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03 April 1972 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: First Solo Cross Country!

Piper Cherokee 140 – PA-28-140, CF-YTY: YXE – YQW – YPA – YXE; 3:05 WOW! Freedom!

First solo cross country flight! I remember following along the north shore of the North Saskatchewan river, on the first leg of the two full stop journey, en-route from Saskatoon to North Battleford, looking down at the patches of snow that were persisting in the fields and the ice yet on the river and thinking, man, what in the heck am I doing here! Flying and airplane! Alone! Not even 17 years old! Am I crazy?! But what a complete and total sense of freedom; and now, in three dimensions.

I don’t recall a lot about the rest of it; isn’t that something; mind you, it had been almost 40 years; yes, I had to go into the Ministry of Transport (now Transport Canada) Air Radio Station (now Flight Services) and get my logbook signed by the on-duty operator; but the details of the other two legs, North Battleford to Prince Albert and from there back to Saskatoon, elude me; can’t even recollect the landings; guess I was too busy taking it all in.

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