Flight 1: Kenora, ONT to Kalispell, Montana

Well folks, it looks as though I have finally decided which way to head out ... West! I'll head toward the Pacific Coast with a swing through the Northern Rockies, then up through Alaska and across the Bering Straight. We'll see if I can't make it to Japan before the heaviest of winter sets in.

I've flown several versions of the Dash-8 for our feature flights on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ (as noted by the photos down the right-hand side of the page) but never to the full extent of their fuel range. So the question is, can they really fly close to 1,000 miles as published or will I need to tweak the configuration files a bit? Time will tell.

Date: Monday October 13th, 2008.
Departure: 06:44 local time
Routing: West across southern Canada, down into Montana and over the Bozeman VOR, then back up into Kalispell.
Aircraft: Air Canada Q400
Altitude: 12,000 feet and then up to 15,000 just before Bozeman.
Miles: 977
Arrival Stats: 10:18 local time which means about 271 mph average.

Notes: Departed with clear and cold skies.




Skattered clouds and light bumps up through 11,000 and then a smooth cruise at 12,000. Not much to see here across the great plains of southern Canada.


As I turned south to Bozeman the mountains grew up out of the haze and I climbed on up to 15,000 just to be safe.


I started my descent into Kalispell from DME 40,


and flew over the VOR on downwind to a visual approach into runway 20.




All-and-all, an uneventful flight with a scenic ending.