There were no photos to take today as I forgot the camera but imagine the most perfect day you’ve seen with sun shining and the air clear yet cold as all get out! It was a very special day for me as it would be my 100th flight! The flight began last night as Rica and I went over to the airport to look over an aircraft that we might be purchasing a 1/2 share in. We spent a good hour or two shoveling off months of snow and clearing a path around the Piper Cherokee 140D that’s parked at Rockliffe. We worked hard at clearing the airplane then sat inside for a good 15 minutes getting a feel for what it might be like to own an aircraft. We left elated and on my way home I had a revelation.
My father taught me that nugget of wisdom years ago. It is fitting on so many levels and definitely applies to times when I have anxiety or unwarranted fear. The type of fear that keeps one off roller coasters and sometimes public places has useful properties yet the side effects can be completely useless! Especially when flying. I’ll bet there are many pilots who experience fear while flying. It’s often quoted that flying is made up of hours of boredom peppered with moments of panic. For someone like me who is prone to anxiety it makes it even more difficult to overcome not only the mental and physical challenges but also these ghost challenges that the mind conjures up.
In aviation we call them human factors. For instance did you know that as you climb higher and higher, the brain receives less oxygen. The brain doesn’t naturally assume “oh this is because I am high up in an airplane” it just senses a lack of oxygen. A suffocating feeling at best. If you were not trained to “know better” you might actually panic, and get into a mode where you actually ARE in danger instead of just THINK you are in danger. See the fine line there? Read the rest of this entry »
After a couple of sessions in the 4040 Simulator, Louis and I were ready to spend some more time getting our butts frozen off and our night dual time worked on. As mentioned previously the night rating is made up of some dual, some solo and a lot of Instrument time. of the 10 required hours IFR 5 can be simulated and 5 must be hooded. The trick here is that if you fly at night, and do hood time you cannot count both simultaneously. It’s a tricky reg and I understand the spirit of it however it can cause one to do all their hood time during the day, and never actually see how hard it is to fly by instruments that you can barely see at night! I opted to do some of my hood time at night, and then save $$ by doing as much as possible in the sim.
Louis was a great simulator instructor as he has a strong grasp of the equipment and has a small tell tale smirk that happens each time he “tries” something. On our most recent sim flight I was captain of a C182 flying an ILS into Ottawa’s runway 32 when I noticed that no matter how much throttle I gave, the aircraft would keep descending at an unholy rate. As I broke out of the cloud, I could see we were about to crash into the approach lighting. I said Louis, she won’t climb, too much drag. he asked “What could cause drag?” I offered, flaps, up, Gear? Up, what else??!! The lights loomed closer and then the simulator popped up with “you have crashed”. It was almost as exciting as the real deal. My heart pumped and Louis then showed me that I had accrued 60% icing on the airframe! I guess he clicked it on and forgot about it. I just flew the airplane. Good one! Read the rest of this entry »
Today I embark on a new adventure in my flying, I am beginning the training for my Night Rating. In Canada although I am a Private Pilot I am not allowed to fly at night as opposed to the American version of the PPL that does allow it. I find this is a much safer mentality as it can actually be dangerous to fly at night unprepared! OTOH I CAN fly a high performance retractable gear aircraft without any special rating so pfft. It’s all the same thing, the PPL is simply a license to learn and today would be no exception to the rule. Read the rest of this entry »
We waited all day to see if this actually works, and it sure does! After feeding Chandler a raw egg this morning with much success it was off to the supermarket to find him his first raw meaty bone (RMB) meal. The majority of people I am following suggested chicken and chicken only as his first meals for the next 12-14 days so I headed over to the club pack aisle for chicken thighs. I am sure there are cheaper ways to obtain raw meat for my dog but for this lifestyle change I used the loblaws. They had chicken thighs at $6.99/KG. This approximates to about $1 per day to feed the dog. Not exorbitant but also not cheap, about par with the premium kibble he was eating. I also found some pork back ribs on sale for $1.99/lb! So I bought a large package of them for advanced eating. Read the rest of this entry »
Have a look as my dog Chandler gets his first raw egg. We have had Chandler for just over 2 years now and he has been one of the most welcome additions to our family yet. He brings me joy and acts as an amazing reliever of stress and should be rated as a service dog for all he does for me!
I have been home recently for days at a time and have gotten to know Chandler much better to discover he seems to have a major food allergy. We used to think all of his snorting and sneezing was normal but it definitely was not! I began searching in earnest when he would lick at the floor for 15 minutes after every meal. We already have been feeding him some really premium dog food that was kibble based, knowing that the stuff you buy at the regular store is NOT good for your pets. What we did not realize is that even the top grade kibble fails to give our dog what he really needs. He needs raw meat and bones. That’s it! Read the rest of this entry »
Today was a special flight for me. It would involve many “firsts”. First time in a C150, first time as PIC in a C150. First time flying up the Gatineau River instead of over the hills and first time flying with Louis, RFC’s newest flight instructor. Considering all of this, the flight was amazing and a great time was had by all.
I arrived to the airport early on Monday morning to help remove the dusting of snow from the wing covered C150, C-FFXT. Louis was there and in good spirits. After a quick walk around noticing the details that differ between a C172 and the C150 we were soon heading over to the run-up area. I noticed that the C150 has a lot less mass and therefore a lot less inertia than it’s bigger brother the C172. You can tell right away that although these aircraft are similar in appearance they are very different in personality. As the runway was covered in about 2 mm of snow it was a quiet day with only us and one other aircraft reporting in the area. I LOVE flying in the snow. Read the rest of this entry »
This morning I took rica, Mikey and Chandler up for a flight in BRI. We basically went up and did a couple of circuits with nothing exciting to report. It was mostly to keep my currency and get Mike in the plane. Both items were achieved!
Watch closely in this video and you will see something that very few pilots will ever see and live to talk about. A film crew departs out of Van Nuys for a local formation flight with an L-39 Jet. The Pilot, while flying up a valley under a solid overcast happens to enter IMC. What would you do? (Here is what I did). The rules say 180 degree turn and climb. He has the newest and greatest Garmin 696 with all the doo dads, why would he need to follow silly rules? You’ll see clearly why at 1:28 in the video.
Not convinced? AOPA’s ASF has an online course that allows you to live a typical VFR into IMC scenario from your own computer. It is informative and chilling at the same time. What would you have done? Would you fly with this pilot ever? I often thought how cool it would be to fly with the new Garmin 696 but wonder if it’s gives one a little too much confidence causing them to lose judgment. Maybe.
Rica and I finally made it to Lachute and back! We had breakfast there, it was great. Flying back we had to keep low but the scenery was good and my landing was okay, well the first one was anyways…..
