Flying During the Pandemic

Flying During The Pandemic Contributed by VFC President and Accountable Executive Colin Williamson

As you likely have seen elsewhere, VFC is open for Club Members who are licensed and current to rent airplanes during the pandemic. I did this with my wife, Kim, on April 16 and thought I would share the experience.

With the COVID19 pandemic Kim and I have been staying to close to home but I was definitely missing my flying, especially given the gorgeous weather we have been having. Kim loves flying too so we decided to go for a flight. I fly the plane, she does the photography.

Booking the plane was exactly the same as usual. You can either book online or phone Dispatch and book a plane. We booked our flight for April 16 at 11:00AM.

In the morning I got up and checked the weather with all the usual tools found on the NavCanada website. I also like to use Windy.com. It has the best presentation of winds that I know of. If you haven’t seen it do give it a try. We then hopped in the car and drove up to VFC.

As soon as you walk in the building you will notice that things are different. The gate to the Dispatch area is closed and the open link metal fencing above the counter is pulled across just like it is after hours. The Dispatcher will cheerfully greet you and can answer any questions you have. What is different is that you will not be filling out the Dispatch sheet. Transport Canada does not require this step. Instead you will find the Journey Log, keys and headset(s) inside the plane that Dispatch assigns to you. Next up was filing a Flight Plan. Nothing unusual with this step, you even get the “You are first in line for the next available…” message from the phone system in Kamloops. The person on the other end of the line seemed pleased to have someone to talk to and provided another weather briefing confirming skies clear everywhere! We checked NOTAMs and got our squawk code.

Pre-flight checking the plane (JZB) was completely normal except for the book, keys and headset already being in the plane. JZB was super nice and clean. Our line people carefully wipe down the plane, book and headset(s) before each flight.

Taxiing out, run-up and take-off went smoothly but it’s definitely much quieter than usual with only one other recreational flyer in the vicinity. I also noticed that one Air Traffic Controller was doing all four of Clearance Delivery, Ground, Inner and Outer Tower.

We then had ourselves an absolutely beautiful 1.5 hour flight. We flew down the length of Lake Cowichan right to the far end and then continued on the same heading until we reached the Alberni Inlet. We made a right turn there until we intercepted Mt. Arrowsmith, and then flew back to Lake Cowichan enjoying a flight over the snow covered hills at 7,500’. From up there we could easily see the Pacific Ocean off to our right, the Olympic Mountains in front and the BC Coastal range to our left. We do live in an awesome place!

As we came back down the Cowichan Valley I decided I would ask Tower if I could practice a Simulated ILS. The answer was “yes” with the usual “maintain VFR at all times”. I was given vectors right away; 140 degrees to start and a bit later 120 degrees to give me a nice intercept onto the ILS for Runway 09. I am a VFR pilot but I find its good to try more stuff than strictly required. Evidently I need to practice the Simulated ILS a bit more. Both the vertical and horizontal needles steadfastly refused to stay neatly pinned in place and wandered about one dot either side of where they should be. And I can’t even blame it on the weather since it was such a beautiful day!

Back on the ground you just fill in the logbook and leave it in the plane along with the keys and headset(s). You then come back into the building and verbally provide times up and down, and Hobbs numbers to the Dispatcher who will fill in the Dispatch sheet and then pay in the usual way.