When Ward and I arrived at Aero Atelier in Lac a la Tortue Quebec from the motel, Manuel Mongrain and his crew had already done a compression test on the new engine of 48 Fox and an oil change. Everything checked out perfectly.  By noon the low cloud cover had lifted and we were good to go.

We filed an IFR flight plan and flew at 11000 feet ASL across the Eastern U.S. /Bay of Fundy to Halifax Stanfield International CYHZ–a smooth ride, mainly above the clouds, that took about 3 ½ hours.

All systems performed well. Ward spent some time tweaking the power settings and fuel mixture.  We need to get the fuel burn down to about 11-12 gallons an hour while keeping the cylinder head temperatures in check.  With only 82 usable gallons of fuel on board (when mains and tip tanks are full) and some very long flight legs ahead of us (over ocean and desert), we need to manage fuel burn very carefully.  A strong tail wind is always welcome.  Weather and fuel—it’s essential/critical to have a good handle on both!

The flight leg to Halifax took us a few hundred miles off our course to Goose Bay, Labrador. It’s a minor detour on a 9,000 mile trip, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to see my daughter Adrienne for the first time in over a year (she manages an art gallery in the Australian outback -Ayers Rock), and Katie, Glen and their kids (in N.S. on holiday from California).  A Priceless meeting for this guy!!

Tomorrow after breakfast with Adrienne and 2 of my grandkids, we head off to Sept Isles (to refuel) and then on to Goose Bay to pick up our survival suits and a life raft!