After 10 days enjoying the fabulous landscapes and weather of the Okanagan Valley it was time to set off for a visit with my son, Brad, at the Canadian Air Force pilot training center in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. (Southport Airport)
Brad and Dad in CAF flight trainer……..
Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
Weather east of the Rocky Mountains had been unusually unstable for the past week. We had already cancelled a trip to Edmonton due to icing and thunderstorms. These weather systems continued to track eastward across Canada and were moving through the Manitoba area as we prepared to leave British Columbia .
I reviewed conditions on Nav. Canada 's excellent website and talked with the Kamloops Flight Services briefer while preparing for departure. It appeared that we would have a window of good weather in the afternoon; between storms in Manitoba . Little did we know at the time what lay ahead when we got there!!!!
We took off about 10:30 for the long eastward flight. We had filed a GPS direct routing which required a minimum altitude of 17,000 feet to clear the high peaks between Kelowna and Calgary .
Our Mooney is a normally aspirated engine with a rated ceiling of 20,000'. We were easily able to climb to the required altitude and, with the portable Mountain High oxygen, we were comfortably over the Rockies in no time. I had planned to descend to lower altitudes at that point but we were enjoying nice tail winds (61K) up at 17,000' so we just remained there.
It is very noticeable that the land below turned from rugged mountains to absolute prairie flatland. Right across Alberta , Saskatchewan and Manitoba the land is as flat as a billiard table.
We had a nice, uneventful flight in clear skies until entering the Manitoba area. We descended gradually across the Prairies to 9,000 feet and encountered some unthreatening cloud as we approached Portage La Prairie. But nothing serious and eventually were cleared for a visual approach to runway 19 at Southport airport.
My last landing in Kelowna was not great. I had approached a bit too fast and had “bounced” the airplane slightly on touchdown. So at Southport (landing on a short runway) I wanted to correct the approach speed, even approach slightly below published speed, and show Lec that I was still Mr Super Pilot……..Oops, came in a bit slow and bounced again as the plane settled quickly. Darn it……..(you pilots know all about this.) However both landings were safe and other than my ego nothing bruised.
Monument Park at Southport…….
After tying down and getting our gear off; we met Brad at the plane. Into the car and off to tour the base! A few minutes later, 15 miles straight ahead, was a tornado with its funnel cloud starting to stretch downward from a dark cloud. Unbelievable!!!!!
We watched and video taped this tornado forming and expanding. The funnel kept getting larger, extending down and changing shape, eventually looking like a giant slide coming out of the sky.
We continued to watch it grow and move across the countryside; hoping that it would not swing toward the airport. You could really feel the power and devastation within this freak of nature and we just imagined what was going on at the bottom of that funnel.
As it turned out there was lots of devastation; which we saw the next day. The tornado was rated F4; a violent tornado with wind speeds of 315 to 415 kph. It picked up a transport truck and carried it 100 meters off the highway dropping it into a farmer's field. Four houses we completely flattened and a large grain elevator was severely damaged. Luckily this is a sparsely populated area and much of the tornado's path was just over farmer's fields.
It was quite and experience to see this enormously powerful weather phenomenon. We will never forget those few minutes…….
We spend several days with Brad. The military training facilities at Portage have been recently upgraded including new airplanes – Grob 120's and King Aires. Brad and the other pilot trainees have a long way, and a lot of hard work, to do before “earning their wings”. This is a great place to get started and we enjoyed sharing the experience with them for a few days.
We had an extra day before we had to be in Toronto so, on a spur of the moment whim, we decided to head to Thunder Bay , Ontario . This is at the top of the Great Lakes and a major center for Northern Ontario .
I found a very nice looking Bed and Breakfast on the internet and, since there were only 3 rooms, we booked by telephone in advance. If you ever get to Thunder Bay we can highly recommend McVicar Manor. (email: mcvicarmanor@tbaytel.net ) This is a large, charming, turn of the century house which has been completely renovated. On top of everything there, Louise is the perfect hostess!
Louise is a super chef and baker. Lec really got into the kitchen things with Louise. They created some of the most fantastic food creations I've ever eaten. We also met Satoko, a lovely young Japanese lady, who recently married a Canadian and is now living in Thunder Bay . A big adjustment…….we know
Louise, Lec and Satoko with one of their creations……
We toured around Thunder Bay for several days. One of the highlights was a visit to Fort William which was an original fur trading post. The fort has been completely restored and staff re-enact all of the characters of the day. Re-enactments are very realistic, including an Indian Village nearby. The site is a very significant investment and attempt to preserve the history of Canadian Native people and way of life more than 100 years ago.
Kelowna to Thunder Bay, Ontario
Monument Park at Southport…….
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