One Sunday I got a call for a local move of a light aircraft from the Calgary Alberta Canada airport. The story was that a bush pilot from the province of Quebec purchased a light aircraft under the condition that a set of floats be installed on it. All conditions were agreed to. When the pilot came to Calgary to pick up his plane there was one thing he didn't think of. The Calgary Airport Authority wouldn't let the plane take off on the grass [the plane hadn't any wheels]. There was a way to put on wheels that are designed to fall off on take off, but he wasn't permitted to leave them on the runway. The only option was to transport it to a lake. My challenge was to take it all in one piece [27 ft. wide] to Chestermere Lake and put it onto the lake.

        I was granted all the oversized permits required to move it. The road to the lake crossed the lake at one point and that was where I decided to unload it. A crane followed me to the bridge where it unloaded the plane onto the lake. I then tied a rope to it and pulled the plane to a dock nearby and tied it up for the night. Job well done! I got a call from the pilot early the next morning telling me that his aircraft had sank in the lake and could I help him. When I arrived at his location I noticed one float and one wing tip under water. [Someone had forgotten to close the drain hole on one float]. No problem, I called a specially equipped tow truck that carried air bags [used to gently lift an overturned truck-trailer].