“Well let’s go out and see the airplane.”
Bill and I met on a Wednesday morning in the clubhouse and went out to see his 1968 Cessna Cardinal in its hangar. It’s a beautiful, low-time airplane that just passed its spar inspection. Once before I had the chance to sit in another 177 that was parked at CYVK a couple of years ago, and really admired the style, the strutless visibility through the big windows, the easy access through the huge doors, the great view over the cutaway panel, and the really unique 1960s style of the plane.
That one was a higher time airplane showing some wear, Bill’s is pristine, and he clearly takes a lot of pride in its condition! It’s still on its original engine, the O-320, which for the next model year was replaced by the heavier but more powerful O-360 in the 1969 Cardinal 177A. The airplane was thought by Cessna to be a modern replacement for the 172, but because it handled a little differently and required a bit more of its pilot on landing, it never gained the success of the 172, only about 3400 being built from 1968 to 1978, compared to around 44,000 172s. Too bad, it’s a great looking airplane with a huge number of positives!
“I’ve had it for 32 years,” Bill told me, “I bought it in Edmonton. My wife was taking some courses at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, she wanted me to come along and take the pilot’s ground school, so I did in 1991. The airplane came for sale; I was supposed to buy a new car but this one came for sale and my wife and I had a discussion, she said ‘ok, if that’s what you want to go for then that’s a pretty good deal.’ The job I had was pretty stressful at times, and flying let me focus totally on something different. I did my training at Villeneuve Airport in Alberta.
We used to fly between Edmonton and Calgary to see my son, it took about three, three and a half hours to drive, but only one hour to fly. One time there was a big thunderstorm, we went around it, there was no danger, but after that my wife wouldn’t sit in the airplane again.”
Before we left the hangar I asked Bill for some pictures of him and C-GVBR.
We sat back down and got a bit sidetracked talking about car projects - he and his grandson are working on a 1981 El Camino, as am I and my youngest Sam. After talking for a while about kids, wives, and families, engine building, rusty GMs, and why Rochester Quadrajets are the best carburetors ever made, we talked about flying in general and Bill’s experiences in particular.
Like a lot of us, Bill has always been interested in flying. “My dad was in the RCMP, when he retired he worked for Trans Canada Airlines, which is now Air Canada, so we were exposed fairly early. I don’t know if you know Edmonton, we had the municipal airport right in the city centre. My brother and I used to sneak into the airport, that would have been in the 50s. Actually becoming a pilot as a career, well, my mom, her brother was killed in an airplane crash so she wanted me to have nothing to do with that.
I ended up running a machine shop and 20 bay mechanical shop. We worked on big trucks, some boats, engine overhaul, mechanical repairs, tuneups, we actually did do some repair on some aircraft components.
I think about 1994 we ended up buying property in Magna Bay, we thought we would use the airplane to get back and forth, but my wife didn’t really like flying and the weather never really cooperated either.”
So these days Bill is flying his beautiful 177 on local short trips mostly. He has around 800 hours time, mostly in his own airplane, but with some time in 150s, 152s, 172s and a few Cherokee hours.
Being a club member for about 10 years, he still has the goal of getting out on some longer trips and exploring some new destinations – in his beautifully maintained airplane in a great hangar, let’s hope the flying continues!
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