how educational the trip was for me. Glen (aka Humptybump) flew right seat and shared a lot of his flying knowledge and skills. As a former Cherokee driver, flying VFR on top was something I practically never did (or couldn?t do easily), and going around weather was something I couldn?t do if the storm had any size. Glen shared several insights into dealing with cloud layers, rain, and storms on the way home. We dealt with weather and dodged weather from about 50 miles east of Bangor all the way home. Some of it was easy and some of was more challenging but the RV handled it all well. I am a more capable pilot as a result and this to me is what RVers and experimental aviation is all about.

We used ADS-B for most of the trip back. NEXRAD radar seems remarkably accurate at home while sitting on the ground, but it isn?t quite so accurate in the air. I realize the images are older than they seem. Apparently they maybe 20 minutes old (see http://www.maxtrescott.com/max_tres...eather-age-misleading-and-killing-pilots.html). What I am discovering is you shouldn?t rely on NEXRAD for more than a general depiction of conditions. If its showing precipitation, it probably still exists but no longer where depicted. Guessing where a cell would be based on where it was, isn?t an exact science - at least not in my cockpit. ADS-B is a big help going around weather, but not a good way to go through weather (my opinion). And not that I?d rely on it, I finally did see traffic on my iFly 720 connected to a SkyRadar D2.

Canadian Flight Service is simply amazing in my opinion. I wonder if when Northrup Grumman?s contract is up, if we could contract with CFS instead. When I called to file my flight plan from Stanley to Bangor via Saint Johns, the lady immediately said, ?I remember you (and she said that like it was a good thing), you flew in to Saint John?s yesterday. I?ll look your information up?...and she did. There are some differences in filing between the US and Canada - nothing major but the code /u that I use here doesn?t work there and I?m flying an RV-9 to them, not an RV-9A. She simply could not have been more helpful.

Glen and I departed for Bangor (we had a longer ride home) and the rest of the guys wanted to see more of Nova Scotia. I don?t know how easy it was for the flight of 4 getting through customs at Bangor but for us it couldn?t have been easier. We parked in the designated area GA/Customs area, shut the engine down, and an immigrations official walked over right away and asked for our passports. After a quick glance at them, at us, and the baggage compartment he asked how long we were gone and if were were bringing anything back. We said about 24 hours and we?re not bringing any back and that was our welcome back. I?d guess it took maybe 45 seconds, and about half of that was Glen digging out his passport. We never had time to exit the plane. Getting into Canada was even easier, as you noted, but it probably took 5 minutes and a phone call.

And my final comment is Glen is a geek. When I bought my plane last fall I couldn?t get the AP and the GPS to communicate. Glen got my GPS talking to autopilot and that sure lightened the workload on the flight home. The Digitrak II handled the turbulence we encountered with ease. I think I?m going to really like XC flying even better with the AP. So all-in-all, I?d call this whirlwind trip the epitome of experimental aviation; it was a boat load of fun and educational.

A number of people mentioned this might become an annual fly-in. I don?t know if it?ll come to be but if it does, it?s a trip any RV pilot should consider making. The flying is a whole lot more interesting than a trip around the patch or your local pancake breakfast. The hospitality is exceptional. The border crossing is something worth experiencing. And RV people are simply a gregarious fun loving group. Now I?m wondering if I can finish my ?other 9A? in time for next year?s trip.

Wow! You guys are doing the thing the way it should be done.

Next time I'll dodge my previous commitments (thwarted anyhow on account of AWOL electron), and go with you!

Awesome trip thank you Paul for Make It Happen

The trip was in the brew for about two months. We planned to pay a visit to the home field of an RV artist Paul Tuttle. The Stanley Air Field is very rich in aviation history and we came to honor it. Initially there were two airplanes committed then the number grew to three and we ended up with five.

My hat is going off to you Don. I confess I was in doubt till last day that you would go. I knew how challenging it would be for you. So many variables could be on the way, distance, weather, border crossing you name it. You did great Sir and you gained tremendous experience. It's all to your record logbook. Landed in several states and two Canadian Provinces. On the grass first time only few can venture.. I am very proud I know you.

My Irish cousin Tony is one Master Writer. I wonder if he secretly staging something on or off Broadway. That was the most comical write up I've ever read. Good job TK

I didn't take many pictures of this trip. We all had a right seater and my bulky camera just didn't fit there. If I went solo I would have beat you on those parallaxes and provocative angles.

My biggest concern was Canadian Customs and as you can see it was super easy. A Canadian RV crew was supposed to join the fun but adverse weather kept them on the ground. We will see you Alfio in couple weeks. Come to Mid Atlantic RV Fly In on July 13th you won't regret.

Flying wise the trip was nothing out of ordinary. The group knew each other well and communication was to minimum. Some planes had third undocumented crew member named George. I could not catch him to report to the authorities.

Two RV9 (Don and myself) flew "bomber style" higher and slower and we made traffic patterns by the book. More agile "fighters" were supposed to escort but they were itching to get to the destination faster. You can't catch "Machineman". What if "the bombers" got intercepted?


Here were are at CCW4 Stanley Airport of Nova Scotia CANADA.





Glen and I had limited edition prints sent to us by Ernie Butcher the RV1 Project President. Here Paul and RV1 Pilot Ross are signing our copies.
















Paul taking a picture of me taking a picture of Paul

The day was longest of the year and packed with fun. Every year I time something meaningful to that day. Not because it's my BD but because it's the best season of the year for flying long distance. Exactly year ago I went for that beach airport on West Coast I couldn't reach over weekend. Two years ago I perfectly timed my Airworthiness Inspection. This year we visited Stanley. A few are in the know of next year destination

We had perfect host and there was a perfect hotel.





It was a weekend trip and there was perfect VFR weather on day one and even better on day two. We were planning to fly over a field in memory of 90 years old Stanley AirClub member but time was a premium we all had to be home the same day. We will do it next year.


Here we are leaving Paulie's Land.






We played a bit over muddy waters by Digby Neck. I've been to those woods before and familiar with the terrain. We switched right seaters I was bragging to Al that RV9 he is building can do everything other "hot rodders" can. I probably bragged too much and for too long thinking I "dusted off" Dan and Tony of my tail. Then I heard some strange phraseology like "locked" or "engaded" or something like that meaningless for us regular mortals. Then when Dan appeared in his RV to the left I got it. They train them good this day militarists I thought absence of paint and friendly terrain would help me get lost...


We proceeded to Yarmouth, NS and each one bought minimum amount of the most expensive avgas we've ever bought. Around $2 per LITER!


We put an improvised airshow over RonB grass strip and landed. Did I tell you the size of the strip? Space Shuttle Grass LF.

Vlad said:

Paul taking a picture of me taking a picture of Paul

Click to expand...

Vlad taking a picture of me taking a picture of Vlad.

Hopped the Gulf of Maine and Dan asked Bangoreans for an overhead break. Guys started speaking strange Hornet Language consisting bunch of numbers and coded words. It confused me at first but my hero cousin knew that lingo. He quickly translated everything into plain English we positioned properly and my chronometrist counted four long seconds...

"Who is the fighter pilot?" asked a Customs Agent and I pointed to Red/White RV. "We heard you and expected jets then saw those little things... You guys are cool"

What could be better? Keep pounding those rivets until you're done it's worth it!

Paul poined out (and it was clear to see) that they were flying Old Glory beneath their own in honor of us. Quite a tribute! Thank you Paullie!



Here is my best picture of the weekend I think. Vlad did a dusk patrol and this one came out pretty good!



The Bay of Fundy has a 55 foot tidal range!!! it is incredible to watch!



Dan and I snuck up on Machine Man when he wasn't looking. Rich, if we had guns... BANG!





This is Ron B's. hangar/garage. The center post disappears so aircraft can easily be housed and removed!



Inside, Vlad and Tony were busy arranging our border crossing. It seems that you must pick up your feet when crossing the international boundary??? I don't know. I just do as I am told!



Al is doing an inspection on the cub:



If anyone is wondering about Don's field, I found this sign with his identifier on it. Just don't ride your ATV there!



...cont'd

This is what our formation looked like on the way into KBGR Bangor, Maine.

...and damnit yes! We DID look good!



It was an incredible time and I had TONS of RV fun! Thanks RV!

CJ

Thanks for coming.

I wanted to add just how much we enjoyed hosting the American invasion at our field. I've received a lot of comments from our members hoping that you'll be back again. If you found us even half as entertaining as we found you then I'd say it was a pretty successful gathering. Looking forward to next time.


PS We found a watch someone left behind in the Hilton. If it belongs to one of you please let me know and I'll mail it to you.

Nova Scotia

Great trip report, great adventure, great fun! Let me know next time you are going! Bill

Hey Paul,
Thanks again for your hospitality!

That was my watch left at the Hilton Aviators Suite? It?s an old Timex that is ready to be retired?

Strap it to a fencepost somewhere and we?ll have to make repeated trips up there to check to see how long it keeps ?ticking? (the digital display is set to Zulu)

Couple more pics of a great weekend:

Paul, I want a Stanley T-shirt. Let's go with XXL since the boss will likely shrink it. Where do I send the cash?

tkatc said:

Paul, I want a Stanley T-shirt. Let's go with XXL since the boss will likely shrink it. Where do I send the cash?

Click to expand...

Send cash to Princeton Airport front desk. I will fly it to Paul

tkatc said:

Paul, I want a Stanley T-shirt. Let's go with XXL since the boss will likely shrink it. Where do I send the cash?

Click to expand...

Tony,

We have a strict rule that the Stanley T-shirt can only be purchased here on the field. You'll have to come back and get one.

Or you can send me an email with your mailing address and I send one along.
We're a little limited on colors right now so I'll check and let you know what's in stock.

Awesome trip!

What a great trip! Nova Scotia is a beautiful place, despite the local air force of large flying hungry bugs. Our hosts where extremely nice and seem to have a nice life tucked away at this abandoned WWII training air strip. The trip up and back with Dan and flying the Southwest coast with Vlad was the most fun flying I have done. It certainly was a motivator to finish my 9a. I very much look forward to visiting again. The folks I have met involved with the RV community has been a great life experience! Thanks Paul, and best of luck with your new RV 8.