Flying Farmers Do it Again

June 2020 – You will certainly enjoy two more videos produced by the “Flying Farmers” we featured last month in our editorial: Ken and Collette Pierce's flight home and a shorter circuit west of Oliver, British Columbia. They noted that they had to practice social distancing and had zero contact with anyone. They also disinfected fuel pumps and payment machines when needed.

Route Originating in Oliver to visit Douglas Lake Ranch.

The first video is a splendid example of flying through the beautiful peaks and valleys of the Okanagan, originating and ending in Oliver, home of the South Okanagan Flying Club.

Collette writes, "This past April, Ken and I did a few flying tours of British Columbia. The goal of one of these tours was Douglas Lake Ranch, CAL3, located 51 kilometres east of Merritt and 93 kilometres south of Kamloops. The paved strip is 4,600 x 40 feet in length, east/west in orientation, elevation 2700 feet. We did a touch-and-go, and enjoyed flying over the camps, buildings, and headquarters. To get to this area we approached at 4500 feet. During the 1920s Ken’s great uncle moved from Manitoba to Douglas Lake to work on this ranch, so Ken has always wanted to see this area. We had time on our hands due to the COVID virus requiring everyone to social distance, and all events cancelled. We arrived at Oliver,CAU3, with disinfectant in hand for all touched surfaces before and after we fuelled up. We then hopped in our 182, Queenie, and were on our way to adventure! Totals for this trip were 250 nautical miles, 7 airports in 2.5 hours."

The next video, titled “Pierces fly home” is a 13 minute video which covers the trip from the mountains of Oliver to their home farm and “runway 34,” a prairie-flat landing strip on their acreage near Beulah, Manitoba. They covered 771 nautical miles in 5.8 hours.

I hope you enjoy these very nicely produced videos as much as I did.