Riggers

Calgary City Center

1413 Local
105 NM Northwest of Edmonton
FL190
GS 226KTS

It's a gloomy gray all around us, we're in the soup at 19,000 feet. The sun is a dull white ball above and in front of us. 40 miles to the west of us are the mighty Rocky mountains, the broad prairies spread out to the East. But neither are visible as we bump in and out of pockets of turbulance that is being pushed out from the mountains. There are seven strong men behind us, all are sleeping. Finally able to relax after a couple of weeks out on the oil rigs. They are always happier than the guys we bring in, wonder why...

Loading the riggers and all their gear was a fine art of balance... The whole way up to Peace River from Calgary I worked on our fancy little C of G whiz wheel (A nicely designed wheel calculater that lets you easily figure out your airplanes Center of Gravity) to figure out how we could load up all these riggers and their gear. I came out with only one solution. Because of all the gear stored in the rear of the plane, we wouldn't be able to use our rear most seat. Instead, two of the guys had to share the small bench seat at the front of the plane. At least for take off and landing, I let them move around while in cruise, where we weren't faced with any slow speeds. They cooperated real well and didn't seem to be thinking that I was some real weight and balance freak. I appreciate them for making my job easy. The rest of the flight went smooth, well besides the odd pocket of potholes in the airways.