My best Canadian Border experience was discovering, upon returning from a
Greenland expedition to Frobisher Bay, I had no identification...none! No
pilot's license, no insurance papers, nothing. The Customs Officer not only
believed me, she accompanied me to dinner and we shared an incredibly
delightful evening of adult beverages and some kind of hokey buguloo
dancing.
My worst (in Canada) was at Thunder Bay when I forgot to call customs one
hour out from landing. Ground Control parked me at the farthest, most remote
corner of the airport. There I waited 2 1/2 hours for the customs officer
to finally vent his spleen on my thoughtlessness. I had just flown a
thousand miles through about the crapiest weather you can imagine and the
peace and silence of the wait was just about perfect. After I apologized for
my mistake and he cleared my back to civilization, we became fairly
friendly. We never did go dancing though.
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of N197TR4@cs.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 10:01 AM
To: mhooper@digiscreen.ca
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Hassles at the Border
Mark,
Sorry to hear about your hassles in crossing the border. After 40 years of
crossing the border I have been rudely accosted by 'both sides'. On the
other hand it has been an extremely good experience, as well.
Once I threatened with the confiscation of an aircraft I landed at Fort
Francis, Ontario.
A couple of years ago I turned around to see a young lady going through my
geriatric influenced shaving kit without surgical gloves.
The best experiences I have had when I had a Triumph perched on a single
axle trailer going to or from Mosport. Or crossing the border in my TR3A.
On the other stuff, I try to maintain good humor and be thankful I don't
live somewhere else. I like having Canada as a neighbor too much to let
some summer student fill in who is taking his/her job too seriously.
Joe A
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