Headed to the South Okanagan for some late-summer flying as the fires had (finally) died down in the area. However after arriving on Upper Ripley, we discovered a new fire just behind launch and helicopter traffic. In the end I decided not to fly.
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| Upper Ripley, with a new fire starting up just the takeoff. I decided not to launch. |
The following day the local pilots and myself decided to head to Anarchist instead as that was outside the restricted flying zone of the Upper Ripley fire. Note there is no official LZ for Anarchist at the moment...the golf course apparently does not want us landing next to the clubhouse. However there are several other nearby options (just not as convenient/nice grass!) or you can always go XC. Which is exactly what we did :). It was difficult to get higher than 1900m (launch is at 1100m) but that was enough to head north to Inkaneep valley and then fly over the Oliver racetrack.
The original plan had been to land at the Oliver airport, so long as we arrived after 2:30pm. Rob had talked to the folks there and learned that at 2pm there was going to be a flyby of small military aircraft to honour a local airman. However unbeknownst to us they were running late...
It was coming up to 3pm, Rob had just landed in a fallow field just short of the airport, and I was on glide for the airport, thinking of going for their nicer grass to pack up on, when I noticed a formation of planes taking off. Guess I'm not landing at the airport after all! So I had a front-row seat to the formation flyby below me (their first pass) and then above me (their second pass) as I quickly landed next to Rob to clear the skies for them. One of the highlights of that road trip for sure!
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