KFCM
– KBAC – S28 - CYQR
We planned to fly from Flying Cloud
in Minneapolis to Barnes County Airport, more commonly referred to as Valley
City Airport, for cheap fuel. We would
then process through customs and have lunch at International Peace Garden right
on the border between North Dakota and Saskatchewan. The plan was to end the day with two legs into
Edmonton City Centre for the night.
Seems simple enough. The weather
was predicted to cooperate with a high-pressure system on and to the northeast
of our route holding a frontal boundary stationary to the southwest. I had just finished the oil change and the
plane was running great. Off we go!
The first snag occurred when the
auxiliary fuel pump, which is used to prime the engine before start, failed to
come on when I pressed the switch. The
switch has normal and emergency sides, and only the normal side was
failing. I used the emergency side to
prime and attempted a start. When I
cranked the Continental IO-550 engine of our Cessna 206, it sounded like a loud
lawnmower. Only three cylinders came
alive with normal temperatures in the cylinder heads. The exhaust temperatures on the odd number
cylinders registered in the 1100-1300 range with low to no cylinder head
temperatures. I attempted to lean the
fuel mixture and adjust everything in my power to get it running right. Unsuccessful, I shut it down to ensure I
wasn’t doing any damage. After a minute
or two of thinking, I attempted another start and the engine purred like a
kitten. Huh. After a lengthy run-up I was convinced that
the problem had something to do with priming using the emergency side of the
fuel pump.
We departed Flying Cloud under a 2,000-foot
ceiling, which quickly cleared leaving us a beautiful, smooth flight to Barnes
County Airport in Valley City, ND. I
chose this stop based off their fuel price listed on the map in
Foreflight. What a great airport! While I was fueling at the self-serve tanks,
Dad and Uncle Norris explored an open hangar nearby with an impressive
collection of airplanes and a classic muscle car. Cory and Jarrod Lindemann entertained them
with descriptions of the different airplanes in the hangar and their
maintenance business specializing in larger restoration projects. There were too many airplane types to
remember, but some of the more impressive specimens included a Supercub,
aerobatic biplane, two turbine crop dusters, and several aerobatic models in
varying degrees of restoration. The
collection of airplanes was impressive, but the organization and condition of
their hangar was even more impressive.
There wasn’t a thing out of place; the floors were polished clean; and
every part, fuselage, wing, tail, and canopy were stored meticulously around
the hangar.
After fueling, I opened the cowling
and inspected the electrical connections to the auxiliary fuel pump
microswitch. Sure enough, one of the
three wires leading to the microswitch had broken where a mechanic had previously
soldered the wire to the switch. I
inquired from Cory whether he could get the wire reattached to get us on our
way. It took a little work and a little
more time than either of us thought, but he was able to get us going
again. He removed the microswitch to
solder the wire on cleanly, ensuring that the bond didn’t short to the next
wire. The longest part of the process
was working in the tight space with some special tools to reattach the
microswitch. I asked how much the
repair would run me, and I honestly don’t think he was going to charge me. It felt like we had completely closed down
their shop for a couple hours, as Jarrod chatted with us the entire two and a
half hours that Cory was working on the plane.
I, of course, compensated them well above what I thought was fair and we
said our goodbyes.
I got a weather update from flight
service, updated our EAPIS, and updated our arrival time with CANPASS. EAPIS is the web-based system used by the
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to track incoming and outgoing private airplane
and boat traffic. I’ve read many
complaints about it from other pilots that were experience with international
flying before it was implemented. I
didn’t find it that difficult, but it would have been nice to be able to just
update our departure time with the delay in Valley City. With the new departure time, I was required
to submit a completely new manifest, though our crew and passenger information
was still in their system from the previous submission. CANPASS is the phone system to alert the
Canadian Border Patrol that you are going to need processing at an airport of
entry. I initially called them prior to
departing Flying Cloud, but had to call them another three times to update our
arrival time. What a pleasant and helpful
bunch to work with.
The fuel pump worked flawlessly and the engine
started perfect. We departed Valley City
on the hour flight into International Peace Garden. On the last portion of our flight through
North Dakota, it was amazing to see what we presume to be massive and
widespread flooding. Roads were under
water and fields were completely saturated.
Uncle Norris added this to his list of things he wanted to research
about the landscape we covered during the trip.
We landed within a minute of our planned
arrival time at International Peace Garden.
Landing to the west, I taxied across the U.S./Canada border onto the
northwest ramp. I call it a ramp, but
there is barely enough room for two aircraft to taxi. I parked on the northwest corner so we had a
great view of the peace garden down the hill to the west. On the approach, I called customs on the
advisory frequency as the Canadian Flight Supplement directs. They didn’t answer. I attempted to phone them after we shut down,
and still no answer. I then called CANPASS, who cleared me through customs over
the phone. They gave me a clearance
number that serves as our record for completing customs. The group was free to explore Canada. We exited the airplane, stretched our legs,
and headed down the hill to the peace garden.
You’ll have to look at the map to
understand, but the hill running down from the airport’s western side leads to
the road below with U.S. and Canadian border stations and the entrance to the
peace garden. When I say the border
stations, I mean that the path down the hill leads you right along the international
border to an area between both countries’ border stations. Not knowing where to go, I walked into the
Canadian customs office to ask where the lunch spot was. I hear these Canadians are super nice,
eh. The CANPASS system is not linked to
the border stations. Four blundering
Americans strolling around the demilitarized zone between the countries was not
one of the welcomed activities by either border authority. I spent the better part of five minutes
explaining to the Canadian authorities how I got there, what I was doing, where
I was going, who CANPASS was, and why I thought I could stroll around their
engagement area. In the meantime, Dad
hit the Canadian duty free store and Uncle Norris loitered around the border
station exploring the small bit of Canada available to us. It is a wonder that I’m not writing this from
a Canadian prison.
Eventually, I convinced the
Canadian border folks that we were simply a rendition of the Three Stooges
(plus an innocent seven year old we kidnapped).
They directed me to the entrance of the park and bid me farewell. The lunch spot was the snack bar at the peace
garden. I’m pretty sure that Brayden had
his seventh straight meal of cheeseburger and fries. We walked back through the middle of the
garden and admired the effort put into splitting everything right along the
border such as a fountain, pillars, parking lots, flower gardens, walkways, and
flagpoles. The view of our airplane
sitting high on the hill, seemingly looking down on the road and garden is one
of my favorite pictures of the trip. The
sky couldn’t have been any bluer. It
helped that we didn’t get arrested walking back across the road between the
border stations.
I had a noteworthy challenge
departing International Peace Garden. I
had done all my research on how to get weather and file in Canada. When I dialed 866-WX-BRIEF, the call wouldn’t
go through. I think I was getting U.S.
cell towers still and wasn’t being allowed to call to the Canadian toll free
number. The crew was forced to lay out
under the wing while I walked back down to the Peace Garden entrance station to
call (to the glare of border guards on both sides).
We departed International Peace
Garden and flew VFR direct to Regina, Saskatchewan. Uncle Norris and I marveled at the meticulous
nature with which the fields were plowed.
This was no small feat with a countryside peppered with small ponds and
marshes. How does a farmer teach someone
to take care of the fields? The process
of mentoring your children on how to plow around each lake to maximize your
crop must be an astonishingly arduous process.
The arrival into Regina was
uneventful. There are a couple
organizations on the field that offer fuel.
Regina would be our first lesson that FBOs in Canada aren’t the same as
those in the U.S. We chose Esso Aviation
for no real reason. The ground controller
directed me to a large parking ramp on the west or southwest side of the field,
and turned me loose to figure the rest out.
Umm… now what? We found another
couple of small planes and parked next to them as if they knew what they were
doing. I walked to the Esso building and
headed in to use the bathroom and arrange for fuel. Umm… still no one was present. I tried to walk back out to the airplane, but
the door was locked and I didn’t have a code.
The lesson here is that the doors are customarily locked to traffic
entering the airfield. You have to make
note of the gate/door code when leaving so you can get back in. No worries.
I called the one Esso guy on duty and arranged for fuel and to get the
door code.
Because of the maintenance delay in
Valley City, we decided to finish the day in Regina instead of our planned
destination of Edmonton. That worked out
though, because the girls were crossing the border at about the same time we
were and would meet us in Regina. Without
planning it, we all ended up at the first Canadian stop together. We called for a cab to meet the girls at the
Days Inn. Carly, Brayden, and Declan
were hyper with excitement to see each other.
Their highlight for the day was using the three-story water slide into
the hotel’s pool.
Discussing the trip at dinner after
arriving in Fairbanks, we all agreed that the events of this day were some of
the best we had. How can you plan to
meet such interesting and generous people as the Lindemanns? I’ve been planning this trip since I was
sitting in my housing unit in Iraq during 2008.
How could I have scripted that the border authorities would grill me
while Uncle Norris wandered around the secure area and Dad shopped liquors in
the duty free shop. There were majestic
and spectacular sights around almost every bend of our last three days, but we
all agreed that the vastly diverse and interesting people we encountered along
the trip were hard to top.
The plan for tomorrow is to stop in
Edmonton, Dawson Creek or Fort Saint John, and Fort Nelson. It was great to see the girls, but wow,
Declan takes a toll on you. It really
seems like he should be sleeping through the night by now. Liz and Beverly really deserve a great deal
of credit for not only managing the kids, but having a great time while they do
it. Until tomorrow…
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