Part 4 Some part of my life experience ... Canuck
I mentioned earlier the fact that there was an aircraft museum in one of the older hangers alongside the International Airport on Vancouver Island. This museum
was maintained by volunteers, mostly older men who had been pilots in their youth. One such man became my acquaintance, he was a Bahai, as am I and Uncleben and Maryk, and he learned of my job at the airport. When I mentioned that our neighbor in the next hanger was reconditioning a DeHavilland Beaver, his eyes grew
misty and he was silent for a few moments. Then he told me he had flown Beavers and other bush planes for much of his life, servicing hospitals and flying doctors into remote locations of northen Canada only reachable by air.
Then he told me a story about a Beaver flight that I will never forget.
A radio message had come into the hospital. An emergency required a doctor.
The patient had been brought from a remote village into the nearest town with an
airstrip and a doctor must be flown there immediately or the patient would die.
My friend fuelled up his Beaver and left for this airstrip with a doctor. There was a very strong windstorm at the time and much fuel was used on the flight there. When at last they arrived the windstorm had increased in intensity and was
blowing directly down the length of the only air strip. My friend tried to land his Beaver. Now, it must be remembered that a Beaver has a low flying speed.
With its outside wheel structures and its bulky shape for carrying cargo, it is
able to land on short runways because of its low flying speed. When he turned into the wind to prepare to land, surprisingly he found the wind blowing down the
runway was blowing faster than his usual landing speed! In fact when he looked
at the ground, he could see that he was actually moving backwards in relation to the runway! It was only when he applied full power to his engine that he could
reach a fast enough flying speed to only manage to “stand still” in relation
to the ground. The doctor got ready at the door, the pilot lowered his plane carefully until the wheels touched the ground, although in fact he was flying as fast as the plane could fly! The doctor pushed out the door and fell to the ground as the pilot held his plane against the ground. Then he raised the plane back
away from the runway. When he was high enough he turned away from being directly into the wind and was suddenly flying at more than 200kms per hour in relation
to the ground. The trip home was very quick to say the least with that tailwind!
… to be continued
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