Voyage North

Heading out

2006-09-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'll be off to Pickle Lake again tommorow. At least another 16 days straight of workin' my butt off. A friend and I were able to get out playing airsoft for a few hours yesterday. Lots of fun. Got hit in the face a couple of times but that's why we wear face protection. We sat down and drooled over the new equipment coming out in 2007. Been buzzing around on my Mini quad too. I think everyone should sell their cars and get one of these things. I also got to order Season 2 of the Ghost Hunters from amazon today. I should have the DVD's in a couple of weeks. Too bad they still don't broadcast it in Canada. I can work around that though. Hooray for the internet!

No really i'm not dead!

2006-09-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

OMG I suck. I've been so disconnected from the internet since moving to my new job that I often forget to update this thing. I'm into my 4th month on the Caravan now. It's an incredible job to have. Loads of hard work and exhaustion to the point of getting sick. But hey, it's what i've always wanted... I think. Been busy making money and spending it on loans, bills and a few new toys here and there. I bought myself a Giovanni mini ATV to go back and forth to work on up north. It's a load of fun for sure! Kind of funny seeing a 6' 2" male riding around on something meant for a kid. I really don't care though. It's a little bit of childhood back in my life. I need a bit of fun after working so hard every month.
There have been lots of adventures up north in these past months. I went right into thunderstorm season when I finished my training. Boy was it a busy season. So many storms that we may very well have broken records this year for the number of forest fires started by lightning. So now that things have calmed down a bit. We'll very shortly be into icing season. Hopefully the weather will be kind this fall so we don't have to endure anything crazy. Guess that's it for now. When I have time or an internet connection i'll be sure to get some stories up here for all of you to see.

It's okay. I'm still alive.

2006-06-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

Having internet access in Memphis didn't quite work out as planned. I guess in the long run it was better. No access to the internt means more studying by yours truly. My days pretty much consisted of 4 hours of ground school every morning. After a 1 hour lunch break I found myself with an instructor talking about what the sim session would consist of. 2 hours everyday of emergencies and learning the systems. I'm surprised my brain still holds that much information. After what felt like a exhaustive week of engine failures and electrical failures I went into my flight test. For those of you who have never endured a flight test. As a pilot it quickly becomes your least favorite part of the job. The examiners are realistically looking to see if you have a firm grasp on the aircraft and are capable and able to deal with whatever is thrown at you. So after the my nerves began to jump around like customers at an indian food restaurant the day of the flight test I really started feeling the pressure of what it might mean if I didn't do well on my test. $9500 later and no job to go back to if I don't pass is enough to make anyone sick to their stomach. I went in with guns blazing and decided if it's not meant to be then it's not meant to be. But of course i'm worrying too much. The flight took about 2 hours to complete. Many emergencies and IFR approached later. I came out of the test with a great feeling of accomplishment. Even before he told me that I have passed, I knew it everything had worked out really well.
The folks at PAN AM FLIGHT ACADEMY were fantastic. In under a week I went from a first officer on a PC-12 to a Captain of my own Cessna Caravan. They helped me accomplish that and gave me the knowledge and tools required to do the job. They have a clean and friendly environment to work in and do not cut corners with training. As you can see from the photo the Cessna Caravan is a full motion Level D simulator. It qualifies as actual flight time. Fantastic piece of machinery. They do much of the training for FEDEX pilots so there is not only the Caravan but a DC-10 and 727 full motion simulators.
So off I go tommorow to Pickle Lake to train some more and start my new job as Capatin.

Almost time!

2006-05-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Tommorow afternoon i'm off to Memphis. I'm pretty excited. Never really travelled anywhere other than within Canada. Should be an interesting time, Should be about 30 degrees give or take. It's going to be a late evening. Time enough to get into my hotel room, maybe write a little note then get a some rest and then up the next morning for my first ground school. Pray that I remember everything! See y'all down south

Fun things for your digital camera

2006-05-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

A while back I had made many panoramic photos using my digital camera and photo stitching software. On a recent episode of 'Call for Help' they were introducing a program called GBTimeLapse that works with some digital cameras time lapse capability. This program collects thousands of still shots over a period of time that you define and will automatically take photos and store them directly to your harddrive. Then using Quicktime PRO you can import the image sequence and it will automatically build a video for you. This is my first result over a 3 hours period. Looks like the bad weather is moving in. If you have a compatible camera you should try it out. Certainly an interesting way to make movies. Your results will also be much more defined and clear than this video. YouTube lacks the high quality required to see all of the details.

Long road

2006-05-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Somewhere on a 3 1/2 hour drive north of here is a small village called Pickle Lake. The last stop before the all season road ends and turns to dirt. It's been my first drive back to the big metropolis in a year. It certainly is one of those places that stands still and never changes no matter how long you are away. After moving my life into my room we took a run around town to visit some old friends.
As strange as it seems to those of you who live in a large town or city, having access to the most simple of things such as a donut shop is a big deal to northerners. I arrived with a couple of boxes of donuts for the co-workers. Figuring that they would be ho-hum about another box of sugar coated pastery. Everyones reaction to them was amusing. Can you say flys on shit? Too funny. Ah well i'll be in the same boat soon. Can't wait for this new life adventure to begin.

Look what i'm leaving!

2006-05-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

On one hand I will be a captain making more money. But look at what I have to give up. The Pilatus PC-12 really is a bit of a lazy mans airplane. Full electronic flight information system and autopilot. It's fast and can fly high. How I will miss sitting in my seat reading a book at 20,000 feet. The caravan in most cases is low, slow and hand flown. For all of the tradeoffs i'm very much looking forward to the freedom of flying on my own again.

8 days and counting

2006-05-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should be studying. Yeah, I really should be studying. But here I am on Sunday afternoon just a little over a week before I head to Memphis for training. I'm headed to Pan Am Flight Academy for a weeks worth of training on their Level-D simulator in Tennesee.
The airline I currently work for is seeing its fair share of pilots leaving for bigger and better opportunities. That's good for pilots, but it stresses airlines trying to keep qualified individuals on staff and trained. So after a year flying PC-12's as a first officer, i'm going to get my first captain spot on a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. So off I will be to the United States to learn the ins and outs of a new airplane. I'm fortunate to already have some experience on the Caravan as I had flown part time at one of our northern bases before flying the PC-12. Learning more detail about an aircraft I have already flown should make for an easier transision.
I'm cramming my brain with often boring details of the inner workings of an airplanes systems; but of course are neccesary to completely understand how everything interacts. Speeds, Weights, Fuel Loads, Emergency procedures and countless other details are permiating my noggin'. Some stick, some don't. Within a few weeks I should be considered proficient enough and cut loose to flying my cargo and passengers to communities all over north western Ontario.

Stay tuned!