SOP's for the Canso
by Doug Roy on 07/04/12
A SOP (Standard Operating Precedures) is a written document or instruction detailing all steps and activities of a process or procedure.
We were very fortunate to be gifted a copy of Peter Austin-Smth's SOP for FNJE. Peter flew the Canso for many hours post-war with the RCAF, and has been closely following our progress. Please see the details and his story below.
Email Comment below from Peter Austin-Smith (former 11094/FNJE pilot)
Hello Doug: Sometime ago I believe, I mentioned the possibility of providing your organization with a copy of my original and very old, standard operating procedures for the Canso. I don't know the date of publication but likely it was around the late 40's or early 50's. They were given to us out at Sea Island Boat School (now Vancouver International Airport) when I was learning to fly the Canso in the spring of 1955. If you are still interested, I will mail a copy out to you. My original is with the CWHM in Hamilton as they fly 11084,(now in WW2 livery as 5754) an aircraft which I also flew. The SOP's are fairly detailed and of course, refer to the both wartime and post- wartime configuration in that the engineer was situated in the tower with several engine instruments and controls for fuel flow. Now of course,in commercial Canso's, all controls and instruments have been moved into the cockpit. BTW, I checked my logbook for time on 11094, which turns out to be a little more than 110 hours . We flew 094 while on detachment on Anticosti Island in the summer of 1956. The airfield was a combination of gravel, grass and dirt!! At the time, we were support aircraft for survey engineers who were checking out various sites around the Gulf of St.Lawrence for suitabilty for radar stations to close the "radar gap" of that cold war period. We lived in an old house on the edge of Port Menier (sp?), and lived largely on venison as the island had an abundance of white-tailed deer . I should mention that during our Anticosti flights to various locations around the Gulf, we also had several water landings and takeoffs,including one takeoff which required JATO as the lake looked a bit small, and also landings and takeoffs on the gulf. The last take-off from the northeast shore of Anticosti Island with a full load was a bit exciting as the wind came up while we were loading, and on take off, the a/c with full power, began to plow through the waves . Water came over the nose and cockpit even though both pilots were holding the controls full back to get the a/c up on the step. When we finally did, each advance in airspeed was knocked back somewhat when we hit another huge wave. Eventually, we bounced from wave top to wave top, then slowly lifted up above the water. At a safe altitude, we all had a few puffs on a cigarette to relive the tension! Looking back into the aircraft, we could just make out the survey crew, with white knuckles and similarly coloured faces, still clutching what ever they could, to steady themselves in that heaving fuselage. Wouldn't have missed that experience for anything, but of course, I was young and damn cocky. You know the old saw about old pilots and bold pilots!!
Peter
