Snowy Owl release in James Bay ? PnP Canada

Our vacation week was not looking very good. Weather was somewhat unstable except for maybe day flights. We stayed home and we started doing yard work. I should have just gone back to work.

A request came in from PilotsNPaws Canada for a Snowy Owl transport mission from St. Catharines (CYSN) to Ft. Albany (CYFA). Fort Albany is a landlocked community only accessible by airplane and ice roads in the winter, and boat in the summer. It has a gravel strip but no 100LL fuel.

Route:
CYRP CYSN - Carp to St. Catharines ~ 1 hr.10
CYSN CYYU – St. Catharines to Kapuskasing ~ 3 hrs
CYYU CYFA – Kapuskasing to Fort Albany ~ 1hr. 10
CYFA CYTS – Fort Albany to Timmins ~ 1 hr 45
CYTS CYRP – Timmins to Carp ~ 2 hrs

Flight time ~ 9 hours
Duration (departure time to arrival back at CYRP, including fuel stops etc.): under 12 hours (1300nm = 2400 km)



As a background story, our friends Dave and Matt fly an RV7 and introduced us to the PnP flights a couple of months ago. They were the team that flew the owl from Timmins on the pet rescue mission to St.Catharines last fall.

Long story made short, I got out of doing some yard work. Shirley was my co-conspirator and assisted with the flight duties (chart reading, frequencies, in-flight meals, sanity check).

Our original plan was to fly Thursday, however freezing rain was forecasted on our route so we cancelled our departure. Friday looked promising, so after rising at 5 AM to check weather we generated flight plans for all our flying legs, packed up our survival gear and in-flight meals, and headed for the airport. We were airborne before 7 AM and arrived at St. Catharines shortly after 8 AM. We fuelled up and then we proceeded to meet Bruce (The Owl Foundation Canada volunteer) at the terminal, who was up bright and early to deliver us the owl.

Landing at St. Catharines


Owl airport delivery service courtesy of Bruce


St. Catharines to Kapuskasing






Town of Kapuskasing



We had received some warnings from our Flight Service Station regarding some possible freezing rain and isolated TCU thunder showers beyond Kapuskasing. Towards our flight to Kapuskasing we get a call from the control center (flight following) to change frequencies since FSS wanted to speak with us. They had one anomaly to clear up with the series of flight plans we had filed, and that was quickly resolved. They then proceed to inform us that they had received some pilot reports indicating freezing rain below 3000 ft. just north of Ft. Albany. Very impressive service from our Nav Canada FSS.

For those that don’t know it already, unlike in the US, flight plans in Canada activate automatically at the designated departure time. You do not need to contact FSS again for this to happen. If you will not make a flight, then you need to cancel the flight plan unless you want search and rescue services hunting you down.

We fuelled up at Kapuskasing, ensuring the tanks were filled to the brim since there was no fuel available for us at Fort Albany. We had alternate destinations with fuel such as return to Kapuskasing, Moosonee, and our return destination Timmins.



Calling the FSS at Kapuskasing they informed us that the weather looked better now and the pilot report was well over 2 hours old. Several “outs” were proposed to us such as flying the James Bay shoreline back towards the south if we encountered the weather system from the north west that was being forecast. Weather forecasting is somewhat more difficult in the northern regions since there is no radar weather service. They do utilize satellite imagery and pilot reports.

We decide to give it a “go” and proceed to with our roughly 1 hour flight to Fort Albany. Due to evacuations of the Kashechewan community due to flooding risks, there was quite a lot of chatter on the 126.7 MHz common frequency. We heard of some icing reports and contacted one of the local airlines. They told us they were on their way to Fort Albany and would contact us back on departure with conditions. Info back from them was positive so again, all systems “go”.

Kapuskasing – Ft. Albany leg








Gravel strip rwy 10 was actually quite smooth and the gravel size was fine for our 5.00x5 wheels and pants (one of my initial concerns).


Upon arrival we were met by our local contact Karen and other community members. Karen and her father in-law Ed rescued the injured owl last fall and arranged to have it sent to The Owl Foundation in St. Catherines for veterinary services and rehabilitation. See background story here http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=1077690&postcount=15



We hopped into a police vehicle with the group and headed for the Youth Cultural Centre 15 minutes away to release the owl.

I managed to capture some video of the owl being released. I lost track of the bird in the camera viewfinder, but we saw it later flying off on the other side of the river.

Snowy Owl release video
https://youtu.be/zESm9TvuMZI




Aerial view of Fort Albany


Albany river


As we were departing on rwy 10 we saw the police vehicle parked on the apron, and the officer activated all his vehicle lights for us. We reciprocated with an Oshkosh “rock your wings”.

Ft. Albany to Timmins


Time to return home with another almost 4 hours of uneventful flight time left to get back to Carp via Timmins. But first … a little bit of flying down the James Bay shoreline.

Back at Carp before 7 PM, and the day seemed like it just flew by (pun intended). 1300nm (1494 miles, 2407 km) in 9 hours of flying, 12 hours round trip duration. We both came home a little tired, but with a very satisfied grin. The yard work can wait.

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EDIT: I found a bit of background on the Snowy Owl capture and initial flight to St. Catharines from last fall. /alfio

Source: http://pilotsnpawscanada.com/team-work/

Team Work makes the impossible possible.
November 7, 2015

Recently in Fort Albany Ontario, a female Snowy Owl was observed to be injured and in need of help. Two of the very kind people of that community, Karen Metatawabin Wesley and her Father-in-law, Ed managed to capture the injured bird (and this is no small feat with the razor sharp talons) using what they had available – two milk crates and some zipties! Once caught, they were able to move her into a proper carrier for further care. But what do you feed an injured owl? How do you care for those kind of injuries?Injured snowy owl in Fort Albany

Karen and others made us aware of the problem and that they needed advice and help. On their behalf, we contacted our friends at The Owl Foundation and put them in touch directly with Karen to provide the needed instructions on feeding and care. It was clear right away that the owl needed to get to the Foundation asap because her femural bone was broken and she may need surgery.

In the meanwhile, more teamwork was going on to locate a volunteer pilot who would be able to fly the injured owl from Fort Albany ON to St. Catherins ON.Fort Albany ON to St Catharines ON Google Maps Many generous offers came in from a pilots but with the owl’s injured wing, time was critical. Finally a team of pilots from Ottawa, volunteered meeting the tight deadline. This would also be for them, their first flight volunteered for Pilots N Paws Canada. All things were in place, so the flight was scheduled for Wednesday Nov.4.

As the departure time neared, weather forecasts as always mere monitored. The bad news was that the weather conditions had changed dramatically in the northern region of this long flight path – the pilots would not be able to fly up so far north. Disappointed, we resigned ourselves to making another attempt in a couple of days.

Imagine our delight when we heard, from Karen who had contacted her local airline Thunder Air and they were willing to fly the injured owl as far south as Timmins. Preparations were made, by the team, to meet the Thunder Air flight in Timmins in order to fly the owl the rest of the way south into the care of the Owl Foundation.

We sincerely thank Karen and her father-in-law Ed, for recognizing the Snowy Owl needed help and managing to catch this injured owl in the make shift crate and temporarily being caregivers until some help could reach them.

Thank you to Thunder Airlines for helping to get the injured snowy owl further south so our volunteer pilots could make the southern relay possible!

A sincere and heartfelt thank you to volunteer pilots, Dave & Matt, on a successful inaugural mission as well as going that ‘extra mile’ in flying from Ottawa to Timmins to St. Catherines and then returning to their home base of Ottawa.

Very cool story. Isn't is crazy the owl needed your airplane to fly him home.

We had an owl that lived on our property in Colorado. Being Indian, it was special for our family. Now in Idaho, we have a red tail family in a large tree just out our backyard. The screech of a hawk and cry of the owl are some of my favorite sounds.

You are lucky to have had the chance to be so close to the owl.

Harry Potter's pet is finally free

That's one great trip Alfio! No, I can't beat that.

Another Excellent Trip Report, Alfio!

Once again, Alfio and Shirley, you have shown us how incredibly far the RV-9A will fly in one day. Your photos are great and I really enjoyed the video showing the release of the snowy owl. I'm glad he didn't end up in that river!

Well done, Alfio and Shirley! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comments guys. These destinations were on our bucket list, and still are. One day we will plan to stay a little longer.

Vlad, that was somewhat of a rhetorical question (I was thinking of your Aleution islands adventure). Is that a live moose on a balcony? Alaska?

well done....nice travelog...

and nice panel Alfio!

tho I've always wanted to fly 'down east', I'm not sure I have the vocabulary.

how on earth do folks pronounce, and understand, the 5-syllable place names with no vowels, ( or too many!??!)

I'll have to stick to those like Punkeydoodles Corners, Ontario

A wonderful mission, Alfio! ... And a great post with superb photos. My best to you and Shirley ... so glad to have met you both last fall!!

Way to go

Alfio and Shirley,

What a great story, and wonderful pictures and video. I loved seeing the owl fly off. When we lived outside of Fairbanks Alaska, we had a great horned owl that lived in a tree right out our back window. She was always eyeing our cat, hoping we would let it out to become lunch!

You guys are the best for doing this.

Geoff

my vote for the top rv flight story of the year.
he or she wasted no time getting out of the travel case.
any info on the birds rescue story? thanks bird man.

Snowy owl hearing

Snowy owls depend on their extremely sensitive hearing to detect prey under the snow. I would be worried that flight in an RV could damage an owl's hearing. Maybe create a sound insulating box for transport?

LeRoy Johnston RV-6A Esperanza 1044 hours

Bravo!

A great tale, Alfio! I loved the story and the pics! Well done, very well done!

Is this what they call "Pilots and Claws"?

Background info on Snowy Owl

I found a bit of background on the Snowy Owl capture and initial flight to St. Catharines from last fall. /alfio

EDIT: I moved the background information that I had previously posted here to post #3 of the previous page.

As always, great write-up, Alfio, and a great trip story to file away in your "been there, done that" archives. We're looking forward to the day when our aircraft might provide similar services to "friends in need".