April 2026
“I’m just looking at my logbook and my last flight in the Warrior was a trip to Springbank to visit with my dad who is 90 years old. I essentially followed the highway, go through Rogers Pass, fly past Lake Louise and land in Springbank. It was a beautiful 2.5 hour flight there.
Coming back it was CAVOK but I knew that there were clouds in the mountain valleys, low level valley clouds. So, I was watching the weather and when I got to Golden the whole valley floor was just a hard deck from one mountain all the way to another, low and solid, you couldn't see Golden or the highway or any terrain. That weather extended to CZAM and beyond.”
I was really looking forward to meeting up with Barry to talk more flying. He and I were able to fly together early in 2025 - we had a great trip through the mountains towards Lillooet, returning to land at Kamloops then carrying on back to CZAM. I enjoyed the flight in terrain I wouldn’t have felt confident venturing into on my own (thanks Barry!) and also enjoyed getting to learn not only about Barry’s flying history but also a bit about Barry himself. So the chance to sit down together, virtually at least, and hear more about his flying career I was very thankful for.
“Let's back up a little bit then, I know you talked about starting out in Air Cadets, how did that interest get piqued in you?”
“If I hear an airplane above me, I stop and look. I knew that I wanted to fly and Air Cadets was the entrance for me. I earned my gliding scholarship at 16 yrs in Gimli, Manitoba and my powered scholarship when I was 17 yrs at Penhold in Red Deer. I joined our local gliding team in Calgary at 18 yrs and spent the next four summers teaching at the gliding school, in Brandon, Manitoba, as my summer job to fund my university studies. I worked as a gliding instructor and tow pilot.
“In my logbook I have 1300 glider flights for a total of 300 glider hours and those are mostly air tows which are twelve minutes long. The air cadets use Schweizer 2-33s which are rugged trainers and have a glide ratio of 23:1. A far cry from the modern sailplanes with 60:1. It did the job and I had the pleasure of many flights in the hot prairies, where the thermals are strong, that are over 90 minutes getting to altitudes of over 10,000. I have over 600 tows in a Bellanca Scout 180 horse tail dragger.
“Over the years I have accumulated 2,000 hours. I wanted to get into the military but I wear glasses, so that was not an option. So I thought that if I can't go into the military, then I'll just go to school and fly for enjoyment.
“You also have quite a few ratings and licenses that you've collected over how many years? Well, starting at 16 and you're now 61, right?”
“Yes that's right, I love aviation, and like all of us, I was working and raising a family. I wanted to be a safe and a more professional/recreational pilot so I started working on my ratings. Over the decades I earned my night, OTT, commercial, multi engine and IFR ratings. I have 600 hours multi-engine time; I was a partner in a Piper Aztec for 12 years and I was traveling a lot for work, so I had the luxury of flying myself there and using my IFR rating. During that period of time I would fly North as far as Smithers, or Victoria or Seattle. I've flown the Aztec to Portland, Reno, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. The farthest East I've flown in the Aztec was probably Saskatoon. So great flying, great fun!
“And when you had the Aztec, was that out of Abbotsford?”
“Yes, so I'm very familiar with all the control zones and procedures in the lower mainland. I'm quite comfortable and I still have work opportunities to take the Warrior to the lower mainland, mostly to Boundary Bay or Pitt Meadows. I enjoy having flying club members join me on those flights as they appreciate the control zone experiences.
“Do your kids have any interest in flying?”
“No. I have seven kids and their ages range from 17 to 31, our youngest is now in grade 12. None of them have an interest in aviation. A typical story showing their lack of interest is my daughter. I said to her, “I haven't gone flying for a while would you like to join me?” She said, ‘yeah, I'm not doing anything. I'll come with you, Dad.’ And so, as she's getting into the Cessna, she puts a thick book, something the size of War and Peace, on the dash as she is buckling herself in. I said to her, ‘what's with the book? It's only an hour flight?’ And she said, ‘WHEN I get bored, I'll have something to do.’
“So no, they have no interest. When they were younger, and we were living in Abbotsford, I would take them regularly to Chilliwack for pie and ice cream. The airport restaurant was great…… there was an airport cafeteria for locals and pilots. The servers wore golf shirts that said I Fly for Pie and they had a great menu for my kids. I would take the kids in the Aztec, probably once or twice a summer, when they were like six and 10 years old, but they were not interested in the 10 minute flight. They were interested only in getting to the airport for the pie. When we were on the highway, driving to go camping, and we would pass the Chilliwack airport, they would see the airport and say, hey, can we pull in and have some pie, Dad? I'd say no, unfortunately no roads go there, the only way to get there is with an airplane.
“I would love it if any of my kids were interested in flying, but so far none seem to be!”
“Tell me how your flight back from Springbank wrapped up?”
“Tim Corless noticed that I was doing a flight and he started texting me with weather reports, he said, ‘I see you on the spot tracker and the weather here is not that great.’ So he started giving me weather updates and he told me that the ceiling was about 3,300 feet. Based on his estimate it was good visibility underneath. I had a problem. How do I get below the solid deck safely. Vernon, Kelowna and everywhere had a solid deck. With Tim’s weather reports, I saw that I was coming up to Rogers Pass and I could see the highway come out of the clouds and then descend below the clouds. The clouds there were ragged.
“So when you were above that kind of solid layer, solid deck, was that VFR on top?”
“Yes, VFR on top because it was unlimited blue sky and sunshine, it was a VFR departure but it definitely turned out not to be VFR at the destination.
“How do you feel about VFR on top in a single engine airplane in the mountains?”
“Well, I've done it many times, single engine doesn't bother me as I always have a Plan B. I've never had, in my years of flying, any engine failures while flying. I've only had concerns about low fuel or faulty equipment/radios.
“So I’m watching the cloud deck looking for a safe opening. I can see that the highway comes out of the clouds at Rogers Pass and then descends back below. It is likely my only break in the deck. Knowing from Tim that the deck was solid and that it was good visibility underneath, I felt confident that I could take advantage of the ragged opening where the highway descended back into the valley. Based on Tim’s texts, I had the confidence to descend through the break. I went down quite low and followed the highway. I followed it all the way to Revelstoke, then to Sicamous, with the twists and turns at 1,000 feet AGL and a solid deck just above me. I was a little worried about cables that could be strung across but I studied the route carefully before I descended. It is a good example of a club member helping a fellow club member with their flight.
“Thanks Barry, I’m definitely looking forward to flying with you again!”
I’m looking forward to hearing more club members’ stories of flights, flying histories, and what you are looking forward to doing with flying in the future, and I’ll reach out to people, but feel free to let me know if you have a story you want to share!
