{"id":18421,"date":"2017-09-21T12:25:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T16:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18421"},"modified":"2017-09-21T12:25:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T16:25:17","slug":"father-son-odyssey-is-now-in-the-record-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/father-son-odyssey-is-now-in-the-record-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Father-son Odyssey is now in the record books"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mark Pavilons<\/strong><\/p>\n

The world is a very big, beautiful place. But it\u2019s made a bit smaller because we\u2019re all members of one big human fellowship.
\nKingscross resident Steven Dengler met some consummate hosts and genuinely interesting souls during his seven-week Canada 150 Global Odyssey.
\nThe trek, which landed Dengler, his father Bob, a resident of Aurora, and ace pilot Rob \u201cDugal\u201d MacDuff in the history books, was the first Canadian circumnavigation of the world by helicopter, and the first father-son circumnavigation by light aircraft in aviation history.
\nThe team flew the Canadian-made Bell 429 helicopter over 35,000 kilometres in a month and a half. The crew visited some 14 countries in all.
\nThe Odyssey helped mark Canada\u2019s 150th birthday and helped two important charities along the way \u2013 Southlake Regional Health Centre Foundation and True Patriot Love Foundation.
\nDespite being plagued early on by bad weather, significantly extending the journey, it was \u201can amazing experience.\u201d Eighteen months of around-the-clock preparation helped make the journey less problematic, but where flying is concerned, anything can happen.
\nAnd it did, more than a few times.
\nFuel logistics, inclement weather, scheduling conflicts, and even forest fires all came into play.
\n\u201cFlying was the easiest part,\u201d\u2008Dengler admitted.
\nGiven all the variables in play, Dengler said all scheduling of a trip of this magnitude needed to flexible, and able to adapt to changing circumstances on the fly.
\nDespite being on a tight schedule, Dengler said he spent his down time exploring towns and villages, and meeting as many people as he could. Some have become life-long friends.
\nHe said the majority of people he encountered, regardless of the country, spoke English, and showed a very genuine interest in the adventure. It wasn\u2019t adulation, but rather a keen desire to know and share. So many people had a \u201chost mentality,\u201d\u2008and welcomed the crew with open arms. In almost every place they set down, people went all out to accommodate their needs and show them around.
\nGiven compounding delays, the team was worried their Russian visas might expire too soon. Fortunately, they had forged a strong relationship with the staff of the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. They contacted their colleagues at the Russian embassy in Prague who were helpful and accommodating, extending the team\u2019s visas. Dengler noted that the universal language of hockey did wonders to cement friendly relations with the officials in Prague.
\nHe found the long flight through Russia particularly fascinating and enjoyable. The country is massive, and seemingly endless when you\u2019re flying day after day, crossing one or two time zones a day on a regular basis.
\nThe Russian leg went smoothly thanks to Russian navigator and communicator Sergei Komarov. He accompanied the team through Russia, making that segment almost seamless.
\nDengler said he learned about geography, history, and culture at every turn. He found Kazan, Tatarstan, a city of 1.2 million on the banks of the Volga and Kazanka rivers, quite interesting. Later he spent several days exploring Yakutsk in the Sakha Republic, and made a number of great friends further on in Magadan.
\nTravelling by helicopter presented some challenges, since they\u2019re not long-range vehicles. It resulted in the crew landing in some very remote places, including a remote fishing camp at the edge of a rushing river in central Russia.
\nThe beauty of the world didn\u2019t escape notice and Dengler said he was presented with a cornucopia of photographic images. He was particularly taken by the landscape of northern Labrador and the Canadian Arctic, including the Akshayuk Pass on Baffin Island. Other memorable spots included Whitehorse, Yellowknife, and Nome, Alaska.
\nThe trip resulted in an arm\u2019s length of must-visit places for Dengler and his family in the future.
\nDengler praised his wife Bruna who was often the team\u2019s \u201cmission control and lifeline to the outside world.\u201d Helping with logistics and being the trouble-shooter on the ground became her full-time job while the crew was travelling.
\nDengler noted there\u2019s a unique fraternity of aviators the world over who provided much support and respect.
\nLiving and flying together in cramped quarters presented some challenges, but the trio became a well-oiled machine. Dengler said he has a great deal of respect for MacDuff, a larger-than-life character whom he considers one of Canada\u2019s foremost helicopter pilots.
\nDengler himself, an experienced fixed-wing pilot, said his helicopter skills increased exponentially.
\nDengler has already been invited to publicly speak on the trip. In the near future, he plans to convert the c150go.ca website into a day-by-day retrospective, and also publish a book containing many photos of the historic journey.
\nFor more, visit https:\/\/www.c150go.ca<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world is a very big, beautiful place. But it\u2019s made a bit smaller because we\u2019re all members of one big human fellowship.
\nKingscross resident Steven Dengler met some consummate hosts and genuinely interesting souls during his seven-week Canada 150 Global Odyssey.
\nThe trek, which landed Dengler, his father Bob, a resident of Aurora, and ace pilot <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/2017-09-21-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4N7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 21:10:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}