City Tour and a Near Miss
I finally got around to flying over the city yesterday. I’d actually tried to overfly the city on the return from a flight to Drumheller last summer but the Calgary Terminal controllers were too busy and wanted nothing to do with me.
But last night it was quiet, and since we were the only GA aircraft around we had free range of the city so long as we remained “west of MacLeod Trail and south of John Laurie”. The sun was starting to set as we reached the city and the amazing orange sunset added to the fun of the flight. My wife and her friend Cara were along for the ride and both girls were ecstatic at how close we were able to fly to the tall downtown buildings and more so that they could identify our Bankview homes from the air. I have to admit that seeing your house from a new perspective is rather neat.
By the time we left the downtown core and headed back towards Springbank, the sun had long since set behind the majestic Rockies and “official” night was rapidly approaching. That meant that the wildlife changing of the guard had taken place and that daytime animals like geese and rabbits were replaced with animals of the night like owls and wolves. And it was just after touchdown that I had my first near miss since getting my licence over ten years ago; a fox ran across the runway not more than 50 feet in front of the aircraft. Because of my airspeed at the time all I could do was gasp and hope for the best; and it was everyone’s lucky day because no animals or aircraft were hurt in the incident.
Mon, 04 Apr 2005 23:30 Posted in Flying
