Thanks! That was on our proposed itinerary for this past summer, but just couldn't make it work. We'll get there at some point!

Overall I'm really happy with it. The fuel burn is great. Chris and I are watching the inside of the engine pretty closely, it's not giving any real trouble, however we are tracking one cylinder that's a little hot in the climb. Valves on that one are starting to burn a bit. Have to decide when to pull it for an overhaul, or just replace the cylinder like we did last Spring for one of the other cylinders.

Every time I research that place I come up with a different story of the circumstances of it's being. At least now I've flown over it and can confirm it's there.

So much fun!

We were gone about 3 weeks - If the destination was the priority and I was IFR, we could have flown to St John's in about 13 hours of flight time from Oshawa. So one overnight in Havre Qc. or Moncton NB. depending on which route you take. But for us it's never been about the end destination, any trip we've ever taken has been a winding road of stops and side trips. If you do go; be very careful with fuel management, there is a general lack of 100LL on Newfoundland and along the Côte-Nord.

@ the stops along the way are what makes a journey! Interesting about the avgas…thanks for the reply!

RCN all the way!

I prefer cans of sardines and beef jerky. I worked on a Timber Cruising crew and one of the guys always had Pemmican with him; I can't stand the smell.

I like the fast back 172s because of the manual flaps. The Continental engine has been what I expected, it was low time since overhaul when I bought it... But it had only been flown 300 hours in the 30 years since overhaul. With long periods of inactivity. So I did a bunch of work right off the bat with a new starter, and alternator; eventually changing out the magnetos as well. We've watched the cylinders pretty closely and swapped out one last year, and it looks like possibly a second one this year. But that's all on the previous owners not taking care of it. I've had carb ice a couple of times, but not to the point that it caused trouble. The plane I trained in had the same engine, so carb ice was beaten into me from the start - having a temp probe on the carb really helps. I've also run up against Vapour lock, so check out how / if they complied with the fuel system AD. They either could have fixed the fuel system, or like my plane took the cheap route with a sticker on the fuel valve. If they didn't replace the fuel system; take the placard seriously and swap tanks anytime you fly above 5,000 feet density altitude.

@@GlensHangar I like the manual flaps as well... one less mechanical failure to worry about and instant feedback. Curious what I can expect for real performance numbers out of the 145 Conti. Seems like they perform about as well as the 160 lycomings do in the newer fuselage because the older models are lighter and fastback design is a little less drag?? Every time I keep thinking I should get something faster for a first plane so I don't "outgrow it", I remind myself that I also don;t want a plane that is going to get ahead of me in the air, on approach or landing especially. Going 150KTS in a Mooney sounds great until you realize you have to start a descent 20+ miles out to get to pattern altitude and then land it going 95-100MPH. hahah. Not sure I'm ready for that yet. I figure I can always trade out of a Cessna 172 as demand is always there. BTW, are you going to sell yours when you get the twin or fast single you're talking about lately? Can I have right of first refusal? Hahaha. 🛩👍

The plan is for a WAAS enabled IFR GPS navigator, and an IFR Nav/Com. All of this coupled to the Dynon panel(s) will be more than capable, and will also satisfy the CARs for main and backup equipment. I'll be doing a 'reveal' video of the exact equipment sometime in February.

The keyed magneto switch is gone - 60+ years old it wasn’t in very good shape. There have been a few ‘false start’ accidents blamed on key switches that didn’t properly disable the magnetos. So it was time to get rid.

No - No problem at all. But pilots from other parts of North America get freaked out by it, they aren't accustomed to hearing it. They feel unsafe because they don't understand what the French pilots are saying and can't figure out if there are other aircraft conflicts; especially in the circuit.

@@GlensHangar It's true it can be stressful. I am based at a bilingual uncontrolled airport here in Quebec which is right on the border with Ontario so we get both languages here every day. My french is ok but sometimes it's hard to understand one's second language on the radio especially when people speak quickly or their radio isn't great. So sometimes I don't have a complete understanding of where everyone is in the circuit. That can be nerve racking but it is the reality here and if you fly here you have to accept it. There are probably 6 million or more people here who speak French as their first language and that's what they will speak in the air, though very often they will switch to English to accomodate visitors if they can, but that's not always possible. . This debate was had and was settled in the 70s and it is what it is.

I’ve been tracking used equipment for a while - One of the guys who helped on the rebuild of MVU owns an airplane ‘wrecking’ yard and has a warehouse of used IFR equipment. The problem with used / older gear is that the electronics are no longer supported, so if something goes wrong I’m out of luck. Pricewise the initial instal of used equip is certainly cheaper - I’d need 2 units that work independent of each other (Canadian regulations) *since filming this in August, the decision has been made, an announcement on what we’re putting in will be made in late Jan 2025.

The requirement for two definitely makes the prospect way more expensive (well, double). If they have to both be WAAS GPS units, that seems unreasonable. If one can just be a NAV receiver though (KN-53?) that would make sense. I once had a 430W get in a screen restart loop for a minute right after I was told to change to the next approach frequency and I couldn't put the new frequency in (VFR). The radio still received and transmitted, so at least there's that, but it made me think that having one box do all of the functions maybe shouldn't be the goal.

We were there too… no whales.