By Chris Hobbs
The first airmail flight left Rockcliffe airport in 1919 and the airport has operated continuously ever since: as a military base, as a STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) port and now as a general-aviation airport.
In Lowertown, we are used to the familiar sound of the biplane from the Aviation Museum flying overhead during the summer, giving sight-seeing rides. But perhaps we are less familiar with the parade of black limousines periodically pulling up to the airport gate, indicating that a present or past prime minister is passing through: the airport is very convenient for Sussex Drive.
Most of the flying, however, comes from the 60 or so private aircraft parked at the airport and the training aircraft belonging to the flight school. Rockcliffe has always fostered a club atmosphere amongst both private owners and students, and this is what gives rise to its motto: “Where Friends Come To Fly”.
Imagine a summer’s afternoon. Tony has his barbeque alight, and a group of grey-bearded pilots is sitting under the gazebo. One of the instructors comes by: her student is just taxiing out for a first solo flight. This is always a tense moment for the instructor (and more so for the student) and so the greybeards turn to observe the student’s take-off and landing, teasing the instructor about any observed mistakes. When the student returns there are the congratulations and the traditional drenching with a bucket of water.
While the student is spluttering, one of the greybeards notices some fence-hangers, passers-by, perhaps with a child, standing outside the airport looking in. Fence-hangers present us with a challenge: we must invite them in to sit by the barbeque and allow the child to play in the old cockpit that was rescued from being thrown away by the museum. Getting the child out of the cockpit is not always easy, but once achieved, the parents are normally offered a tour around the airport to see the more unusual aircraft.
This captive audience gets to hear the histories of many of the aircraft, including my aircraft, C-FPTN, described as “the aircraft in which the Canadian astronauts learned to fly”. Looking in the logbook, I see that, at 13:25 on 11th July 1987, a certain Marc Garneau took off with Bjarni Tryggvason in what is now my aircraft to fly from Rockcliffe to Québec City. Their instructor from those days sometimes joins the greybeards and is not always complimentary about the abilities of the astronauts during their training.
Today’s pilots-in-training range from Algonquin College students intending to head to the airlines as soon as possible to elderly people crossing something off their bucket list. All spend some time in the full-motion simulator and more time in real aircraft departing Rockcliffe westwards along the river to the practice area between Aylmer and Luskville. I must have flown that trip several hundred times, but seeing the Rideau Falls out of the left-hand window and then cruising along the Gatineau Park ridge always has a fresh appeal. Returning, we fly over the airport from the north and turn over Montréal Road by the Montfort Hospital.
And then there are the special days and competitions, for example the flour-bombing contest where a passenger has to drop a bag of flour as close as possible to a target on the ground. It is said that the centre of the target is the safest place to stand to avoid being hit by a bag of flour. And then there is the rally course to be flown, identifying positions from which photographs were taken.
So, if you don’t mind becoming a captive audience for a tour of old aircraft, please visit us to taste Tony’s burgers, said by some to be the best in Ottawa.
Chris Hobbs, our Lowertown resident flyer, generously donated two rides in his airplane for the 2021 Lowertown Community Association fund-raising auction.