The Buttonville Flying Club COPA Flight 44

Wings and Wheels 99 Poker run.

This was to be my first ever poker run and the first time I have ever flown into Downsview airport. Normally you need special permission to fly into Downsview due to its close proximity to Pearson, and on field Bombardier aircraft plant.
Working with the Toronto Airspace Museums Wings and Wheel event, the 99’s had managed to talk their way into making Downsview the final stop in their annual Charity poker run. For many of the local pilots, this was the first time they had been able to fly into this airport in the heart of their own city, one rich with aviation history.
The Poker run it self seemed simple enough, fly to five different airports, pick up a card at each airport, and at the end of the run the pilot with the best poker hand wins!
Myself and Attilio were invited by Gord Roberts to fly in his brand new T182 Cessna. We started in Buttonville, at the table setup by the 99’s in the Druxys restaurant ( which by the way has some of the best airport coffee found anywhere!). we headed out onto the
hot tarmac, taking our time inspecting Gords latest and greatest.
After basking in the shade of its pristine high wing and ogling over its G1000 avionics it was off to Simcoe regional.
Once on the ground at Simcoe it became obvious as to why Gord had wanted to make it our first stop. The Best keep secret of the Poker run is the butter tarts and other assorted baked goods offered to all pilots by the Simcoe 99’s.
Next it was off to Collingwood, were we ran into the always speedy Paul Clark and his co-pilot taking a lunch break from flying his V-tail Bonanza. Staying low we headed south skirting the west side of Pearson airspace into city center and the Porter FBO for our fourth card.
After some debate over the route we filed one of the worlds shortest flight plan into Downsview ( 8 minutes ).
Staying below 1600 feet ( to avoid Pearson’s restricted airspace ) we made the short hop into Downsview with out any trouble. Once we turned off the active runway we were met by an Oldsmobile with a follow me sign. We followed it to a tie down area marshaled by
a efficient group of volunteers ( Mostly from the Buttonville Flying club ) .
The ramp was soon full with two dozen other aircraft flying the poker run. Unfortunately none of our hands amounted to much, but we spent an enjoyable two hours browsing the museums extensive collection
and checking out the new full size replicate of the Avro Arrow.
The flight back to Buttonville was even shorter than the one in, 7 minutes in the air, including a 360 turn as we tried to get a word in edgewise with the busy Buttonville controllers.
Thanks for the ride Gord, and thanks to the museum and the 99’s for another great rally!