Kazee

Yes, our plane does have the required CF-XXX registration. To preserve anonymity I’ve had to promise Bill not to publish it on the blog. Kazee is its phonetic nickname. Like our other vehicles, it has one!

Kazee is a Cessna 172, which puts it into the garden-variety Chevy category. So “average” that I notice it was used as the standard for flight times in last year’s trek. How fast does it go? I figure about 2 miles per minute, at cruising altitude, no wind.

A Cessna 172 seats 4 people with no luggage, or 2 with a couple of bags. Ours was built in 1972, and is older than both sons. Old, but definitely not decrepit. Hangar storage has kept it in good condition. The original engine has relatively low mileage (hours, to be correct). Bill has augmented the original instruments with dual radios and intercom, and a portable Garmin GPS. The Garmin is an example of redundancy. Bill learned how to fly with air charts, has used charts for 40 years, and continues to rely on them now.

Kazee has spent most of its life in the Trail, Castlegar, Nelson area. We are the 5^th owners. Ironically, the last owner operated a flight destination company called Fly North (www.flynorth.com), so our plane has likely made this journey many times. Too bad it doesn’t have autopilot!

The only modification Bill has done for our northern flight is to apply a special transparent tape (looks like industrial Scotch Tape) to the lead edges of the propeller to prevent rock chips from gravel runways. This required an inspection and sign-off from Tony, our Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. Like a boat, an aircraft is a hole into which one pours money. Bill changed the oil on Sunday, so Kazee is now ready for another 25 hours of flying. In good company with the 1953 MG-TD, the engine guzzles oil. We always travel with litre bottles.