Hello everyone. First off I apologize for not updating the blog since January. This has partly to do with the fact that after I completed my training and returned to the frigid north I didn't do much flying at all for quite a few weeks. The last 2-3 months have picked up quite a bit and you will see pictures of that.
A big hurdle I cleared was landing my first flying job. I am flying a 2007 Cirrus SR-22Turbo for a large investment company in Toronto as a corporate pilot. I got this job as a result of a really good connection. As anyone in aviation knows, it's all about the people you know. I fly the vice-president to his meetings in eastern North America. Destinations include Detroit MI, Atlanta GA, Houston TX, NYC, FT Myers FL, and a couple towns in northern Ontario. Basically what I do is get notified of the destination, plan the flight, file a flight plan usually IFR, notify the destination airport of our arrival to make sure they leave a spot for us and also contact customs if we are going across the border. Then we fly there and I either stay at the airport or go with the guy. Right now it is part time but hey, it's a start and an excellent opportunity to log IFR time in a high-end aircraft.
Enjoy the pictures!
A big hurdle I cleared was landing my first flying job. I am flying a 2007 Cirrus SR-22Turbo for a large investment company in Toronto as a corporate pilot. I got this job as a result of a really good connection. As anyone in aviation knows, it's all about the people you know. I fly the vice-president to his meetings in eastern North America. Destinations include Detroit MI, Atlanta GA, Houston TX, NYC, FT Myers FL, and a couple towns in northern Ontario. Basically what I do is get notified of the destination, plan the flight, file a flight plan usually IFR, notify the destination airport of our arrival to make sure they leave a spot for us and also contact customs if we are going across the border. Then we fly there and I either stay at the airport or go with the guy. Right now it is part time but hey, it's a start and an excellent opportunity to log IFR time in a high-end aircraft.
Enjoy the pictures!
Camping with friends at a backcountry airstrip a friend of mine owns. Had an awesome time.
Another friend of mine txt me one beautiful evening and asked if I want to go flying with him. Of course I didn't turn him down. We headed East to visit an Smiths Falls airport near Ottawa.
A few weeks ago I stopped by Guelph Airpark to see if any activity was happening there. Sure enough a handful of guys were there flying their airplanes. By the time the evening was over I had gotten a ride in the yellow Dehavilland Tiger Moth and also flew the single-seat, blue and white homebuilt Baby Ace. Incidentally this is the oldest homebuilt aircraft in Canada.
Flying formation with a new friend with him in a rare J-2 Piper Cub. He snapped this picture with his phone.
The Dehavilland Tiger Moth I rode in. These were used to train WWII pilots and are quite a handful to fly.
A friend of mine owns a Dehavilland Chipmunk that I was fortunate to ride in. These were also a WWII trainer and were the next step up from the Tiger Moth. We flew for about 40 min and did mostly aerobatics. He handed the plane over to me halfway through and coached me through a few basic aerobatic maneuvers. What an exhilarating experience!
A dehavilland Beaver a good friend owns. This is the guy who got me the flying job.
And here is the Cirrus.
Fully equipped with a super-modern instrument panel. Once in flight you basically become a systems manager. The autopilot will fly any heading, course and altitude you program into it. Once you near the destination you program which instrument approach you want to fly and it will fly a precise instrument approach to within 200' of the ground after which you takeover to land.
Parked at Muskoka Airport beside a Gulfstream jet while waiting to pick up 2 people. I caption this pic as "Now....and....soon"
Me and the 'boss'. He is a very interesting guy and I will be learning so much from him in the coming months not only from flying (he is a pilot, just not IFR certified) and also from the business he does. He is in charge of the many commercial properties that the company owns. On this trip he had 7 meetings to go to back to back and was totally exhausted by the days end. On the way home he slide his chair back and totally fell asleep.
Cruising at 8000' at 180 kts true airspeed.
That's it folks! I hoped you enjoyed them. Please stay tuned for future and more frequent updates.
