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c2 tribune august 31 1988 local chopper pilot wilfred matdonald is happiest when hes hovering at 100foot heights the stouffville resident has helped police in missing person cases and once used his helicopter to avoid a traffic jam originally an airplane pilot wilfred became interested in helicopters because he believes they offer more flying excitement bruce stapley chopper pilot enjoys life above the crowd by bruce stapley wilfred macdonald checks his gauges one last time closes the door of his robinson r22 hp helicopter and guides the little twoseater up into the air past his neighbors cornfields i live to fly says the farmer- entrepreneur whose 50acre farm on the sixth line north of stouffville road includes a licenced heliport if theres a purpose then i go up the purpose can range from helping police locate missing per sons to providing a thrill for a curious journalist ever since wilfred his wife yvonne and daughter laurie moved to the area from willowdale in 1979 he has had a passion for chopper flying an exairplane pilot he flew for a canadian senator for 16 years but hes decided that a helicopter gives more options than a plane and has a greater potential for excitement we used to go back and forth from our cottage on rice lake in my cessna amphibian he recalls but it wasnt a great lake for landing a plane its ideal for a helicopter he bought his first chopper in 1979 a hughes 300 model even tually he saw one like the model he now flies and it was love at first sight for saie i got a copy of the chopper shopper a florida publication that lists helicopters for sale he explains we were going to just keep on driving until we found one we ended up driving all the way to nashville tennessee the robinson r22 is a 160horsepower machine derated to 124 horsepower that means it can be flown con tinuously at 75 per cent of its full power even when youre landing you still need much of your power states wilfred its not at all like an airplane where you dethrottle the chopper is basically maintenancefree he sys and is used in the united states for police work you can hover at 100 feet and move from side to side he says and you get a birdseye view from it it is adaptable for water lan dings with floats and comes equipped with 2000hour blades it would probably sell for about 120000 brand new wilfred said police scanner he has put in 500 hours of flying time in the robinson since bring ing it home in 1984 but he admits he hasnt flown much this sum mer because of the heat ive probably flown about three hours all summer he says its no fun in that thing when its tremendously hot he claims to thoroughly enjoy the volunteer work he has done with the york regional police and hopes to get the opportunity to assist more in the future i was out looking for christine jessop for seven hours when the police were looking for her he says of the queensville girl who disappeared and was later found murdered a few years ago he has also helped police in their search for missing persons and feels he could be valuable in locating stolen goods like vehicles and farm machinery wilfred claims the helicopter comes in handy for many dayto day functions like roaming over his fields to check his corn crop i remember one friday after noon around four oclock i was working on one of my trucks i needed some parts the traffic can be bad at that time so i just took the chopper over and landed on the big front lawn of the parts plant positive purpose hell fly off to ploughing mat ches or for farmrelated pursuits such as checking out a tractor hes interested in purchasing but above all else he is con stantly searching out oppor tunities to be of assistance with his machine its nice to have a positive purpose to take the chopper put he says v the helicopter has evoked con siderable interest from jiejghbors who are forever asking for a ride and even a trent university stu dent who made wilfreds robin son a school project she was taking a course on helicopters he relates she did a video and conducted an inter view while we were in the air wilfred is a selfconfessed mechanical handyman who does most of his own repairs to his farm equipment and while he is not licenced to do any complicated work on his chopper he believes he would probably be just as capable as the licenced engineers i know this machine better than the engineers he claims but i can only do basic maintenance functions like lube and oil changes wilfred says he wouldnt be in terested in getting a charter so he could fly commercially its just a hobby that way it stays fun he says this coupon entitles you to mo off any purchase of w excluding provincial sates lax expires september 3088 8515 mccowanrd 2945555 10i satf v nearslottlm br neat lefjgp iiiak fijr ilighsdioololsege m ilnivepity studej featuring thick coiten blends of fleece flannel and knits in autumnenrlji tones forest greeri and winter whiiesf comfy casualsjperfectforscfiool worftorplay 4kuk i n etrr y 1 mm ieiki z-jg-