This past weekend we finally had time and weather on our side to make our way north to the Winter Festival of Speed. The Flying club of Lac La Biche work very hard to prepare a perfect runway on the ice to coincide with the festival. They do it every year. All 4400ft of it!
Saturday's weather showed marginal VFR along with snow showers, wind and freezing temps. We decided to wait a day and go Sunday as that day the weather looked perfect and it sure was.
We headed to the hanger around 8:30 and we were wheels up for 270nm trip at 9:45, all four of us plus the dog. It was about -15c on departure and the temp was supposed to go up to -5c and light winds. We leveled off at 7500, picked up flight following once clear of Calgary Terminal. The ride was smooth with about 2kts on the tail going up. I knew there would be a lot of converging traffic going into Lac La Biche so flight following was good to have. I also reported on 126.7 as we got closer. Winter flying in the ten is a pure joy as it has plenty of heat to keep the cabin warm. No jackets required even in winter.
Cruising North.
Camrose
Emma napping and the dog enjoying the ride
Gavin enjoying the ride as well. It's just a flying SUV to them. They each got hundreds of flight hours now!
The game was on when we were released from Edmonton Centre to find all the reporting traffic inbound. Luck would have it we slid right in with no trouble other than following a Cessna driver doing a cross country circuit. I slowed down to 75kts and was able to time the landing fairly well.
Flying over the race tracks.
The ice was smooth, trees on both sides for depth perception, a huge ramp and taxi way so back tracking was not required. They sure did it right! We taxied in and parked the plane. We thought there was a lot of planes on our arrival but the ramp filled a third as much again. They had a great turn out. Everything from Turbines to Cubs landed on the ice runway.
Final 13.
Ramp
Our Ride
They had ATV’s and a snow cat to haul the pilots over to the race track. There was an oval track for motor bikes and 4 wheelers and then a course for the cars. In the middle was tent set up for food. The community was sure into it and it was fun to watch.
After about 3 hours on the ground it was time to load up the plane and head for home. We climbed out in the cold air and pointed the nose south. Landed at 16:00 with 41gal of Avgas used. It was a perfect family day. A trip that could only be done in a day if you have a plane.
We are very lucky.
We also did a video of our fun day here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRXB...NB1U29FIb8cdEA
Lac La Biche Ice Runway
Linear Mode
