My 180 flying adventure ended at Cooking Lake, Alberta just outside of Edmonton. He had been used to navigating unsettled areas of the Yukon in the late 1930’s using the common navigational equipment for those times. He was a seasoned bush pilot prior to his career with the airline and it still showed. There were some rough waters along the way but Grandpa was rarely flustered and always knew what to do when seeking out a safe spot to look after the aircraft and his passengers for the night. Ignace, Ontario and Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba. We stopped at small, practically unheard-of places along the way visiting old airline friends and a few new friends as well. At only nine years old, I doubt that I was able to fully appreciate the reality of how I was spending my summer vacation.

So at 9 years old, I joined both Grandparents on a lake hopping trip across Canada. He would often return from his overseas destinations with token gifts from Frankfurt or London. My biggest adventure in this aircraft came in 1975 when Grandpa had just retired from Air Canada after 29 years of flying various models including Lockheed Electra, Canadair North Star, Vickers Viscount and Vanguard until eventually finishing with the Douglas DC-8. This aircraft spent equal time on land and water in an effort to be available for year round use. My frequent visits to the lake over the years often included checking on the 180 as it was parked at the airstrip or simply seeing it buoyed out front of the house on its familiar Edo floats. My Grandparents had carefully chosen their retirement home on a waterfront property with a gravel airstrip nearby with room for a hangar as well. My interest in always following my Grandpa around was a natural pathway for my interest in aviation at a young age. My first airplane ride was in that aircraft when I was two years old and I was asleep by the time we returned. My Grandpa had owned several types of small aircraft over the years including a PA22 Tri-Pacer, Stinson 108, Cessna 140 and Cessna 172 but his all-time favorite was the C180 Mike Delta Charlie (CF-MDC). One of my earliest experiences with small aircraft was with my Grandfather who was the proud owner of a certain Cessna 180 based out of Eagle Lake, Ontario.

Edo floats maintenance manual