General Aviation Ontario: PIREP

Better late than never. We had great weather for Labour Day this year. Pelee Island airfield was having a fly-in breakfast and under the wing camping. My wife Carolyn loves camping and I was eager to try combine the experiences of flying and camping for a win-win event. Well organizing then family proved a bit difficult... and we got away to late for the breakfast. But we did get away & had great flight down in nice weather.

One of the great destinations for pilots in the South Western Ontario region is Pelee Island. Over 300km from CZBA, it will take the better parts of a day to drive there and take the ferry over to the island. But, for the pilot at 135 Nautical miles & in my case a Cardinal RG and we are looking at being there in a little over an hour from Brantford CYFD. There is about a 10nm over water portion so you will want to get to good altitude for glideability.

Pelee Island is the most southern part of Canada and home to the Pelee Island Winery. On arrival we taxied over to the grass, unloaded the plane and set up a camp. Several other pilots did the same. Rental bikes were delivered to the airport & we were set to tour the island.(Book the bike rentals at 519-724-2828)

First stop was the winery—where we had lunch and sampled some of the wine. This is not a great destination for day trips—overnighters are recommended so you can try the wine. The food at the winery is “do it yourself”, they have a pavilion where you can buy steaks and hamburgers, salads etc.. and about 20 barbeques for you to cook on you don't need to bring anything. This weekend they also featured live music.

The Island has many nice white sand beaches & Lake Erie is very warm, the kids loved swimming at the beach. There are also several nice nature hikes. There are a number of restaurants as well. If you are not a camper, I’d recommend trying one of the bed and breakfasts on the island. There are two campsites on the island - but neither of them looked all that great. They would have drinking water and showers (the airport doesn't). But not many other facilities - so the attraction over free at
the airfield wasn't all that great. You can comfortably ride a bike round the island in half day

We stayed two nights, and flew back on Monday morning. The kids were back at school the next day– so we needed to get organized. If you have never been to Pelee Island then you should put it on your list of flying destinations for next year, One word of warning, they often have boil water advisories due to the dry conditions and there are not many shops on the island so bring a few bottles of water. With a smidgen of planning - you can have a great long weekend in a very beautiful part of Ontario.