Low Flying Aircraft

    Yesterday I was talking with friends and they mentioned the low-flying military jets that had flown over the Robson Valley a few days ago.  That triggered a couple of stories in my mind. 

    Back in the 1970’s-80’s one of the Valley residents was a retired Canadian Air Force officer named Charlie Leake.  In the Air Force, and had gained some prominence and rank while in uniform.  As a result, quite often, when his pilot colleagues were flying their jets through the valley would often dip down and buzz his house, which always caused some excitement with his neighbors.

    The other low flying story I remember was told to me during a coffee break when I worked at the BC Forest Service.  I used to love listening to the stories told during the coffee breaks by the more senior co-workers, who had lived in McBride for a long time.  Here is the story:

    One day, and I don’t remember what the year of the incident was, a plane was seen,  flying low, buzzing McBride’s train station.  It would dip down, fly past, then turn, dip down, and fly past again.  This happened several time.  Witnesses couldn’t figure out what was going on, but later they found out.

    There aren’t many settlements in the Rocky Mountain Trench, and the pilot was lost, and didn’t know where he was.  What he was doing was flying low in an attempt to read the location sign on the train station that told the town name.

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