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Stanley Flyin, Moncton Center and $100 Lobster

Vlad

Well Known Member
This trip was spontaneous and on short notice. A fly in was held at Stanley N.S. CCW4 on Labor Day and I planned to visit. I had a right seater committed but work obligations interfered and he made other plans. So I went to Canada alone.

To get to Canada is a walk in the park. Canadians are very friendly folks and have border crossing procedures well explained and super simplified.


I gassed up, called customs and took off. The only place I watched was traffic in the Corridor.


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Then I tuned my satellite link to VAF Forums and was browsing it for two + hours. Mostly watching David Valcik RV12.


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Neat little airport on the other side of the border. St. Stephen AOE.


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They run a kind of agricultural operation there using Griffin helicopters. I forgot the name of the crop they were controlling but all operators wear bulletproof vests and carry weapons.


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Now... please don't laugh... Talking George Laviolette the airport manager very nice gentleman in his advanced age. Talking very slowly...


- Are you German ?
- No, Russian.
- Would you like a piece of raisin pie? :D
- Sure why not.


And here I am on the other side of the border befriended all local dea agents and airport management eating homemade pie and drinking coffee. No customs showed up. Envy cousin.


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Glad you made it

Good to see you made it. The diff between Customs officers in various countries is funny. If you land at some of our Can airport and its not a regularly staffed customs office, as long as your not on some nasty list...lots of times nobody shows up at all, just a phone call.

Bigger question, was the pie any good?
 
It is a good thing you don't live down here Vlad. Because if you did, I wouldn't have any cash left because I would be flying to all these cool places with you!
 
- George where can I see some whales?
- Go to the Wolves, watch the boats and see some whales.
- Thanks.


The Wolves are tiny islands by Grand Mannan. I went there and did as recommended. No whales observed.


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Then I flew over Fundy Bay and spent a good hour looking. And it paid off.
Spotted two mammals but was very careful and stayed high. There is a MMPA provision you have to obey. Here is a big guy relaxing.


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And there is one more jumping out of the ocean like minnow in Turbo's pool.


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Enough whale watching. Landed at RonB. field CLE4. The smoothest grass strip I've ever been.


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Went to get some lobsters they have them in special storage. Cold dungeon like in Yakutat.


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Ready for consumption.



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Then I exchanged rides with Kevin a big fishing boat captain. He drove me to the sea and then I returned the courtesy in my RV.



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Then there was a tour of the vicinity. RonB. friend has this trophy by the house.



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Jaws and The Harpoon.



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Couple beers and we called the day.
 
Stanley visit was next. We boarded Ron's beautiful RV10 and departed to the Northeast.



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Lake Rognsinol.


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Stanley from the air.



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They had very good set up there.




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Met a lot of interesting people there. RV1 pilots.



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Paul Tuttle the famous artist we all know his paintings.


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Joe Hine and his more then decade young RV.



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Ride with Paul in his Harley.



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Thanks Ron for bringing me here.



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After Stanley we left for Moncton, New Brunswick. I have a connection there and was promised a Center tour. Landing at Moncton in RV10.



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Cool northern town. Center controller drove us to the facility and gave excellent tour.



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No pictures allowed at the Center sorry.



Met Lan an RV10 owner in Moncton. He has very nice RV with tons of modifications.



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Back to Nova Scotia by the end of the day.



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Left base runway 10 to Ron's grass JFK.



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The morning after next. One more box of sea bugs for Plymouth RVators.



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Hop across the Bay of Maine cleared US customs at Bangor International Airport then to Plymouth. An airshow is about to start there and Hangar #5 is throwing a party.



Hit a bit of rain on the way.


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Rain sanded leading edges on my Catto prop nicely and rinsed baggage compartment. :D



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By Boston everything was rosy.



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Plymouth airshow was still going on. Captain John was in cooking mode the crowd included some dignitaries like Turbo, Thermos and Wicked Stick.

At the end I was honored to be Turbo's wingman for a low pass.


Three days and $573 dollars later I landed at Princeton Airport. Keep pounding those rivets... :D
 
Wow Vlad, Sorry I missed the trip.

Paullie, I will catch you next time FOR SURE!

Looks like a great time!

:) CJ
 
Vlad, I got the KPYM Hangar #5 pics right here:

Here is a small part of the group. Total head count was well over 30 in all.

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Vlad found himself a fellow Russian to chat with!

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Alfio and Shirley also made it from Ottowa! There is the most notorious Turbo!!!

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Here is little Nicole and you can see that Vlad surrendered his lobster cracking .40 cal pistol and had to resort to a 3 pound hammer!

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Finally, we have 3 distinguished RVators discussing the finer points of RV flying.

Billy, the sheet metal WIZARD is on the right.

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Michele and I are still tired from entertaining. It was a great day!

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:cool: CJ
 
John those are winning pictures! Paullie said next year you MUST come his RV8 will be ready.
 
Great write up Vlad! Nice to see some familiar sites. I better make time to visit Ron's spot the next time I am down. Weather over maine looks just like what we had when we were down. You sure had nice weather while in the maritimes. Three nice days in a row, you better buy a lotto ticket:D
 
Great pictures Vlad!

Looking forward to seeing you here again next time. I hope to be putting a few miles on my -8 next summer. Planning a trip to Rangeley Maine already, I'll bring the gaggle with me.:D
 
Sounds like a fun trip. And I've always drooled over the Studebaker Avanti - well ahead of its time in 1964!

Cheers,
Greg
 
When I was a member of the EAA chapter at Stanley, I don't EVER recall having nice weather like that on the labour day weekend :)

Awesome trip report, Vlad. It was great to see Stanley airport again (it has been many, many years...)
 
Another great VLAD adventure

As usual Vlad, great job on the trip write-up. One of these days we are going to run into each other. I'll bet when winter gets here you will want to visit Turbo on the East coast and Me on the West coast of Florida. Hey I'll even buy you breakfast if you make it to Sebring some Weds morning..... Can't beat that. We sometimes get 20-25 RVers.

UPDATE:

Vlad, I just ran some performance numbers for a VAF member who asked in my recent thread: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=90545

Care to share some of your numbers. I'm curious how mine compare to others.
 
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Another great Vladventure!

Hey Vlad......Once again a great writup!!! I have Uncles in Northern Quebec. My uncle who lives in Sept-iles has a beautiful cabin on Lac a la Pluie (Rainy Lake). I WILL fly the RV up there when I get it finished....so I will keep pounding!!!!
 
Hey Vlad......Once again a great writup!!! I have Uncles in Northern Quebec. My uncle who lives in Sept-iles has a beautiful cabin on Lac a la Pluie (Rainy Lake). I WILL fly the RV up there when I get it finished....so I will keep pounding!!!!


Good to know Bob. Location marked :D
 
Vlad, Vlad, Vlad, I thought we civilized you "again" on your last visit. I told you a pistol was not the proper tool for cracking lobster and neither is a 3 lb. hammer. Tell the group what tool is the proper tool, so I will know you learned something while visiting the Maritimes.
Your Buddy Ron
 
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