andrew phillips
Well Known Member
Okay I admit I sensationalized the headline. It worked though, didn't it? You are reading this story of how an RV landed on a river today. This river happens to be in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and is quite frozen at this time of year. There were also 40 -50 other planes and one helicopter doing the same thing.
Landing site as seen on the way in. Look in the mid right to see the aircraft already there.
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Today was the 20 anniversary of Moe's fly in. Moe lives along the Ottawa river near Ottawa. Every year on this Saturday he clears off a 3000' runway and invites pilots from anywhere to come and visit. The weather this year was perfect. Rain yesterday smoothed the ice and todays well below freezing temperatures made it good and solid.
There were all kinds of planes, Cirrus, Rv's, Maule, Cessna, Taylorcraft, Piper to name a few. People arrived on skiis and wheels.
Picture from Moes balcony:
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This was my first time landing on ice so I was a little nervous. At 2000' it was initially hard to see the runway since most of the river looked the same. The colorful display of parked aircraft caught our attention and we knew we were in the right place. I joined in a long downwind behind fellow RV builder Alfio in his 9A. There were at least three of us in the pattern at the same time so it got a bit stretched out. I ended up on a long and very gradual decent on final. The plane in front of Alfio's got a bit stuck on the runway and so Alfio had to overshoot. When I got there the plane had been moved and I was able to make a very nice landing. I was going so slowly on touchdown that I had to taxi a ways to the end. During that time the plane behind me had to overshoot. It was such a beautiful sunny day that overshooting must have just added to the fun!
Alfio just after landing as I taxi to parking:
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The reward for making this trip was some of the best Chili I have had and socializing with many friendly pilots and their families. My co-pilot and photographer, Bill Reed, seemed to enjoy himself too. I let him fly on the way home and he did a pretty decent landing for his first time in an RV-7A. I am already looking forward to this event next year.
My plane with it's winter coat on while parked on the ice:
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Landing site as seen on the way in. Look in the mid right to see the aircraft already there.
Today was the 20 anniversary of Moe's fly in. Moe lives along the Ottawa river near Ottawa. Every year on this Saturday he clears off a 3000' runway and invites pilots from anywhere to come and visit. The weather this year was perfect. Rain yesterday smoothed the ice and todays well below freezing temperatures made it good and solid.
There were all kinds of planes, Cirrus, Rv's, Maule, Cessna, Taylorcraft, Piper to name a few. People arrived on skiis and wheels.
Picture from Moes balcony:
This was my first time landing on ice so I was a little nervous. At 2000' it was initially hard to see the runway since most of the river looked the same. The colorful display of parked aircraft caught our attention and we knew we were in the right place. I joined in a long downwind behind fellow RV builder Alfio in his 9A. There were at least three of us in the pattern at the same time so it got a bit stretched out. I ended up on a long and very gradual decent on final. The plane in front of Alfio's got a bit stuck on the runway and so Alfio had to overshoot. When I got there the plane had been moved and I was able to make a very nice landing. I was going so slowly on touchdown that I had to taxi a ways to the end. During that time the plane behind me had to overshoot. It was such a beautiful sunny day that overshooting must have just added to the fun!
Alfio just after landing as I taxi to parking:
The reward for making this trip was some of the best Chili I have had and socializing with many friendly pilots and their families. My co-pilot and photographer, Bill Reed, seemed to enjoy himself too. I let him fly on the way home and he did a pretty decent landing for his first time in an RV-7A. I am already looking forward to this event next year.
My plane with it's winter coat on while parked on the ice: