Smiths Falls to CollingwoodMy schedule this summer will start getting pretty crazy soon, so I need to take time now to do anything I want to be sure I can do. I took Monday off to fly to Collingwood, ON to visit my brother Ron, who I hadn’t seen since last year.

 


At 8,000 ft, on topIt was IFR in the Ottawa area, with about a 400 ft ceiling at Smiths Falls, with several mile visibility underneath. The reported weather was much better to the west, and it was clear in the Collingwood area.

I got airborne on schedule at 0745, and climbed to 8,000 ft, which put me just on top of the cloud. It was nice to see the sun.

 


Clouds breaking up, with Lake Simcoe ahead The clouds below were breaking up by the time I got to Lake Simcoe, north of Toronto. This is the view to the left of the nose, with the cowling on the right side of the picture. I cancelled IFR, and landed in Collingwood just before 0900.

 


Don't mess with this guyIt was good to see Ron again. He took me on a tour of his collection of unserviceable aircraft (five in total, unless I missed one). He specializes in buying aircraft at a cheap price, then discovering why they were so cheap. If anyone has a dodgy aircraft they need to sell at a “too good to be true” price, call Ron - he is your guy :). He hopes to get at least one of them flying next year (mind you, that is what he said last year too).

I flew back home late in the afternoon. The weather had improved quite a bit, but I still went IFR, as it is so much easier than navigating the airspace VFR.