Here is a look as N9496D is crossing the border. I flew from Lethbridge, Alberta to Cut Bank, Montana for the first leg. Clearing Customs was surprisingly pleasant (thanks Officer Norris) and after refueling, I launched for Billings. I had hoped to make it to Sheridan, Wyoming from Cut Bank but the fuel would have been down to 30 minutes remaining so Billings became the destination. After a quick refueling stop and a look at the chart, I jumped back in for one last leg to Gillette, WY. I landed at 6:30 PM, put the airplane to bed and borrowed a crew car. After checking in to the Best Western, grabbing a burger and beer, I am ready for an early start tomorrow.
There is a big high pressure weather system to the west so I have been riding the isobars, enjoying a wonderful tailwind. The ride is moderately bumpy including a fair bit of mountain wave activity. This causes the airplane to gain or lose around a thousand feet of altitude over a few minutes. You just learn to let it go, hold a fairly constant attitude and grind out the miles. 25 MPH makes a huge difference in my ground speed, so I hope it holds for tomorrow.
Before leaving Red Deer, I took some photos of some of the Buffalo airplanes. You may have seen episodes of a television show called Ice Pilots featuring their operations.
Ken Wittekiend is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, professional flight instructor, aircraft owner and founder of ProMark Aviation Services, a flight training company based in Burnet, Texas.
Ken is a commercial pilot with over 11,000 hours of experience in a wide variety of general aviation aircraft. He began flying in 1970 while attending the University of Texas at Austin.