Pilot Report – Beautiful Autumn in Alberta (PICS)

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I wrote a trip report so I decided to do another one for you. This year I’ve flown more than any other year, both as pilot and passenger, so I have lots of photos and topics. I will do a few other trip reports in the upcoming weeks as follows:

Calgary – Denver – Orlando (Frontier Airlines)
Calgary – Toronto – Boston (Air Canada / Air Canada Jazz)
Calgary – Los Angeles (WestJet)
Calgary – Denver – Boston (United Airlines)

However, until I have time to write them, I decided to share with you a short trip around Calgary. I’ve done another one that was similar to this, but I’m sure you all enjoy the photos; besides… we need more pilot reports here…

And now… the report:

Aircraft: DA40-180 Diamond Star
Reg: C-FNAC
Route: Calgary International – Bragg Creek – Elbow Falls, Alberta.
Crew: 1 (duh… it’s a single engine prop… what did you expect?)
Passengers: 1 (Marika N.)

A few weeks ago, my friend Marika visited Canada. She absolutely loves Calgary, so what better way to entertain her, than to take her up for a quick ride “around town”?

She lives in a rather small town in Trasilvania and doesn’t get too many chances to fly, let alone have the opportunity to see “how it works”. I’m sure the 9 hour(+) she spent from Frankfurt to Calgary was “enough flying”, but hey… you can’t compare. As much as I love our national airline a sight-seeing flight on a DA40 is much cooler than cattle class on Air Canada’s A333 flying across the pond… even if they offer that nice little bottle of (free) wine.

The night before I told checked the weather and I was bit skeptical that we’d be able to go. It was raining so I gave it a 50-50 chance. I guess luck was on our side and by the time I woke up the next morning, we only had some cloud lying around Calgary. No problem… We can handle that…

We arrived at the airport around 7:30am, so it was pretty early for both of us… especially for a Saturday. Lucky for us, we both called it a night around 10:00pm the previous day. I never go flying unless I have at least 7 hours of sleep. Safety is paramount to me and if I’m not well rested, I make mistakes… and in aviation these could be costly…

At the airport, I went through the mandatory paper work (W&B, Flight Plan, Insurance Papers, etc). The weather looked good, the aircraft was fueled up and with walk-around done, we were ready to start her up.

Front office…


Me on the wing of the DA40. Don’t worry… I’m only 170 lbs… It can take it


Fuel pump prior to engine star-up


View from the right side of the plane. Piper Aztec C-FNAD


Initially I got the ATIS information, then called up “Clearance Delivery” on 121.3. The transponder code assigned was 4603 (see photo) and my flight plan was approved & I’d be taking off runway 34.

Going through the check-list


Right side of the instrument panel.. Fuel Gauge, Engine Gauges, Transponder, Autopilot & the Garmin 530/430 GPS. (partial view)


I contacted ground on 121.9 and requested taxi clearance to the holding bay of 34, where I would complete my run-up. Shortly after tower 118.4 and I was asked to taxi to position and hold for traffic departing runway 28. Calgary’s two main runways (34-16 & 28-10) intersect each other and LAHSO is something that’s very common here. Once the WestJet 737 rolled through the intersection I was assigned 250 on the heading and restricted to 4500’. This is standard procedure for West VFR departures out of YYC.

Once in the air, after take-off checklist was performed, then tower switched me over to terminal control on 119.4. Terminal turned me toward Glenmore Reservoir and assigned me 5500 feet. Once over the “water”, it was 250 degrees once again and Springbank Tower on 118.2. It was a VERY busy day for Springbank’s controllers. We were cleared to 6000’ and direct Bragg Creek.

Downtown Calgary








Marika taking a break from filming




Right back to being a “reporter”


On our way toward the Rocky Mountains




Once over the town, we were cleared on route and followed the highway toward Kananaskis Country and Elbow Falls, which are at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I never get bored of these flights… no matter how many I do. You can understand why Marika was mesmerized. Aside from filming, she didn’t say much, except “I can’t believe I’m doing this…”





Town of Bragg Creek, Alberta






Around Bragg Creek











We came back toward the town of Bragg Creek and called Springbank Tower once again, stating our intentions to return back to Calgary International. I had a “Standby November Alpha Charlie”. I circled west of the town for about 10 minutes before the controller go back to us. It was ridiculously busy. If one wouldn’t understand the chatter, you’d think you’re at LHR. (She had an awesome British Accent).

Heading back toward Springbank Airport






Once she had “room” for us, we were directed to follow the “Banff Coach Procedure”, which is a VFR call point for CYYC. Once there, we contacted Calgary Terminal, which instructed us to fly 070 and cleared us left base for runway 34. Once near the downtown core, it was Tower again on 118.4 which cleared us to land. The winds were light and I must brag... perfect landing... or as Marika said it “Better than Air Canada” HAHA… Well, I don’t think you can compare… but hey, I’ll leave that as is. The girl was impressed and what do I have to lose?


Over the city of Calgary




Canada Olympic Park, one of the sites of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games hosted by Calgary


Flying toward downtown Calgary (left base for runway 34)














Turning final for runway 34. You can see the “Deerfoot” freeway below us.




Final, runway 34


The golf course between 32nd Ave & McKnight Blvd.


Runway 34 is visible


Baseball park south of McKnight Blvd


Short final, runway 34






Taxi back to the Southeast Ramp
















We exited on runway 07 then contacted ground on 121.9. We were cleared to taxi via Charlie taxiway to the Southeast Ramp for shutdown.

After shutdown


Me after the flight


Marika’s excitement was quite obvious




Marika & I, after the flight




All in all, a pretty simple, uneventful, yet VERY enjoyable flight. I loved it… the girl loved it… and hopefully you guys like the photos. This isn’t my best effort toward a trip report, but I’m short on time, so you’ll have to settle for this.

Thanks a lot and hope to hear some comments from all of you.

Regards,

Vio Ludusan
Calgary, Canada