Colin McG
Member
I love the travel stories. The Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, the skeleton coast of Namibia. Exotic locations, continually bathed in beautiful VFR weather, that make you want to keep pounding those rivets. To this distinguished list I would like to add, and I can see that this might seem a surprising choice, Portsmouth, Ohio. Why Portsmouth? Well, as one of my earth bound colleagues, in a rather Yoda like moment, told me, “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. I smiled weakly when he said this while secretly wanting to smack him as he’d hadn’t just spent two days watching the rain pour down from the confines of an FBO.
A fellow EAA member is lovingly building a Cozy and over a glass of wine one evening it was suggested we go to the annual canard fly-in at Rough River, Ohio. Now Phil is on year 18 of his build so the initial suggestion that the Cozy would be ready for this year’s event was perhaps the result of a little too much Shiraz. However, not long after the initial discussion I started flying Andrew Phillips RV7A and we suddenly had our means of getting to Rough River (or so we thought).
Rough River, being south of the border, meant the dreaded eAPIS so I dutifully completed the on-line application and had my activation code returned soon after. A computer problem then deleted all the recent applications, so I had to reapply, but it doesn’t take too long. If we wanted to come back, which was the original plan, we’d also need the Canadian CANPASS-AIR if we wanted to land back at our home base of Carp (CYRP) rather than an airport of entry. This was more problematic as it can’t be done on-line and, by the time we left, Phil’s was still in the post.
To ease the border crossing AOPA/COPA have a great document that describes the process of making what it describes as “the easiest international” flight that a recreational flyer can make”. Seems a little Ironic that for such an easy flight it’s a 159 pages long but well worth the read.
The day before departure dawned and the forecast for the following day was awful. Most of the evening was spent searching websites to find the most optimistic weather forecast for the next couple of days. The Ottawa weather looked great but it promised rain in Rough River. We agreed to speak early the next morning and then make a final go/no go decision. The next morning the forecasts were not quite so bleak, or we just read them more optimistically, and we decided to launch. That meant everything got a little rushed as I had to complete the eAPIS on-line arrival report, phone Watertown Customs and Border Protection, file a flight plan and pack my socks.
We loaded the RV and disaster almost struck before we’d even got in the aircraft. Phil’s a reasonably large chap and while he was standing on the wing, loading his bag, I also jumped onto the wing. The aircraft slowly raised its nose and scraped the rudder just as I jumped off. Note to self – only one person on the wing root at any one time!
Loading at Carp
Cozy builder in RV!
We left Carp on schedule, which is important because you cannot land in the US early and you can’t be more than 15 minutes late. Radio contact was established with Ottawa Terminal for flight following but just south of Ottawa they told us to “resume own navigation”. With no hand over given we were minutes from the US border, travelling at 200 mph and not talking to anyone. The F16s were probably already airborne. A call back to Ottawa and the suggestion was to call Montreal Centre. A few minutes with them and then we were handed to SAC for entry into the US. The border lies along the St. Lawrence River and the very picturesque “Thousand Islands” with Watertown just 10 RV minutes to the south. The GPS indicated we would be early so we throttled back and I then made a greaser of a landing. Sadly they deteriorated from that point on.
Crossing the Canada/US Border
Three large, well armed Customs and Border Protection Officers met us on arrival and were more interested in the RV than us. We were asked if we had “anything to declare” and, as Rough River is in a dry county, I had felt the need to bring along a dozen cans of cold Canadian beer.
We left Watertown and were soon cruising at 8,500’ above well broken cloud. Shine on you Crazy Diamond was playing through the headphones and we were in aircraft heaven. Before long we’d be in Rough River drinking cold Canadians. What more could we ask for?
Cambridge, Ohio was our planned fuel stop and 2 hours later we pulled up to the pumps and the very reasonably priced gas. The aircraft was running great and we were soon airborne and climbing back to 8,500’. Unfortunately we weren’t at 8,500’ for long as the cloud was getting lower so we settled on 6,500. That didn’t last long either and soon we were at 2,000 feet with a worsening view ahead. We dodged around a bit but the trees were not far below (beautiful falls colours!) and the terrain was pretty inhospitable. We crossed the Ohio River but soon decided that the best place for us was safely on the ground at the closest possible airport. The “page” button on the AVMAP was getting a lot of use and it indicated that Portsmouth, Ohio was 20 miles over our right shoulders. I wheeled around, keeping below the scud and within minutes Portsmouth “36” was on the nose. A couple of squeaks, not from the tyres but from various muscles unclenching, and we were down. Little did we realise how long it would be before we got airborne again.
Finals for Cambridge
In the Cruise
Weather Diversion
Chasteen Aviation is the local FBO and we can’t thank them enough for the hospitality they showed us. It was late afternoon, the weather was getting worse, we were not where we wanted to be and it was 20 miles to town. The concept of courtesy cars is something I’ve only ever read about and I’ve never seen one in Canada. If I’d asked to borrow the car when I was living in the UK they would have been looking out of the window for my spaceship. Chasteen kindly offered us the use of their car and, although the novelty wore off as soon as Phil tried the brakes, it got us into town.
Part 2 to follow.
A fellow EAA member is lovingly building a Cozy and over a glass of wine one evening it was suggested we go to the annual canard fly-in at Rough River, Ohio. Now Phil is on year 18 of his build so the initial suggestion that the Cozy would be ready for this year’s event was perhaps the result of a little too much Shiraz. However, not long after the initial discussion I started flying Andrew Phillips RV7A and we suddenly had our means of getting to Rough River (or so we thought).
Rough River, being south of the border, meant the dreaded eAPIS so I dutifully completed the on-line application and had my activation code returned soon after. A computer problem then deleted all the recent applications, so I had to reapply, but it doesn’t take too long. If we wanted to come back, which was the original plan, we’d also need the Canadian CANPASS-AIR if we wanted to land back at our home base of Carp (CYRP) rather than an airport of entry. This was more problematic as it can’t be done on-line and, by the time we left, Phil’s was still in the post.
To ease the border crossing AOPA/COPA have a great document that describes the process of making what it describes as “the easiest international” flight that a recreational flyer can make”. Seems a little Ironic that for such an easy flight it’s a 159 pages long but well worth the read.
The day before departure dawned and the forecast for the following day was awful. Most of the evening was spent searching websites to find the most optimistic weather forecast for the next couple of days. The Ottawa weather looked great but it promised rain in Rough River. We agreed to speak early the next morning and then make a final go/no go decision. The next morning the forecasts were not quite so bleak, or we just read them more optimistically, and we decided to launch. That meant everything got a little rushed as I had to complete the eAPIS on-line arrival report, phone Watertown Customs and Border Protection, file a flight plan and pack my socks.
We loaded the RV and disaster almost struck before we’d even got in the aircraft. Phil’s a reasonably large chap and while he was standing on the wing, loading his bag, I also jumped onto the wing. The aircraft slowly raised its nose and scraped the rudder just as I jumped off. Note to self – only one person on the wing root at any one time!
Loading at Carp
Cozy builder in RV!
We left Carp on schedule, which is important because you cannot land in the US early and you can’t be more than 15 minutes late. Radio contact was established with Ottawa Terminal for flight following but just south of Ottawa they told us to “resume own navigation”. With no hand over given we were minutes from the US border, travelling at 200 mph and not talking to anyone. The F16s were probably already airborne. A call back to Ottawa and the suggestion was to call Montreal Centre. A few minutes with them and then we were handed to SAC for entry into the US. The border lies along the St. Lawrence River and the very picturesque “Thousand Islands” with Watertown just 10 RV minutes to the south. The GPS indicated we would be early so we throttled back and I then made a greaser of a landing. Sadly they deteriorated from that point on.
Crossing the Canada/US Border
Three large, well armed Customs and Border Protection Officers met us on arrival and were more interested in the RV than us. We were asked if we had “anything to declare” and, as Rough River is in a dry county, I had felt the need to bring along a dozen cans of cold Canadian beer.
We left Watertown and were soon cruising at 8,500’ above well broken cloud. Shine on you Crazy Diamond was playing through the headphones and we were in aircraft heaven. Before long we’d be in Rough River drinking cold Canadians. What more could we ask for?
Cambridge, Ohio was our planned fuel stop and 2 hours later we pulled up to the pumps and the very reasonably priced gas. The aircraft was running great and we were soon airborne and climbing back to 8,500’. Unfortunately we weren’t at 8,500’ for long as the cloud was getting lower so we settled on 6,500. That didn’t last long either and soon we were at 2,000 feet with a worsening view ahead. We dodged around a bit but the trees were not far below (beautiful falls colours!) and the terrain was pretty inhospitable. We crossed the Ohio River but soon decided that the best place for us was safely on the ground at the closest possible airport. The “page” button on the AVMAP was getting a lot of use and it indicated that Portsmouth, Ohio was 20 miles over our right shoulders. I wheeled around, keeping below the scud and within minutes Portsmouth “36” was on the nose. A couple of squeaks, not from the tyres but from various muscles unclenching, and we were down. Little did we realise how long it would be before we got airborne again.
Finals for Cambridge
In the Cruise
Weather Diversion
Chasteen Aviation is the local FBO and we can’t thank them enough for the hospitality they showed us. It was late afternoon, the weather was getting worse, we were not where we wanted to be and it was 20 miles to town. The concept of courtesy cars is something I’ve only ever read about and I’ve never seen one in Canada. If I’d asked to borrow the car when I was living in the UK they would have been looking out of the window for my spaceship. Chasteen kindly offered us the use of their car and, although the novelty wore off as soon as Phil tried the brakes, it got us into town.
Part 2 to follow.
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