September 2015

Hey folks. time for an update! I have been getting a steady amount of flying in this summer. At the end of July I flew down to Guatemala to visit some friends down there and to investigate an opportunity to serve as a mission pilot. I made the decision to move down there at some point next year to fly a Cessna 206. The mission is called Jungle Breezes Youth Ministries and is focused on ministering to the many youth boys coming from broken homes. The mission is based in northern Guatemala in the middle of nowhere, hence using the plane for transportation and emergencies that may arise. I will be in charge of the plane as well as being a mentor for the boys.... Here are a few pictures of my trip.

Flying the mission Cessna 206 with Paul Jones. Paul is with Missionary Air Group from Guatemala and a true gentleman. 

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Huge avacodo that I just picked. 

 Main mission house

  I have done some flying in the Cirrus and also been flying the Piper PA-11 that I flew two summers ago. I have been using it for some aerial photography for a fellow in southern Ontario. It has been a challenge working with the weather doing that since it has to be perfect to get the best shots but I have gotten a few good days in. Very unique flying having to get the best shot while flying and navigating the plane but I enjoy it. Enjoy the pictures!

Formation with a friend in his Fleet Finch

Random pics of cirrus flying....

 One of the buildings the company owns in Detroit MI

My friend`s beaver 

That`s it folks! Until next time!

Overdue Update

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!

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. 

Commercial and IFR license

Hello folks. Well, I am finally home after being gone for 6 1/2 weeks of training at Red Stewart Airfield in Waynesville Ohio. The training went extremely well considering the bad weather that comes with this time of year. There were only a couple days when we couldn't fly due to too low ceilings or high winds. I did the IFR training in a C172 first and got signed off for that then we switched to commercial training which is done in a Piper Arrow. When that was done I did the IFR flight test first and then the CPL flight test in two days back to back. My examiner was the iconic Martha Lunken who writes for Flying Magazine so it was an honor to fly both with her. For a link to her articles go to http://www.flyingmag.com/results/martha-lunken .The IFR test consisted of a VOR-B approach at Clermont County Airport, an ILS approach at Butler County consisting of the published missed approach afterwards, then a GPS approach back into Lunken Airport. The commercial checkride consisted of a short-field takeoff out of Lunken. We headed to Gene Snyder airport  and on the way there we did steep turns, slow flight, chandelles and lazy eights. After a crosswind landing and a soft-field takeoff at Snyder airport we headed back to Lunken and on the way back we did power on and power off stalls and eights on pylons. Landing at Lunken we did a 180 degree, power off accuracy landing and I was real happy when I nailed the touchdown point within 10 feet. While taxiing to our parking spot she says "you really know how to fly an airplane don't you"
On my way back to Red Stewart Airfield from Lunken airport I did a lot of thinking. Here I was scooting along at 160 mph at 2000 feet with a brand new commercial, IFR certificate in my bag at only 21 years old. Flying has taken me so many places in my short life already. All the beautiful sights I have been able to see at the controls of an airplane, the georgeous sunrises and sunsets I have witnessed, the many cool people I have met, the dozens and dozens of people I have taken on rides and so much more. I then concluded I am a very very lucky guy! Enjoy the pictures!

A few pictures of IFR training. 

Martha signing my IFR after the checkride

For the required commercial night flight I went to Blue Grass Airport in Lexington Kentucky. On our way there we were treated to a georgeous sunset. 

 Me and Martha Lunken in front of the Piper Arrow immediately after my CPL checkride. 

 Here`s my temporary CPL certificate with the ink still drying on it. 

I befriended the owner of this modified Pitts and he invited me along while he practiced his airshow routine. Never in my life have I had such a wild ride. 

On new years day the folks at Red Stewart organized a flyout to an airport for breakfast. There were 8 aircraft consisting of 3 J-3 Cubs, C150,  C172, Aeronca Champ, Piper Arrow and an open cockpit Fly Baby. On the way back I flew a loose formation with the 3 cubs in the 172. Not many places where you can do that. Notice in the one picture me almost stalling to stay behind the Cubs.

One quote my instructor mentioned a few times. "Life is a checkride for heaven" Live your life by this quote and live your life so you will past the final exam with flying colors. Take care and be safe in 2015. 

IFR Training

Hello folks. This finds me one week into my IFR training at Stewarts Aircraft Service in Waynesville, Ohio. So far it has proved intense and challenging just like I was told, but also rewarding. There is nothing quite like flying all the vectors given by the instructor, dialing in all the approach frequency's and radials and following their indications, following all the specified minimum altitudes and looking up at the missed approach point to see a mile of runway in front of the plane. I am flying between 2 and 3 times a day. So far we have covered partial panel flying, VOR holds, intersection holds, VOR approaches, localizer approaches, ILS approaches, GPS approaches, NDB approaches and procedure turns. All under the hood, meaning that there is no visual reference to the outside of the plane. It's all flown on the cockpit instruments.

 A random picture of my CFI during ground school. 

 The maintenance shop hangar at Stewarts. Super cub, Pawnee and Pitts. 

 Another hanger full of high performance aerobatic aircraft. When I get big I'm going to........

One of the Piper Cubs that is used for training. This specific one is the one that I learned to fly in 2 years ago

I was able to log a couple free hours of complex time in this Piper Arrow. The guy who I'm staying with is a CFI and he was taking it somewhere and offered the left seat to me. The best part is flipping the landing gear lever up after takeoff!

 Then we flew it out again to take some fuel out to a guy that ran out and had to deadstick into a grass strip. Turns out that the fuel pump guy didn't shut the cap properly and it all siphoned out in flight. Happy ending to what could have been an ugly accident. 

A fuzzy picture of me under the hood. The red light is the cockpit illumination light.  

 Beautiful sunset 

 Helping to launch gliders. The towplane is a Piper Pawnee being flown by my CFI.