April 2nd, 2002

The first time I flew in an airplane was at a Christmas break in 1949, a Norseman on floats, bush seats, Jack Mould was the pilot, and it was so rough, my sister and  were both sick. Oh yes it was a flight between Port Alberni and Ucluelet.I was hooked on flight, spent my time at the airplane floats, and was lucky enough to get rides to almost everywhere, a PWA Norseman was taken. Some of those hours was at the controls, when the pilot swung over the yoke, and pointed where we were going, with and without paying passengers, could you imagine that today! The price of progress. I would love a ride in one of those beautiful birds today, to sit in the back seat, to again experience a stall and full spin, oh yes, in a float plane, many times, those were the days. I read somewhere that a Norseman was tough to lift off, well I've seen them hop into the air, seemingly in less than a 100 feet, the waves were high, and land as short, hitting one wave, hanging in the air, then dropping fully stopped. One time CF-GSK took a mile or so to get into the air, but then the floats were under water from just ahead of the rear door stairs when she left the dock. The Norseman I've ridden in were CF-GOB, CF-GSK, and CF-FAA, when PWA purchased QCA. Then there were the rides in a Staggerwing Beech, with the little triangular door for the pilot, a new  Beaver, CF-HFN, and a C-180, brand new yet. Its funny but while I thought all planes belonged on floats, when I was young, I never did get a float endorsement for my pilots license.