I hope we get ice out by the Seaplane convention this May!

-8 deg F yesterday!

nofate / Rick -

I enjoyed every second of your vimeo production, especially the aerial tour of Chapleau! Wifey and I were there the first week of Sept, 2012, (stayed at Au Tres Moulins - hope I got that right.....) and indeed checked out the Tembec mill and area.
You are a lucky guy to live in such a beautiful area !!! I have fished Wenebegon and Five Mile Lakes, and flown out once with Lee Cole's operation. I love it there, and hope to fish portions of the Chapleau Game Preserve area some day.

WOW.... one of the coolest float plane photos I have seen.
Usually annoyed by prop bending effects.
This one... with the low angle and the prop.... just comes out awesome!
It made airplane noises right on my desk top and the speakers aren't even on.

Thanks !!!

Just above the 45th and it looks like at least another month.... or more. Doesn't look like we are getting out of below freezing nights until early April and still calling for wet snow periodically between now and then. We had open water and 26C+ temps last year by now. 2012 was very early float season though. Been nice weather for doing firewood though. Sap is finally starting to run fairly good now which is also late.

Brutal here in southern Manitoba- temps just getting to freezing now- still 3 feet of ice on the big lakes. Going to be at least a month.

Garth

Sad time of the year. Hurry up April.

[quote="nofate"]Sad time of the year. Hurry up April.

Up here in the great white North Ya gotta make lemonade out of those rotten sour cold Canadian lemons. Nevada or Kalifornie this ain't!! Quit ur whining and put some skis on that bird. Ontario is the land of endless frozen lakes and wilderness and.. ..well ..er..sub zero mind and limb numbing temps.... ...Ur right, it sucks. F**k the skis. Hunker down, get Netflix and lots of booze, April will be around before ya know it.

I used to fly on skis every winter. Now I don't feel its worth it. Its expensive to change over from floats and back, rough ice and overflow conditions are hard on the plane, you gotta pre-heat, clean the snow and ice off the wings, the days are short, its real cold, etc. If I want to go ice fishing I'll take the snow mobile.

luckily for us southern hemisphere kids, "float season' IS just round the corner!! sorry to rub it in for you guys...I can sympathize with you tho!! Its hard waiting during winter







Looking forward to a good summer ahead down here...to anyone heading south for winter, come and call in and say hi!

Hey pilatuski, can't you fly floats all year round in NZ? What stops us here is that the lakes freeze over and get covered with a meter of snow. Depressing I tell ya.

nofate wrote:Hey pilatuski, can't you fly floats all year round in NZ? What stops us here is that the lakes freeze over and get covered with a meter of snow. Depressing I tell ya.

Ha, yeah, well we certainly don't get the ice and snow like you guys, and yes we can fly all year but our problem is demand.
The tourist season just doesn't hold up through winter here to make it worth keeping going year round. Sure, we still do a few flights over this period but the job has to be worth it! on the flip side it gives us time to keep up with maintenance (from salt water ops) and go skiing!!

I hear a few guys from the north find opportunities flying in warmer climes during a Northern winter.

If you need a break from the snow, come on over and visit us! we'll have a cold beer in the cooler for ya!

Very nice 180 too!, from your videos, it looks like you have a pretty nice backyard to play in!
Al, who owns the business here, flew floats and wheels in Canada for about 11 years before bringing PCS back to NZ, I know some of his stomping grounds were around Manitoba, then Yellowknife and the high arctic over those years. Will ask him about your neck of the woods and see what he says....he's got plenty of fond memories of living your side of the world, and of the cold winters!! and a swag of good stories too!

Stay warm and post more pics of your fine ship in warmer times!! will help with winter blues therapy!!

cheers
Rob

Some floats from Vilma Fly

Float season is still very far away here in Sweden...

The new bird ready to fly home for her (new!) life.... All spruced up and fresh, ready to go earn some dollars.....launched out of Lake Manapouri, fiordland national park, NZ before flying to home base in the Marlborough Sounds.