“You’re just kind of in your own little bubble in the plane,” said Amy, 23. “You really feel like it’s just an extension of your body and the wings are your own wings… I get that feeling in this plane more than any other plane.

“You’re really in the same environment as a bird.”

Amy calls her white and yellow, 1976 Cessna AG Truck spray plane her baby. She laughed and pointed out hair ties hanging from a nob in the cramped cockpit, a sign that this is a woman’s plane. No one else flies it.

For two months of the year, she eats, sleeps and schedules her life around that plane, logging gruelling hours as an aerial applicator.

For the rest of the year, she flies a MedEvac plane.

The dream forever

Amy grew up on a grain and oilseed farm near Dugald, about 20 kilometres east of Winnipeg. Flying wasn’t in the family, exactly, but she said her dad, Vern Johnson, might have been a pilot in another life. When she was a kid, they’d park by the airport fence and watch the planes come in, or park on the road and watch crop dusters fly near the farm.

“I’ve always wanted to fly,” Amy said. “That’s my dream forever.”

At age nine or 10, Amy went to the Lyncrest airport northeast of Winnipeg for her first flight in a small plane as part of the Young Eagles aviation education program. After that, she returned year after year for flights.

Amy began flight lessons at age 16 and flew solo before she even had a driver’s licence. She got her private pilot licence at 18, commercial licence at 19, and instructor rating at 20. In 2016, she began working as an instructor.

She also studied business and aviation at Providence University College. She and her dad began a crop spraying business, starting with a ground sprayer. In 2017, they bought the plane.

For Amy, work as a MedEvac pilot began as a job that would allow her to take two months out of the year for her crop spraying business. She did a stint as a charter pilot then moved to MedEvac flights to northern Manitoba.

“We basically fly to any place that has a runway,” Amy said.

They’re two very different planes. On one hand, a Beechcraft King Air turbine with high-tech glass cockpit that can practically fly itself. On the other, a 40-year-old, piston-engine spray plane flown entirely by hand. But the skills translate and assist each other.

The spray plane takes off on grass, and the northern runways are mainly gravel. Amy is accustomed to landing and taking off on runways that change with the weather. She has to troubleshoot herself with no maintenance person to rescue her when her brakes freeze after taxiing through four inches of snow.

The spray plane has given her excellent hand-flying skills even when flying at the plane’s limit. The spray plane often flies with a heavy load, and executes tight turns that tax the plane. Amy said that some pilots get used to flying almost entirely by computer or flying a light plane, so if they accidentally hit the limits of the plane they’re in trouble.

An exhausting job

MedEvac flying also gives her a break from the farm. Amy said after two months of intense crop spraying she’s ready to do something else.

This year she set a personal record by flying 22 hours in two days. That was 22 hours pure flying time, not including time spent preparing or cleaning afterward.

“It’s an exhausting job,” Amy said. “There are so many things that go on inside the plane that I don’t think people realize the workload that’s involved in crop dusting.”

There’s paperwork, talking to customers, and cleaning. While in flight, she’s monitoring the plane for height and keeping an eye on any obstacles while maintaining a precise line across the field.

She also has to keep an eye on how much she has in the tank to spray, and if any nozzles are plugged — something she generally only has time to do while in a turn.

“It doesn’t happen spread out over the two months. It’s like you have a 10-day period where this crop is ready for fungicide and you fly like 10 hours a day for a couple of days,” Amy said. “It’s so important that you are ready and the plane is ready for that little burst.”

Amy said she feels a lot of pressure because she’s the only one who can fly the plane, and farmers are counting on her. This makes it tough to take breaks, something she said she’s had to learn how to do — sometimes, she just has to get out of the plane for an hour.

Still, Amy was quick to offer to take the plane up so the Co-operator could take pictures. She loves to fly, she explained. It was no bother.

“I feel very lucky that I get to be in an airplane that I own and so I fly it all the time. I’m the only one who flies it. I have everything the way I want it to be and it’s just like your own little safe spot.”

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Walter Thickett, owner of Thickett Engine Rebuilding, has always been fascinated by machines, so it came as no surprise when he pursued an ultralight licence in 1993, followed by a pilot’s licence in 1994.

Thickett then spent four years building his own plane, with help from son, Darrell, and brother, Les.

“After getting to sit in and check out an RV-10 at E.A.A. Airventure in Wisconsin in the summer of 2012, we (Thickett and wife Arlene) knew we had to have one,” said Thickett, who is a longtime fan of the Vans series of high-performance aircraft.

It was the couple’s passion for flight that spurred Thickett to take on the ultimate DIY project, ordering a kit from Van’s Aircraft in Oregon. The kit was delivered in four large wooden boxes and it would take four years to put it all together.

Thickett and his son began working on the plane in one of the four bays of the family’s diesel engine shop, situated northwest of Binscarth, working in the morning and evening around customer jobs. Les came on board during the final year of the project.

“Assembly required dimpling and deburring holes and installing thousands of flush rivets,” said Thickett. “At first we ended up drilling out and redoing rivets that were sticking up too far or sunken too low, but after awhile we got quite good at it and having to redo a rivet became a rare occurrence.”

The kit did not come with instruments or engine, so Thickett ordered a Garmin G3X glass panel with two flight displays and did all the electrical wiring himself.

For an engine, a timed-out fuel-injected Lycoming IO-540, which came from the right wing of a parted-out Piper Aztec, was purchased and shipped from Florida. Once delivered, it was rebuilt with all brand new parts.

When it got to the stage where the wings needed to be added, the plane was towed out of the shop and finished in an 85×45-foot hangar/storage shed located on the farm. The finished aircraft has a wingspan of just over 31 feet.

At various stages during the build, and after completion, Transport Canada inspector Norm Seiferling flew out to their farm airstrip from Regina to perform the mandatory inspections, (as well as the final pre-flight inspection and sign-off).

Rather than painting the plane, a 3M vinyl wrap was done by Cory Deslauriers (Auto Trim Design) at Yorkton, Sask., and Fred and Barb Clearwater of Silverton Upholstery covered and finished the seats.

The first flight of the RV-10 was in 2017 at the Russell airport, with flight instructor Doug Reetz from Champion Air Park, Estevan, Sask. at the controls and next to him, Thickett, who eventually got his Certificate of Airworthiness, which allowed flight beyond the 40-kilometre limit and to carry passengers.

Thickett has come a long way since purchasing a Husky Norseman advanced ultralight and getting his ultralight licence with instructor Harold Rudy in 1993. That aircraft was replaced with a Cessna 150 in 1994 and Thickett upgraded to his pilot’s licence at the Shoal Lake airport with instructor Andrew Critchley of Shoal Lake Aviation.

Now, in addition to his own custom-built Van’s RV-10, Thickett owns a restored Champ and Quad City Challenger 11, which are kept at the farm and used for local sightseeing flights.

Among the 13 active members of the Russell Flying Club, Thickett enjoys being involved in monthly meetings, and hosting the annual fly/drive/walk-in breakfast at the Russell airport. He is also a member of COPA (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association) and an EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) member.

“Arlene and I love travelling in our own plane,” said Thickett. “It has opened up a whole new world of adventure and freedom.”

The post Binscarth pilot takes on ultimate DIY project appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“It’s great to share the cockpit with kids,” said pilot Kevin Nickel, who often has his daughter Grace in the seat next to him on flights.

Dennis Schoonbaert, president of the Shoal Lake Flying Club, was one of the six area pilots involved in the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) to volunteer their time and aircraft this year. Along with him and Nickel were pilots Ken Pierce, Russ Hamilton, Derek Jenkins, and Thomas Aguero.

COPA was founded in 1952 to speak as the unified voice for general aviation in Canada, representing close to 16,000 members in every province and territory. Dating back to 1964, the COPA Flights are an essential component to the success of the COPA for Kids program, which introduces over 3,000 Canadian children to general aviation each year.

As parents watched, children learned about the vast array of aviation career opportunities as they waited for their turn to take to the sky. It’s anticipated that there will be a huge demand for pilots in the near future, as many are at or nearing retirement age.

For 10-year-old Jacob Grenier, who experienced his first flight on a small plane, involvement was about a passion for flying. Joining him on a flight were Chase Myhill, and fellow Shoal Lake schoolmate, Debra Sytnyk.

“That was awesome,” echoed across the tarmac, as youth climbed out of their designated aircraft.

“We will be sure to register earlier next year for the COPA for Kids program, as it’s not hard to tell that Debra loved it,” said her mom, Helen Sytnyk.

There was also a demonstration of what it takes to be a spray plane pilot, with Diego Perez at the controls, as the Shoal Lake Airport is home to Prairie Dusters, owned and operated by Randy and Janet Sandstrom of Birtle.

Aviators are not born, they are inspired by other aviators, as aviation is exciting and vital to our nation’s future. Thanks to the COPA for Kids program, the future may hold additional pilots becoming a part of the Shoal Lake Flying Club.

In remembrance of their son, Brad, who was killed in a small plane accident two years ago, parents Dean and Carla Ashcroft fully stand behind his goals, the importance of the Shoal Lake Flying Club to youth, and Kids Flights held over the past 20 years under the Young Eagles and COPA programs. Experiences through flight gave him and many more like him a new perspective on the world and life in general, as pilots are simply ordinary individuals with special skills developed through training.

Go to the COPA for Kids website for more information on this event held in July.

At Shoal Lake, pre-registration is required by calling the Yellowhead Leisure Services at 204-759-2629 as registration forms must be signed by a parent/legal guardian.

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