tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79202492807463186552024-03-12T19:41:02.851-07:00Black Flies and Bush Planes5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-17935394214722491162020-07-24T19:18:00.000-07:002020-07-24T19:18:04.056-07:00The Pox<br />
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Yes, well, so... I guess its time to mention the elephant in the room.<br />
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Aviation in general, and Canadian Aviation specifically, has been decimated by the events surrounding the CoronaVirus.<br />
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Prior to February of 2020, Canadian Aviation, from a pilot employment standpoint, was in the best shape it has been in for several decades.<br />
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Over the course of the last five years or so leading up to 2020, things have been changing rapidly. Most , if not all, of Canada's major airlines were expanding rapidly. Smaller airlines were entering into agreements with the big airlines to take up the slack and fly their passengers to connecting hubs. The smaller airlines then stopped doing as much work on the charter side, leaving smaller charter operators to aggressively expand to capitalize on the new work floating around. It seems like everyone moved up a step.<br />
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To a pilot, caught up in this, it has been nothing short of incredible. With Baby Boomer retirements already creating a hiring boom at the majors, you added in expansion, new airlines, new demand and increasing overseas demand of Canadian Pilots. All these things together created this giant sucking sound, hoovering up every available pilot into whatever niche or type of aviation they had their sights set on committing.<br />
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The vacuum caused intense competition among airlines to attract crews. Pay went up, way up. Experience levels required to grace their inbox with a resume dropped...like really dropped. When I started flying, it was pretty normal to expect that you would need to accrue at least 3 or 4000 hours of flight time before you could consider your resume suitable to get an interview at one of the regional airlines, where you could slog it out for five or ten years before being considered for a spot at one of the Majors. At the peak of the hiring boom, candidates were being hired at the 750 hour mark, and they could expect their stay at the regionals to last 1-2 years before they would be upgraded to captain on the mighty Q400 or make the jump to a major airline.<br />
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I'm using US terminology here, but in Canada there really is only two Regional Airlines, Jazz and Encore and two Major airlines, Air Canada and Westjet. There are several other smaller regionals and smaller Majors, but really, those are the main players in this story.<br />
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The draining of the lower time pilots off to the airlines created scarcity down the food chain as well. At the smaller charter and medevac companies, a fresh license with no previous commercial experience was typical for new First Officers. Captains were no longer grey bearded veterans of arctic campaigns, but FO's that had resisted the siren call of the airlines and had a year or two sitting copilot.<br />
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Everyone sat around, regardless of their experience level, and declared that this wouldn't end well and that THEY had put in their time, but these youngsters...much clucking of tongues.<br />
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That of course is history. It is just another chapter in the cycle of aviation, that we can tell stories about in ten years and the new entrants will be wide eyed to imagine it ever happened.<br />
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In the span of about 30 days, the shutdown of all aviation in quarantine regimes and the fear of getting into a sealed metal tube with pox ridden passengers drove passengers away from all levels of aviation. Tourism, a driver of a lot of aviation demand, collapsed in the face of international travel restrictions and outright bans.<br />
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Some smaller airlines went under. Most reduced their flying schedules by incredible amounts, Air Canada, Westjet and their regional partners were only flying 5% of their previous schedules.<br />
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The whole house of cards collapsed. Layoffs at the airline level have been shocking, literally tens of thousands of pilots have hit the streets in Canada in the last four months. 10,000 more are hanging on by the grace of the government providing a wage subsidy to their employer. The government is literally paying their wages so the airline doesn't let them go, their employer has no need of them. The scuttlebutt is that the subsidy is simply a way to keep some pressure of the Unemployment Insurance System while it deals with the fallout of nearly every industry in Canada shedding workers.<br />
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After 9/11 there was a similar collapse, commercial aviation demand dropped significantly and the airlines resized till demand came back. After the 2008 Financial Crisis, the demand dried up again with the loss of disposable income by the flying public. This one is a bit different, demand didn't dry up, it stopped. in an instant.<br />
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No one knows when it will come back or at what level or what cost, but the scale is off the chart compared to the last two downturns that I've had the pleasure of seeing.<br />
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I've been somewhat lucky, in that the niche flying that I've been doing is not nearly as hard hit. Its definitely taken a bite, don't get me wrong. My employment for this summer is pretty much unchanged, but come fall, my winter work has disappeared into thin air.<br />
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I now get to compete with the flood gates of all the airline guys firing off resumes and hitting up old pals to try and find some flying work to put food on the table. Some of them got hired with very little experience and don't offer much to the smaller operators that Id like to spend the winter working for, but others made their way up the same as I did and have years of experience flying medevac, or other charter type flying before they went off to the airlines. The smaller outfits are a little leery of hiring the airline guys as they have a seniority number in The Big Show and would flee at the drop of a hat if ( and when ) things turn around. I'm only seeking winter work at this time too, so I'm not the first pick either, as my summer work is not something I want to voluntarily give up. Its all moot in any case as the smaller operators are not hiring anyways as their demand has dropped off the cliff too! Good times.<br />
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So, there you go, state of the union. Not pretty, but not a new storyline either.<br />
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You still got the number of that truck driving school, goose?<br />
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Anyhow, back to time travelling!<br />
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<br />5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05361820216221900639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-42733664221819651062020-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:002020-05-12T12:55:59.624-07:00Barn Find<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Out on a nice day Medevac trip to a small town one day, I came across something pretty cool at the airport we were sitting at awaiting our medics return with the patient, a PBY Catalina.<br />
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Originally designed and built during WWII, as a naval reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The Catalina, also known as the Canso, was a flying boat, designed to land on water or on land. It had these cool "blister " windows that an observer could sit , searching the sea below for survivors of a downed ship, or an enemy submarine. I don't really know much for technical details, and frankly, you've got the google if you're interested in any case!<br />
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I think the blister windows have been removed from this one, as it spent the latter part of its life in fire-fighting work and they weren't needed. THey would normally be on both sides of the fuselage, just aft of the wing. I'm told that's also where they would haul in the floating survivors rescued at sea during WWII.<br />
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This particular Canso had been repurposed in its golden years as a fire fighting Scooper, or Skimmer. Refit with a water tank capable of refilling on lakes, it was employed in the service of Buffalo Airways in the NWT fighting forest fires, till it came to grief one day during a scooping operation on a remote lake in the Mackenzie Valley. My understanding is that its landing gear doors were somehow damaged during a scooping run and the aircraft began taking on uninvited water. The crew managed to abort the scoop and taxi the aircraft near shore, where it slowly sank in shallow water.<br />
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The crew made it out OK and the aircraft was abandoned for period of time in the lake. Far too remote to mount a proper recovery, eventually it was decided by its owners that they should at least refloat it and strip it for what parts they could. A team of engineers was sent to the site and they did just that. Engines, Avionics and anything else of value were removed and then flown back to Yellowknife to live on in the rest of the fleet, or as is the Buffalo way, secreted away in one of Joes many hidey-holes of parts and kept for posterity and future value, not unlike a hockey card collection. You laugh now, but as any hoarder will tell you, you cant just throw that away, one day it'll be worth a fortune!<br />
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The remains were left on the shore of the lake, inaccessible by road, for a period of time. Many moons, I'm told. How many? No idea, but the legends foretold that one day...never mind, you get it, I have no idea and am too lazy to look it up to make this a neatly foot-noted and hyper-linked historical record.<br />
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So, now here it was at this small prairie airport, looking in relatively decent shape. I actually had no idea on the back story, till I saw it printed on a large sign erected near a small shack beside the aircraft. In addition to the story of its origins, was the story of the ongoing restoration. A group of retired aircraft engineers, who were now farmers in the area, knew of this aircraft and schemed to acquire the salvage rights to it, rescue it from a very remote piece of wilderness, drag it back to a barn and make it fly again. Some real huckleberry finn type adventures ensued, and they did just that. Out they went, some 80? 100? 50? miles off the winter road of the mackenzie valley, they hacked and slashed a bush road into the site, prepped it for transport by dismantling the major components, wing, tail, fuselage and got it back to the winter road. From there it was moved by transport truck to the nearest town, Norman Wells maybe?<br />
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There it sat till the summer barge season on the Mackenzie River, where it was moved down to Hay River, and then back onto trucks for the journey to the barn in Northern Alberta.<br />
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That was as far as the story on the sign went, but underneath that was a call for volunteers and/or donations or membership purchases to their historical aircraft restoration society they had formed to help fund the project.<br />
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As an FO, I had little in the way of funds to help, but they did specifically ask for volunteers, skilled or otherwise to help with the project.<br />
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I wrote the number down and called them up a few days later.<br />
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They let me know that they'd be happy for the help and that I should come out and attend their monthly meeting at one of the leaders farms a few weeks hence.<br />
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Driving out there in the northern prairie winter darkness was interesting. There is something very surreal about being in a warm, quiet vehicle, driving over desolate winter rural roads. Reminds me a little bit of flying, inches away through a glass and steel( or aluminum I suppose ) structure, is a violent and unforgiving environment. The truck suddenly breaks down or the airplane engine stops making noise, and things change from warm and comfortable, to considerably less so in fairly short order.<br />
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I had no idea what to expect of the "meeting", but it turned out to be about six guys, sitting in upended milk crates and old office chairs in the shop of one of the farmers. Most brought thermos's of coffee and baked goods from home. The meeting was to plan for the next months projects, discuss parts acquisition plans and go over some of the tasks that needed doing. At this point in the restoration, most of the real grunt work had been done, the kind of stuff an unskilled person could help with. Tedious jobs of cleaning parts, tracing wiring, etc. Although I didn't end up with any involvement in the project, it was cool to hear the story first hand. The baked goods were not bad either.<br />
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The aircraft had been plundered by Buffalo for a lot of major components, notably engines. Luckily, they had come across a museum in the maritimes that had an intact and running Canso donated to them for static display. They had no need of perfectly good running engines, so cut a deal with these guys. If they could come up with a couple of engine " cores", non-working, but intact engines, that they could hang on their display model, they'd trade straight across for the working ones they had.<br />
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Apparently, one of the bigger challenges they had was the wiring. As the engines are mounted up on the wing, all of the controls and wiring were routed up through a central pillar connecting the wing to the top of the fuselage. During the pillaging, this bundle was simply cut to disconnect the wiring. You can imagine too, that over the 50-60 year working life of the aircraft and its various modernization and upgrades/refurbishments, that the wiring had been changed so many times that it likely did not resemble the clean engineering drawings they had to go by. Each wire had to be traced, identified, replaced, a perfect job for the unskilled, but long since complete.<br />
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In fact, at the stage that I came along they were nearing the finish line. The aircraft was intact, engines running and most of its systems airworthy. Odds and ends and some obscure and difficult to find parts for a few items were that was left. They even had a couple pilots lined up to fly the thing and were aiming for a flight date only a few months away.<br />
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I asked how long the project had taken them to get to the current state.<br />
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" About nine years, eh frank? "<br />
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" Yup, about that. "<br />
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Holy crap.<br />
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This wasn't a side hustle or hobby project, this was a lifetime achievement!<br />
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I haven't personally seen it fly, but I know it has. As far as I know, the plan was to take it touring on the airshow circuit for a few years to try and recoup their sizeable expenses. These guys are nothing if not persistent, so I'm sure it did!<br />
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5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05361820216221900639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-85376752557033221002020-05-11T22:08:00.000-07:002020-05-11T22:08:34.347-07:00Lets go Back<br />
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Alright, lets get you updated, to a degree.<br />
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I spent four years up North, flying seasonally, driving a truck in the off season.<br />
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We had always known that our time up north was limited. One of our primary concerns was that when my daughter was school age, we didn't want her to be in the public school system in our far flung part of the world. There's some real challenges in the school system in remoter areas of Canada, both in available resources and the ability to attract good educators. This is by no means a slight on the school teachers that work up there, but I think even they would tell you of the frustration in seeing fresh-out-of-uni teachers coming up to cut their teeth in remote areas that the more experienced educators typically don't want to go to.<br />
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So, there was that. TWO was approaching the end of pre-school and getting ready to embark on her kindergarten career. We decided it was time to start the search for something that might take us somewhere else.<br />
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The other concern of course was that while I loved the flying up north, the economics of that type of operation didn't lend itself to paying me a whole ton of money. Neither did the seasonal aspect lend itself to getting the kind of hours in the logbook that would let me earn something decent.<br />
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Out went the resumes!<br />
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When I first started looking for flying jobs, I sent out 100 resumes and got three responses. They were thanks-but-no-thanks responses, but I was happy to see them. Now I had 1000 hours and sent out 20 resumes. I really wasn't wanting to take ANYTHING like I did when I went looking for my first job. I knew I wanted year round work, knew I wanted to be south of 60. The industry was still very tight, jobs were still scarce and 1000 hours didn't mean much.<br />
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Crickets.<br />
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Started to worry a bit and we girded ourselves for one more year up north. As is the way when you start to make other plans, the phone rang.<br />
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On my resume I had listed a reference whose name was known by someone doing hiring for a King Air 200 Medevac First Officer gig.<br />
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Funnily enough, after that resume blitz, my resume hasnt got me any of the other jobs I've held since. The industry is so small, as a commercial pilot, you're probably two degrees of separation at best from pretty much every chief pilot of every airline in Canada. If you're not an idiot, and you have a reasonably well-kept reputation, networking your friends and colleagues is going to be a whole lot more productive than the carpet bombing of resumes you have to do in the beginning! Even in this case, it had little to do with my resume, but more the fact that she knew someone that I knew and I put his name on my resume as reference.<br />
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They called, I got excited, we chatted a bit about that person, and I made a joke or two. They chuckled, relieved I was at least personable, and was told I could expect an offer email.<br />
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That was it.. A few days later I got the email, we talked about what it would mean in terms of moving, timelines, housing, school, pay and then we pulled the trigger.<br />
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Notified my current employer that this would be my last season, and got busy with the details.<br />
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Little details, like finding a place to live, finding work for my wife, finding a school for my daughter.<br />
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We made a reconnaissance trip down a few weeks later to scope out a few places and get the lay of the land. We made it South of 60, but not by a ton, haha. Far enough south that we now had access to several fast food places, a walmart and a canadian tire. Downright metropolitan!<br />
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New Town had a lot going for it, including being a part of the tail end of a fairly significant oil-boom ( cue dramatic fore shadowing music ) that no one saw ending anytime soon. This is where Morgan Freeman's voice comes on in the background.... " It was going to end very soon. " he'd say, but we couldn't hear him.<br />
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New Job also had me flying a King Air 200 as a first officer, something I was very excited about. IFR, Two-Crew, Turbine, exciting stuff! It was a medevac gig too, something that also interested me.<br />
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We ultimately came to the conclusion that it was going to be cheaper to buy a house in New Town rather than rent. Crazy, but true. All of the local rental properties were being snatched up by the local oilfield companies for crew housing, driving the vacancy rates down and rents up. We had managed to save up some money as my winter work paid well and the wifes government job paid well too. Our expenses were very low, living in our little trailer, so we had just enough to plunk some money down on a nice older house with a big yard and a garage.<br />
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( this picture is actually from when we moved out, we moved in with a much smaller moving truck, but like a goldfish, we expand our belongs to match the size of our tank..... )<br />
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A close friend of mine from back in the day actually lived in New Town and we had him drive up to Northern Town and help us pack the moving truck. He'd then make the odyssey back down to New Town with us, he'd drive my Truck, the wife would drive hers, with my daughter, dog and back seats piled high with crap. I'd drive the moving truck. Of course it snowed on the way down and we ended up in a slow moving convoy, peering through the blizzard trying to stay on the road the last few kilometres. Keep it between the Mayo and the Mustard! ( yellow lines and white lines, I thought that was funny when I heard it..and in typical dad-joke fashion, I've ruined it by explaining it.. )<br />
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One of my favourite parts of the new digs was that the backyard was big enough, and the weather cold enough, that I could put a homemade ice rink in the backyard.<br />
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So, there we were. We made it "south" but still very much northern. We left a very small community, to a bit bigger, but still quite small community. Our winters were still cold, and relatively long, but a lot shorter than they used to be. Summers felt decadently long, at least for the first couple years, lasting from May though to October now, instead of June to September. If that doesn't seem long, well, like I said, its relative....<br />
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I had to do a pre-employment drug test at NewCo, which doesn't bother me, I'm far too old to bother with drugs. Besides, can't really afford drugs on an FO salary!<br />
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I dutifully showed up at the nurses "office", which was actually her home, along with another fellow who got hired at the same time as me. I have to pee in a cup twice a year as part of my medical exam to hold my license, so that's never bothered me or given me a second thought really. Until you move a thousand kilometres to a new city, with a wife who hasn't found work yet, and a young daughter, a fresh mortgage on a home you can barely afford, and EVERYTHING riding on your ability to pee in that cup. Guess who couldn't express a drop when it counted?? I had to eventually admit defeat, call the chief pilot and explain my technical difficulties. Not my finest hour, but we laughed it off and I reported back the next morning with several litres of water sloshing around in my belly. Mission accomplished.<br />
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Training started the next day, 5 hours of on-the-wing flight training on the King Air, taking turns with sitting up front for my training session and sitting in the back observing while the other guy did his. A training captain in the left seat up front. I've done a few PPC's now, but I was still in single digit territory as to how many I'd done.<br />
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A PPC is a Pilot Proficiency Check, a series of exercises, maneuvers and instrument procedures that certify you to fly a specific airplane for a period of one year. Every different " type " of plane you fly requires a yearly PPC or you lose certification on it. Most commercial pilots will have many different " types " on their license, but only valid PPCs on a couple that they fly regularly. A Type Rating is your initial course on that plane, and you hold the Type Rating for life, but if you want to be employed to fly that plane, it still requires a yearly flight test. I'm giving you the coles notes here, as there's lots of little wheretofores, howsoevers and Unless in Accordance with the Minister legalese details, but thats it in a nutshell.<br />
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Five hours of holding onto the mighty king air by my fingernails, followed by a hour and half flight test with an examiner in the back. One false move and the house, the job, all on the line. Not stressful at all!<br />
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Flight test done, 20 odd company training modules and exams, and there I was, a newly minted Medevac FO in Northern ( but not as northern as before ) Canada.<br />
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5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05361820216221900639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-56217248341558911972020-05-11T11:41:00.000-07:002020-05-11T11:41:06.724-07:00Not dead.** Pfuuuuuu ** cloud of dust rolls off my blog, shreddies dust, goldfish crackers, an old OFP with coffee cup circle stains and a random paperclip.<br />
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Howdy strangers.<br />
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I've been thinking about reviving this page for a long time, but just haven't had the time. As Jeff whats-his-name might say, life, uh, gets in the way.<br />
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I was thinking the other day about how a lot of the pilot blogs I followed when I first got into flying sort of faded out the same way. In a reduction similar or the number of guys I knew when I first started flying to the number I know that are still flying now. Eager beginnings, wide eyed and innocent, to jaded, couldn't be bothered clock punchers and folks who just dropped out of the industry in frustration or due to the reality of flying as a long term career.<br />
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Anyway, I've found myself with some time in my daily routines and would like to keep this going.<br />
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One of the reasons I stopped was that as my career progressed, I came up against working for companies that took confidentiality a lot more seriously. Employment agreements spelled out the posting publicly of just about anything to do with my paid employment as specifically No Bueno. Blogs and facebook posting were named specifically.<br />
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Since the start of this blog though, I'm on my 5th employer. A lot of water has gone under the bridge. I'm thinking that I'm probably safe to time travel back and post some thoughts and experiences from a few gigs ago and be relatively safe. I will of course try to keep things anonymous, but frankly, this industry is so freaking small its likely that some people reading will pick up on my mannerisms or well worn cockpit stories and be able to identify me or my past or present employer. Please play along and try not to comment or otherwise post anything that could endanger my ability to tell tales if a past employer was to see that they've been identified and don't like the content.<br />
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I will also note that my current employer is strictly off limits, so I'll avoid that as best I can, and shut this down abruptly if I cant. Or my three readers aren't able to respect my need for anonymity.<br />
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So there we go, I'm still alive, still committing aviation on a commercial basis, still paranoid about a forgotten old blog outing me. <br />
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Saddle Up!<br />
5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05361820216221900639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-6041622977498155242015-01-08T11:39:00.002-08:002015-01-08T11:39:41.013-08:00On Patrol<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, a big part of my summer flying up north consisted of doing whats called " Smoke Patrol " for the local forestry department. Up here they're called the " ENR" , for Environment and Natural Resources.</div>
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On no particular schedule they'd call us up and request a plane ( and pilot ) to fly one or more of their guys around and do a patrol of the district for any new fires and to get updates on existing fires.</div>
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Most of the time I flew with the same ENR guy. Occasionally when he was busy, they'd send up someone else, but most of the time it was me and Smoky the Bear. </div>
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Smoky had been doing this job for a long time. In fact, he'd moved further up the ranks in ENR than they would normally have someone out doing patrol. When things got busy later in the season, he'd have his hands full actually coordinating the actual fighting of the fires rather than the somewhat mundane task of buzzing around looking for new ones.</div>
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The only thing was, during a patrol, he'd be able to have a first hand look at what the fire was doing, where it was, what kinds of fuels and terrain it was in and be that much better equipped to fight it. If someone else was to go up and do the initial assessment, the information they brought back to him was sometimes lacking... If you want something done right.....</div>
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Anyhow. Smoky's office would call us up, usually in the morning, and book the plane for the afternoon. Smoke Patrol was usually done in 3-4 hour blocks and started typically around 2. Start too early and the fires might still be laying down from overnight dew. 2 was usually when things started to peak temperature-wise. Typical summer afternoons also meant thunderstorms, whose lightning causes 90% of the fires in the first place. If you went too early, you might miss the very early stages of a fresh fire where a helicopter or ground crew could quickly put it out.</div>
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I'd fuel the plane right up, giving us a solid 4.5 hours of flight time. Occasionally we'd fuel up and go back out again later if things were really hopping, but usually it was just one 3-4 hour trip. The Territory is divided up into several fire districts and our district could be covered in 4 hours, depending on how many active fires there were.</div>
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Smoky would show up and give me a brief overview of our route, usually referencing lakes, ridges, hills, towns, rivers, etc. I'd convert that into a short text message to my flight follower giving a very rough route with waypoints we all recognized. Smoky's office gave him a little briefcase-GPS tracker device which we'd set up in the back seat. I had a commercial tracker unit as well clipped to the side of the cockpit. We'd strap into the Mighty Skymaster and sweat our way through a quick run-up, before we blasted off and up into cooler air,</div>
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It gets pretty hot in the plane on the ground, but in the air, we had " air conditioning ". Nothing so fancy as compressed refrigerant, but instead, I had a little fly window on my side that I could open and blast in 180 mile an hour air into the cockpit.</div>
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We'd usually have a list of coordinates that they pulled from their storm monitoring program that listed clusters of lightning strikes from storms the previous day. These would be likely spots for new fires, which we'd check out. We'd also have a list of reported fires, from people on the ground or more often, passing aircraft. Up here there are a limited amount of roads, so spotting a fire from a passing car was pretty unlikely. Later in the season, we'd also have a list of active fires that we would monitor.</div>
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Arriving on station at a new fire, I'd set up an orbit around 1000 feet and circle the fire a few times for Smoky to do his assessment. If this was a new fire, he'd also do an " ISM " report and radio it in. I'm pretty sure ISM stands for Initial Smoke Message, but I'm not 100% on that. In my head, I always thought of it as I Smell Money. A new fire meant I'd have at least one more flight to check on it, more if it got bigger and they were going to action it.</div>
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As we'd orbit, Smoky would be recording fuel type, terrain, distance to nearest water source and a host of other details. These got recorded on the ISM report and then called in on the VHF radio we had installed in the plane for them. I'd provide temperature on the ground, wind direction and speed. Temperature derived from our temperature at altitude and corrected for lapse rate to the ground. Wind direction and speed were best guesses based on what I observed at altitude, plus visible signs on the ground, tree movement, water ripples, smoke, etc. I was pretty accurate with this as you needed to be able to figure this out for flying floats, and honestly, its not that hard.</div>
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After the ISM was completed, we'd usually have to climb up to get better radio reception and range, so we'd either start the climb, or if we planned to map the fire, we'd duck lower and do the mapping first before calling it in.</div>
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Mapping out the fire meant flying the perimeter of the fire as close as you could, while Smoky used a handheld GPS to get record the ground track so they could upload it into their fire map database. It also allowed them to calculate total area of the fire in Hectares. This was pretty important, so I assume a degree of their funding calculations were done based on reported hectares of fires for the season.</div>
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Down we'd go to 200-500 feet depending on terrain and visibility. I'd usually slow to about 120 miles an hour and drop a notch of flaps. Flying the perimeter of a fire was fun and challenging, Fires are not nice and round, they often have "fingers" that run out from the fire that might only be a couple hundred feet wide. Sometimes the fingers were so long and thin it would be tough to make the turns to keep yourself over the fire, so you occasionally " took in some green ", where you ended up flying over unburnt ground. I'd usually cut in over the fire to " take in some black " and even things out, so the total size was accurate even if the actual map wasn't.</div>
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Helicopters would do mapping too and they could do it much more accurately then me. If the actual map was critical, they'd send a helo out to do the mapping later. We were "ad-hoc" chartered too, where the helo's were usually on a fixed contract for a certain number of hours for the whole season, I think it was 300 hours. If it was a slow season, they'd send the helos up to burn off those hours doing something productive as they were going to pay for it anyways even if they didn't use it.</div>
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The trick with mapping too, was to make sure that you " cut-off " the GPS track. You had to completely encircle the fire, with your ending track running over where you began the track, closing the loop. If they stopped the GPS tracker short, all they got was a circular line on the map and the computer couldn't calculate the area inside, Down low, concentrating on flying the perimeter, it can be easy to mistake where you started the track, so you made sure to pick a good landmark when you started. Picking part of the fire didn't work as it all looks the same, you needed a lake, a ridge or swamp, something distinct.</div>
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Mapping was fun and challenging, probably my favorite part of Smoke Patrol. Mapping out an actively burning fire was another challenge as well. You had to navigate the burnt part, but you also had to deal with the burning side as well, the " head " of the fire. You wanted to fly as close to it as you could to get an accurate map, but now you also had flames up to a couple hundred feet high, as well as a column of smoke and hot air to get around or through, depending on the wind. If the wind was light, you could usually duck down low and duck under the smoke, beside the flames and get pretty close to the edge. If the wind was up though, you either had to go through the smoke down low or cut around it so wide as take in a lot of unburnt ground ahead of the fire. I'm not a huge fan of flying down low in low visibility and flying through heavy smoke and ash was hard on the plane and its air filters, so it was a tough call sometimes. On really big fires, sometimes you took in huge mounts of unburnt ground to get around the head and sometimes you just couldn't map it.</div>
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Flying through smoke always left tell-tale signs on the props, windshield and leading edge of the wings, so the Boss always knew too. I was to avoid it when practicable, but we all knew sometimes you had to go through the smoke a little.</div>
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I really regret not taking more pictures of this part of the job. The smoke creates some really weird and beautiful lighting underneath it, with the sun trying to get through. I remember one fire in particular, it was so big it had a dozen or so really active heads, each creating huge columns of smoke. The air was pretty still so the columns formed up overhead to make a huge dome over us. Inside the "room" below the air was perfectly still as the sun couldn't heat the ground to make any convective currents and the light was this eerie red colour.</div>
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You had to be careful though as the hot air of a fire can create its own weather and can really rock a small plane if you get into it. Occasionally the rising air is so hot and rising so fasst it punches right up into the stratosphere, making its own thunderstorm overhead the fire. There were a couple of these " Pyronimbus " clouds formed this season that deposited ash from the territories as far away as Portugal!</div>
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After mapping, we'd climb back up to 1500 feet if we were going to transit to the next fire, or higher if we were going to radio everything in.</div>
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Fires were assigned a number, in sequential order of their discovery. at the beginning of the year, up to about fire 40 or so, you knew them all by heart. Chances are, you discovered all of the, anyway. Later in the season, when they got up to 90 or so, there were lots that had been found by helo crews, others that had gone out and you needed coordinates to find them. The Garmin 430 in the plane I flew the last two seasons, it was a piece of cake to enter coordinates. Prior to that we were using a plane with a Areamap something-or-other that had you using a little joystick to physically move the pointer on the map while the coordinates displayed underneath. This was a bit of a pain as to get precise locations and the map turned if you were turning at all, making it hard to keep oriented with the joystick, while flying.</div>
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Smoky's GPS tracker gave real-time location info to the fire dispatch centre, mine only plotted a location when I pressed a button, for my flight follower to know where we were. I'd use the aircraft timer to do 30 minute check-ins, and usually do my fuel calculations or tank switching on the same schedule. I needed to burn an hour of fuel out of my main tanks before I could switch over and use my aux tanks. I had to burn my aux tank fuel as soon as that hour was up, and they burned for 45 minutes. You couldn't burn aux fuel first as the fuel injection system returned half the fuel pumped to the main tanks, if they were full, the returning fuel would go overboard, out the vents. you couldn't burn aux fuel last either as they didn't have a boost pump for the aux tanks, meaning if the engine quit, you couldn't restart it.</div>
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Fire dispatch would give us updates on other aircraft working around us, letting us know if a fire was being actioned, so we could keep our distance. We'd also talk to the bird-dog pilots who would warn us if the bombers were en route. In civilian aviation, airspace around a fire is automatically restricted airspace and you need to be either 3000 feet above it or 5 nautical miles away from it. Since we were involved in the fire action, it didn't apply to us, but if there were bombers on the fire, we'd stay at least that distance away, if not more. They were being coordinated by the bird dog aircraft flying above, and had restricted airspace to work in, so weren't looking out for other traffic most of the time, focusing instead on the ground and their bombing run. Helicopter pilots working a fire were simply crazy and would run into you, just to see what happens.</div>
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I had one instance where we were going to a fire we spotted that was right on the edge of the territorial boundary with a neighboring province. We couldn't tell if it was on the border or outside our jurisdiction, so we flew over to it to check the GPS coordinates. Arriving, we found it just outside our territory, but it looked fresh, so we decided to do an ISM to pass onto the neighboring province, as long as we were there. Problem was, they did know about it and had two helicopters working it when we arrived. We didn't see them until our second orbit or so and they weren't on our radio system so didn't hear them either. I usually monitor the enroute frequency of 126.7 as well, but had turned down the volume earlier as I had three radios squawking at me, and had forgotten to turn the volume back up. They had been making calls, and I thought I was monitoring, but I couldn't hear them. As soon as we saw them we did a 180 and got out of there. I went to make a radio call on 126.7 and that's when I discovered the volume turned down, turning it up, i heard them talking about the " white fixed wing ". Apologized and beat feet for home. oops.</div>
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This past fire season was their worst season in, I think, recorded history. A big fire for us would normally be 30-50,000 Hectares. We'd get two or three of those in a typical season, with the rest being much smaller. This season we had four fires that were each 500,000 plus Hectares in size, along with many more in the 50,000 plus range. It got so bad later in the season that Smoke Patrol pretty much died off to nothing, as they couldn't spare the manpower to go up and look for new fires. Quite frankly, I think they were scared what they would find.</div>
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Crews and tanker aircraft, helicopters and ground crew were brought in from pretty much every other Canadian Province and probably the States as well. 200 Man camps were set up and moved around as they tried to fight these huge fires. Communities were threatened and we were grounded more than once due to extremely poor visibility in the smoke, blanketing thousands of square miles.</div>
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Once community in particular was completely encircled by one fire, </div>
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Before. </div>
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With the ground crews fighting the fire from the streets of the village. I had been flying a charter and was listening on the VHF radio as the drama unfolded, with the fire jumping the only road into town, they were trapped in town and the radio calls were getting pretty panicked. Vehicles abandoned, all they could do was put their pumps in the lake and fight the fire. They managed to save the village, but the luck of the winds was on their side or it could have ended quite differently.</div>
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There is an old debate about fighting these fires. One side is to let them burn, its a natural process and keeps the fires small. The other side is to fight everything and hit them when they are small and can actually be put out.</div>
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If you let them burn, the right combination of winds and fuels can let a monster set up and then threaten a town. Why didn't you fight it?</div>
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If you fight everything, the unburnt fuel builds up to unnaturally high levels, setting the stage for monsters to get going, which you can't fight, even if you wanted to. Why did you fight them?</div>
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I felt bad for Smoky, as it was often his call as to whether to fight a fire or not. He had decades of experience in making those calls, which is why he got stuck in the plane so often. But so much is out of his control. He'd fight something small and they'd accuse him of wasting resources. He'd let a fire go and the winds would change around a couple times and suddenly a Value-At-Risk was burned down.</div>
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Value-At-Risk or VAR, was the term for pretty much anything man made that a fire might threaten. A key factor in the decision whether to fight a given fire was whether or not their were any VAR's nearby. a VAR might be a trappers shack made of a few sheets of plywood and tarps, hauled in by snow machine in the winter out to the middle of nowhere. It might only be worth a couple hundred bucks in materials, but they'd send in 10,000 dollar an hour bombers to save it. Then again, next winter when the trapper gets stuck in bad weather and needs his shelter that he put up and finds it gone, when he needs it the most.....well, you get the idea.</div>
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As a pilot up here, you got to know where all these little shacks, lodges and cabins were. Either by flying the owners or materials out in the first place, or just from mentally cataloging them as you drone along over hundreds of miles of wilderness. the ENR guys, even Smoky, would ask you first if you knew of anything nearby, as the location of a lot of this stuff isn't recorded anywhere else.</div>
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Couple random pictures;</div>
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This is a test-block. Used for testing different methods of firefighting, fire control and who knows what else. They'd burn sections of these from time to time, maybe to train firefighters, I'm not really clear on the whole purpose. I'm sure google knows and I'm too lazy and/or uninterested to look.</div>
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Hope you enjoyed your time On Patrol!</div>
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<br />5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-28398761104092495512014-12-28T22:20:00.000-08:002014-12-28T22:20:12.983-08:00Winter Work<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NOLPXF916nY/VKDZWqIzQsI/AAAAAAAABD4/px2NZtoIiPg/s1600/IMG_0070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>
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So, my first four years as a working, commercial pilot, actually consisted of four consecutive summers as a seasonal pilot. The outfit I worked for had lots of work in the summer, particularly during the summer fire season. Not so much work during the winter. The company was a small family-run and operated charter outfit, consisting of Mom the Operations Manager, Dad, the Chief Pilot and AME and one older son as a Pilot, another younger son as an apprentice AME. They typically take in a junior pilot to help fill the gaps during the summer seasons. </div>
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That was me.</div>
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Their was still flying to be done during the winter months, but not enough to keep three pilots on payroll. Dad and Son could easily handle the winter flying and I needed to find something else to fill in the other 7 months of the year. </div>
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I worked down south as a fuel truck driver at a major airport, so decided to try my hand at driving for a living up here. Given that the fuel hauling business up here is also very seasonal, it actually worked out pretty good. In the winter, most homes up here are heated by Diesel ( Furnace Oil ) and that fuel needs to be delivered to the tank at their home several times a winter.</div>
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Since I hold a class 3 commercial driving license, I am qualified to drive a " straight-truck ", also referred to as a " Body-Job ". That is, a non-articulated truck. Not a tractor-trailer combination, but a vehicle where the tank or cargo container is affixed to the truck chassis itself. You need a Class 1 license to drive a tractor-trailer, but the tractor part of the Body-Job is the same truck. Usually a little bit smaller in terms of horsepower and transmission. My license technically allows me to drive a Semi for hire, I just cant drive it hooked up to a trailer.</div>
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In any case. At the end of my second summer flying up here, I decided to look for winter work. There are two fuel hauling companies in my little town, so I polished up my resume and stopped by to see them. The first one said thanks, we'll let you know, but we're not looking for anyone right now. Second one asked me if I had time to interview when I popped in unannounced, and I left with a job offer pending reference checks.</div>
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I came to find out later that the unemployment rate up here is pretty much nil. The only people not working are generally those that either don't want to, or don't need to. People up here don't go looking for jobs, jobs go looking for people. I'm speaking in broad terms, but you get the idea. Its pretty hard for them to find qualified people for a lot of positions and a lot of companies just end up taking whoever is willing to do it. </div>
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That was me.</div>
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My driving " experience " from my airport job down south gave me a little in the way of knowledge, but really, I had a lot to learn.</div>
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To start, all the trucks I used to drive were Automatic Transmissions. All the trucks at my new employ were Standard. 10 and 18 speed semi truck transmissions. I spent the first month shadowing one of their drivers to learn the routes and equipment, but to also get used to driving a " real " truck. My license was restricted to Auto only, so I had to take another driving test to get the restriction lifted. Everyone told me that the Department of Transport guys that administered the tests were very big on the " double-clutch " method of shifting these big trucks, I spent a month driving around trying to master the double-clutch. </div>
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Gegenerally big trucks don't shift with the clutch at all, you simply learn what RPM ranges and speeds you can shift up and down in, along with when to give it gas during the shift, and it shifts very easily without using the clutch. Double-clutching, not so easy. I wont even bore you with the details of how to double clutch, as it was, and still is, pretty useless information.</div>
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Turned out that the DOT guy didn't care, or he didn't say anything anyway. Maybe he would have said something if I tried to shift without the double clutch, but the road test was pretty basic, so I kind of doubt it.</div>
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So there you have it. I had a winter job, that paid quite well and was seasonal for the winter only, they were only too happy for me to leave in the spring and go back to flying.</div>
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I spent two winters on the Body-Job, delivering furnace oil to home tanks, gasoline and diesel to gas stations and industrial tanks. Once a week or so had me driving on the highway to neighbouring towns to do home deliveries or other fuel deliveries. I'd help out at the airport operation, filling a plane now and then or just keeping the self-serve tanks at the airport topped up with Avgas and Jet Fuel. </div>
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There was a dedicated airport guy who went out and operated the pumps for itinerant aircraft, but I was the back-up since I had airport fueling experience. Sometimes this involved taking an on-call cell and coming in after hours to fill planes. Other times I'd get called out after hours to fill peoples home tanks who had let them run low or even out. Call outs like that paid a flat call out fee and it all went to the driver. It was a usually 150 bucks a shot, so it was a nice little way to make up for getting suited up at 40 below and coming in on a Sunday to do one delivery. I felt bad sometimes though as people had their furnaces stop working, so they call in for an after hours fuel delivery. Pay a hefty fee on top of the price of the fuel and then at least half the time that's when they found out it was their furnace itself that had died, not run out of fuel.</div>
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Heating your home up here is expensive, to say the least. Our little trailer, 900 and change square feet, costs about 1200 bucks a year to heat. All of that is in the seven months of winter, so its 150-200 bucks a month depending on the temperature an average house with a basement and say, 2000 square feet of space, you could easily spend 400-500 bucks a month, just for furnace oil. Thats assuming you have decent windows and insulation too. Your neighbour, with an older house of the same size, but crappy insulation and windows, might spend 700-800 a month.</div>
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Electricity up here is brutal too. Most places down south pay 6-10 Cents per Kilowatt hour, up here, its almost 30 Cents. We averaged 2-400 dollars a month for Electricity as well, just for our tiny little place. I can only imagine what a larger house costs to run.</div>
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The home deliveries were a lot of work too. Once the snow was piled up, you had to make a path to the tank from wherever you could get the truck closest to the tanks. Technically, the homeowner is supposed to have a clear path, shovelled to the tank and we were supposed to not deliver if there wasnt. In reality, for the three or four times a year that we needed access to the tank, you could hardly blame them for not shovelling a 50 or 100 foot long path that gets used so little. Most of the time, you made the path yourself, tromping through the snow, dragging the hose behind you. Tanks like the one below needed a ladder to access in the summer, in the winter, most of the time the snow piled high enough that you didn't need it.</div>
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Dragging that hose through the snow forty or fifty times a day was good exercise though.</div>
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On top of the tank are the filler port, a vent and a gauge. The gauge is just a little plastic dome where a bobber shows the level of the fuel in the tank. Most of the time, snow falling off the roof of the home had piled up on the tank, either breaking the gauge or it ends up buried in a frozen block of ice. The rest of the time, water in the mechanism has frozen it solid anyway and it is hardly reliable. In the early winter and late winter, when the temperatures fluctuate above and below freezing, the ice-cold fuel will leave a frost line on the outside of the tank. The rest of the time, the only reliable way to know how much fuel you have is to dip it.</div>
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The vent also has a little whistle in it that will whistle as you fill it and, theoretically, stop whistling as you approach full. I say theoretically, as I have first hand experience of occasionally finding out the tank is full by the presence of fuel spraying out the filler port as you attempt to overfill it.</div>
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Most tanks also have some kind of insulation on the fuel lines going into the home as well. Surprisingly, the little heat conducted through the metal pipe from the parts of it inside the home to the parts outside the home can be kept fairly well if wrapped up.</div>
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All of the fuel in our town arrived by Rail cars and is stored in giant tanks that we fill our trucks from. The fuel is cooled by the trip up here and then again sitting in the tanks. By the middle of winter, you can easily be dispensing fuel that is -30 degrees celsius. If the outside air warms up to say, -5, the tanked fuel takes weeks of that temperature before it warms up. Hence the frost lines on the outside of the tanks, similar to a cold glass of beer on a hot day.</div>
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My favorite part of the job was the highway trips. Most of the neighbouring towns were around 100-150 kms away. 2 hour drive out, do my deliveries, grab a sandwich, two hour drive back, load the truck up for the next day and I'm done. Most of the day spent in the nice warm cab listening to satellite radio and drinking coffee.</div>
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It wasnt all relaxing though. When the weather was bad or there was a lot of fresh snow, the highways up here leave a lot to be desired. Such as shoulders. 6 inches or so past the white line on your right was usually the ditch and the beginning of a very long and bad day if you strayed too far that way. I only managed one foray into the ditch and that was enough for me. </div>
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When the roads are snow covered, our little two-lane highways become " single-track ". </div>
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Vehicles travelling in both direction drive in the middle of the road. When you come upon a car or truck coming at you, you both slow right down, to 30-40 km/h and move over into the fresh snow as you pass each other. Passing another truck doesn't leave a lot of room between your mirrors and if one of you hasnt slowed right down, the visibility in the blowing snow behind you is pretty much nil.</div>
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In this case, I moved over for a car coming at me, but managed to move over too far and caught the edge of the ditch. I felt the back wheels go over the edge and start pulling the loaded truck over the side. Knowing that fighting it and trying to swerve hard back up onto the road surface was inviting disaster and an overturned fuel truck, I pointed it down into the ditch and rode it out into five feet of snow. </div>
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8 hours later, another truck had come up to meet me and we pumped my load of diesel into his truck to lighten my load and a winch truck pulled me up the embankment and back onto terra firma. He continued on to do my delivery and I turned around and headed home with my tail between my legs. I only needed to learn that lesson once.</div>
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I was lucky that I didnt spill any product and that equipment was available to get me out the ditch. Had I been somewhere more remote, had I flopped it over, had the snow ripped some of the plumbing off.....things could have been much worse.</div>
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Occasionally, I got to do longer trips. Usually the big trucks did the big trips, but sometimes there was need for only a small amount of fuel or the location couldnt accomodatea big truck. My tank only held about 15,000 Litres. </div>
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In the shoulder seasons, this meant crossing rivers on reaction ferries. Ferries that went across whenever traffic was there to go across. </div>
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In the winter, the rivers froze up and you drove across on the ice. </div>
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Realisitically, the ice is so thick that there is little danger of going through. I was told by one old timer to take your seat belt off, roll your window down and keep the radio off so you can listen to the ice as you go across. When the Ice was covered in snow, you could hardly tell you were on a river, it just looked like any other snow-covered highway up here. When the wind had blown the ice clear of snow though and you could see down into the ice, it was a little spooky. The cracks in the ice make a white ribbon, clearly showing you exactly how thick ( or thin ) the ice was, but it also showed you black, cold water below. Not my favourite.</div>
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I also got to do a few trips on the real " winter roads ". Some of the communities up here have no road access at all in the summer. These were usually the ones I was flying into in the summer. In the winter, there'd be a cut line, where a Cat had basically bull-dozed a semi-level trail off the highway, through the bush and swamp, out to the community. Not navigable in the summer, unless you were on an ATV and were carrying your own fuel, but in the winter when the ground froze up hard enough, they'd do their best to level out the snow and ice and make a winter road.<br />
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A lot of times, theyd make use of lakes along the route and the road would have you driving over the nice flat ice. Other times, they simply take snow-cats and plows and pack a snow and ice road and when it was frozen and packed enough they'd open it up to heavy trucks. The winter is the time when all the communities bulk goods and fuel is stockpiled for the rest of the year. Since these towns run on generators, it take a lot of stockpiled fuel in the winter to last them through the summer, when there is no way at all to get fuel in.<br />
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Only problem, sometimes they use more fuel than they anticipate over the summer. Sometimes winter comes late and the summer stocks dwindle to critical levels before the road is ready to take the big trucks. So, I got a few trips where they made an exception for my " little " truck and out of neccessity, allowed me to come out on the road before it was judged ready for heavier trucks. The first time I did this, the road was definitely NOT ready. The trip was pretty tough. Later in the season, I took a load in again after the road was done and it was much, much easier.<br />
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As part of the granting of the " exception " for my first load in, they met me at the start of the road and told me very sternly that I was, under no circumstance, to go over 25 km/h on the road. For a 150 km "road", that was three hours away from base before it even started off the side of the " highway ", that made for a long day.<br />
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I laughed about an hour later, I was lucky to get 20 km/h, holding onto the steering wheel for dear life and being bounced against my seat belt straps the whole way in. To make it even worse, it had snowed a good 8-10 inches the night before and the only tracks I had were from my escort truck ahead of me.<br />
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I passed about a dozen pickup trucks on their way out of the community as I went in. Wasn't a lot of room to squeeze by each other when we met either. Since I had a big truck with chains and pulling straps, I always watched them carefully in my mirrors as we squeezed by each other to make sure the little trucks didn't need me to pull them out. With one set of wheels over on the side of the road, not entirely sure if you were driving on packed " road " or about to drop a wheel over the edge and get stuck.<br />
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Going in wasn't too bad, as I had 15,000 litres of diesel to give me weight on my wheels and good traction. Coming out, the bouncing was worse with my now-empty truck and I wished I had a little more weight to help in some of the rough spots. Between my truck and all the little trucks, plowing through the fresh snow, going out it was a churned up mess. In a lot of spots, you simply got going as fast as you could manage and didnt dare slow down.<br />
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Later in the year I went in at night when the road was done and it was much nicer.<br />
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When you stopped at one of the rest areas along the highway, you were usually greeted by at least a couple of Ravens who had found that most truckers are more than happy to share a little of their lunch. Some of them are pretty bold. This one sat on my hood and awaited his meal, but I've had others sit right on the mirror outside my window, inches from my head, cocking their heads and waiting for the window to come down. they'd probably eat out of your hand, but I'm not that brave, these are big birds.<br />
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I always kept a box a dog biscuits in the truck for the home deliveries and the Ravens seemed quite happy with a couple milk bones. In some of the communities, the dogs got to know this too, and I felt like the Pied Piper driving around town with a couple dogs chasing along behind me, waiting for the next stop.<br />
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Anyhow, that kept my winters busy and paid for the fuel in my furnace tank for the two winters we spent up there in between the summer flying.<br />
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<br />5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-88135982179423493232014-11-22T16:12:00.002-08:002014-11-22T16:12:49.729-08:00<br />
<b>Well, I finally remembered my login for this site. I've left this dormant for so long, I forgot how to get in..haha.</b><br />
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<b> Its been over two years since I last posted, I'm sure most of the people who used to follow along have long since abandoned this site from their reading list, but what the hell.</b><br />
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<b> I found the last post I had stored in "drafts" and it detailed the last of our move north and the first little bit of our stay here.</b><br />
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<b> So much has happened since and so much is happening now.</b><br />
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<b> I'll post this old one up for now and then try and do a recap of the last couple years. </b><br />
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<b> To entice you to stick around and hear me out, I'll give you the TL;DR</b><br />
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<b>- Flew for a total of three more summer seasons </b><br />
<b>- Got myself checked out and PPC'd on the KingAir 100, my first turbine twin, as an FO anyway</b><br />
<b>- Drove a Fuel Delivery Truck for two winter seasons, driving on the "highways" of the North, such as they are. Ice Bridges, Winter Roads, all kinds of fun.</b><br />
<b>- Got a new job offer last week to move to a town a bit further south and start flying as an FO on a KingAir 200 as a Medevac FO</b><br />
<b>- Selling our place up here and Buying a "real" house down there.</b><br />
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<b> Part of the reason the blog got quiet was the fact that I live in a VERY small town. While nothing I've posted would really be weird or awkward if my neighbours saw it, I still felt/feel self conscious about it and it really did scare me off worrying so much about posting the wrong thing, or being identified online. While the town I am moving to is still small, its a lot bigger than this one and frankly, I'm coming around to the idea of just not giving a crap anymore.</b><br />
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<b> In that light, I'll try and post a lot of pictures from the last couple years and maybe try and mend my ways for the upcoming adventure and try and keep up on this again.</b><br />
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<b> Anyhow, enjoy a the pre-quel and I'll try and get some more stuff up here soonish.</b><br />
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Well, its been a busy few months... Can't even pretend to be disappointed that I haven.t been updating this site very much lately. I can keep pretending, but the fact is, its a little down in the priority list these days.<br />
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Things have settled down a little now, so who knows, maybe things will change... Lots of big stuff has passed astern now and we are both settling into a slower routine than we used to have, but its still busy nonetheless.<br />
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Couple of the big things;<br />
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We finally sold our Condo in Big-City.<br />
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Took over five months to even get an offer. For a city where stuff sells over a weekend, this was a bit of a shock to us... I think we bought into the real-estate hype a little too much and forgot that when we bought our place, we knew it was a "starter" condo. That's real-estate speak for kinda-crappy-but-hey-its-cheap. Our development had no amenities, a troubled history with a builder that just barely completed the building before going under, landscaping that sat unfinished for four years and a small legal battle with the city and the New Home Warranty company to colour our strata minutes a certain shade of troubled.<br />
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Our unit itself was even further down the list. Small ( 720 sq ft. ), located under a stairwell facing out with its lone little window onto the walkway to the front entrance. Sitting in your living room, you are treated to a steady stream of people walking by at arms reach and head level past your front window. Frankly, when walking past an apartment window that is RIGHT THERE, don't you turn your head, even for a quick peek? Yeah, they did too....all of them.<br />
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Anyhow, we dropped the price a couple times as we were getting tons of showings, but no bites. Finally got a good offer and we pulled the trigger as quick as we could. Our realtor was very patient with us, especially since we bristled initially at her advice to start lower than we thought it was worth.<br />
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So, that's done. Lots of things to sign, paperwork to scan, courier and stack in a big pile for filing one day....<br />
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Moving on, we moved in. Took us a better part of a month to really get set up in the new place and find homes for all our stuff. Man, we have a lot of stuff. Despite having just returned from living overseas in 2005 and returning with little more than a couple suitcases and a van-load of boxes to pick up from storage, we've managed to accumulate a fair schwack of crap in the last seven years.<br />
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Enough to fill the uhaul that brought our stuff here right to the brim, floor to ceiling, front to back.<br />
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I thought of stopping in the last-biggish-town-that-has-a-walmart on the way here to load up on a few cases of diapers, but there was no room. That's how much crap we have. I'm ashamed to admit we still keep up a storage locker down south with stuff that is worth too little to drag 2000 kilometres north but too much to drag to the dump.<br />
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And then, we finally closed the deal on this place. The deal with the seller was that they would let us " rent " the place till our condo sold and we could complete the sale. After a month here I realized that we could financially pull off buying it and carrying a second mortgage, given that it was so cheap. We notified the seller and the bank and tried to forge ahead, but the seller wasn't quite ready, they had assumed we would be at least another month and didn't have everything ready on their end. Turned out OK in the end as they agreed to a reasonable time-frame for closing and were reasonable on the pro-rata of the rent for the interim.<br />
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Originally when we were looking at places we were aiming for a price range at least double what we paid for this place. Turns out, given the gaps in our employment, carrying our empty condo for a couple months and the costs of moving, buying, closing, selling, etc, we just barely squeaked it by into this place. Had we gone a lot higher in price, we might have had a little bit of trouble.<br />
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In any case, all our stuff is now squirreled away into the nooks and crannies of a little trailer, circa 1985, that measures 70 feet by 14 feet. 980 Square feet of OURS.<br />
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Situated on a sizable lot of 100 by 150 feet, we have great neighbours all around and good sprinkling of trees and bushes as well. Not much for a lawn, as it turns out though. I raked it all out in preparation for the first mowing after the snow melted and found that what looked like a lawn at first glance was actually 70% weeds, 10% gravel, 10% old leaves and dead weeds from last summer and 10% actual grass. Talking to my neighbour, she mentioned that same, if the weeds were gone, we wouldn't even have " lawns ".<br />
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I saw a couple bags of grass seed for sale at the hardware store and snagged them and scattered them over the lawn earlier in the spring. Might as well have bought green paint and threw that around for all the good it did. Technically the area where we live is an inland desert. Summers are very dry and we haven't had any appreciable precipitation since early-early spring. Mowing the weeds makes it look like a lawn and my daughter doesn't give a hoot about playing on dandelion leaves as opposed to grass, so its not really a big deal, but its my pet project. I don't really have the time, inclination, nor spare cash to do it right, so I'm just picking at the problem like n old scab... I threw down a hundred square feet or so of black dirt, raked it our and seeded the crap out of it. It looks silly, but its really the biggest chunk I can spare the water to keep it moist enough to give them half a chance at sprouting. Even then, I'm not sure its enough.<br />
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I forgot to mention, we moved into " old town " which is exactly what it sounds like, the site of the original township up here. Sometime during the early sixties, they had a big flood and a lot of homes were destroyed. This wasn't the first flood and the government convinced everyone to move the town upstream a mile or two to higher ground. Except a lot of people didn't leave either, and since the real estate prices were a lot cheaper and now available with the exodus to new town, well, old town is still here. Old Town has no sewer or water connections, everything comes in and out by truck service. We have a small trailer with a small tank, 250 Gals to be precise, so we get water delivered three times a week. Truck pulls up, hose gets plugged in and they pump our tank full. Once every two weeks another truck comes and hooks up to our sewage tank and takes that same water, now gently used, away.<br />
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You don't really realize how much water you go through until you have to walk past that tank in the hallway and see the level every day. Thinking about it, we use, on average, about 40 Gallons of water, per person, per day. That's a Full Drum of water, every day. A shower, a dishwasher load, a laundry load and a little cooking. Doesn't sound like much, but the numbers don't lie.<br />
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In any case ,not a whole lot left over to water the lawn with. Hence the little patch of moist-ish dirt out front, covered in grass seed and high hopes.<br />
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The other day I actually made a little bit of a fuck-up and tried to use up the last of the water in the tank on the grass before leaving for work. I turned on the sprinkler and went back inside to watch the water level and finish my coffee. Water level runs down to with an inch or two of the bottom, suction pipe make a little burbling noise as it sucks air and I go back out and turn off the sprinkler and then head to work.<br />
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Problem is, the water system runs on a pressure-pump. A little pump pumps water from the holding tank into a little tank the size of a 20 lb propane bottle. Inside this bottle is a rubber bladder filled with air and a little room for water to come in. Pump pushes the water in, squeezing the rubber bladder until there is roughly 50 lbs of pressure in the balloon and then stops. The bladder, with its Captive Air Pressure ( thats what the little tank is called ) is what pushes the water out the tap when you turn it on. Once you use enough water for the pressure to drop below a certain amount, the pump turns back on and fills it up again.<br />
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Except........if you run it dry.... My pump was trying to fill up the Captive Air Tank, but couldn't, there was no water left to push in there. I had left for work and wasn't inside to hear the little pump working away....fruitlessly......continuously........without the water it needs to lubricate, seal and cool the internal pump parts.........all morning.<br />
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I came home at lunch and heard it, barely. It was really quiet as it wasn't actually pumping anything, just turning..... But the damage had already been done. The internal bits of the pump were cooked, the impeller and seal most likely were melted from spinning dryly inside the metal pump housing and even with the new supply of water in my holding tank, they couldn't pump anymore without a seal.<br />
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So, yesterday was screw around with broken pump trying to prime it morning, followed by buying a new pump and contemplating how bad I could screw this up by attempting to put it in myself. You, and my wife, would be happy to know I followed up expensive pump purchase with a shot of plumber to wash the day down.<br />
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So yeah, the water runs again and we are free to fritter away our water resources on keeping dirt moist and dishes clean.<br />
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Also, the wife has picked up very good paying work up here. We had hoped she might get added to the on-call list and pick up enough for us to get by on in addition to my meager pilot salary. Instead, she got full-time, with benefits. Now they've asked her to come in and train for a second position so that they can call her in on the weekends. The weekend work being overtime, to the tune of double her rate. She is off this weekend training for that. I mentioned to her the other day, if she could just try and think of the family, she might get up a couple hours earlier during the week and be able to pick up a little more work in the mornings....haha. <br />
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So, that takes care of most of the Big Stuff that had us stressed about the move. We've moved into housing that we really like, and can really afford. I am flying, she is working and for the first time in our ten years of living and budgeting together, there is money left over at the end of the month, instead of month left over at the end of the money.<br />
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The folks at Visa are probably going to cancel our cards due to " suspicious activity " when we actually run a zero-balance.<br />
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The flying has been good as well. It could be busier, but you take what you can get. I've had quite a few flights on the C337, which I enjoy and a few more on the C208 as well, which I really enjoy. Its funny though, I didn't see it last year, but I do this year, the Caravan really IS the easier airplane on the two. The systems are quite a bit simpler, even if just in operation, and it really does handle " like a big 172 ". I've gotten to do a little bit of float work on it as well this year, which I really enjoy as well.<br />
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Career wise, yeah, I could probably rack up hours somewhere else at a faster rate, but the downside would be I wouldn't get anywhere near equipment as challenging as a Light Piston Twin or a Turbine Caravan on amphibs at my level of experience with most other companies.<br />
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<b> So there it is, a snapshot of my last feeble attempt to keep this site going, two and change years ago.</b><br />
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<b> My new work schedule has quite a bit of down-time, given that I'm on call. Maybe I'll pick his up again and try and fill in the blanks, or maybe I'll have new stories to add in, who knows.</b><br />
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<b> It won't be this week though, and maybe not even this month. Right in the middle of moving again, selling, buying, closing, packing, driving, painting, unpacking... you get the idea.</b><br />
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<b><br /></b>5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-43379997596758431622012-05-16T18:42:00.000-07:002012-05-16T18:42:57.472-07:00Hi Strangers....Well, its been awhile... a lot has happened since I last summoned up the courage to type out an entry and get over my embarrassment at not having posted for eight months.... But, what the Hay, lets see if I can make a run at this again....<br />
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I guess a recap of the missing time period would be a good way to start.<br />
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Last summer I left the coast and went up North for a seasonal flying job. My first " real " flying job. Aside from a little stint instructing on Ultralights and a season as a dock-hand. The dock-hand job was definitely not a flying job, the instructing a little more so, but still....not quite....<br />
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I posted a little bit, so I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say, I added some time to the logbook, got my first PPC and even managed to get checked out on a turbine machine, the caravan, and log some time on that. Not too shabby for a 90-day gig.<br />
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At the end of the summer, I talked over with the owners my plans for the future. They were very receptive to the idea of me coming back to fly for them and frankly, I have been looking for an opportunity to get out of the city. In broad strokes, at the end of the season, the plan was that I would return in the early spring, with worldly goods in tow, along with The Lovely Wife and The Wee One, and we'd try and make a go of it in the Great White North, year-round.<br />
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So, short story shorter, here we are.<br />
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We made the big move and found ourselves a cozy little place to buy and have spent the last few weeks getting settled in.<br />
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I don't particularly like using this blog as a platform to tell people about my personal life, because, well, that's personal. Family that check in here from time to time may be disappointed not to see pictures of my incredibly cute and unbelievably smart little girl. I enjoy posting about aviation stuff...my job, the things I see in my job and connecting with others who like to post about their aviation jobs.<br />
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So, I'm hoping to do a little better than last year and post some interesting stories and pictures of this summers adventures. Maybe in the winter when the flying " cools down ", I'll post some fridge-drawings or baby-birthday party photo's, who knows....<br />
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This week was all about getting back in the saddle and all my paperwork in order to start flying this summer. My PPC is valid for a year and since I didnt get it till mid-last summer, its still good till mid-this-summer. I do have to refresh a bunch of exams and some refresher flying training as well to get current again, but thats coming along nicely.<br />
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Last year, I did a " VFR PPC ", which allowed me to fly the multi-engine aircraft as PIC, during Visual Meteorological Conditions ( VMC ) and under Visual Flight Rules ( VFR ). I did however, have all the training, written exams and prerequisites in place to do an IFR rating, but haven't done a check-ride yet to complete the actual rating. We're hopefull that this year, when my PPC comes due for renewal, that I'll be ready to do an IFR ride and renew my PPC as an IFR PPC and, as an added bonus, add an IFR rating to my license in the process.<br />
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I could have simply done some refresher training and booked a flight test with an examiner in the off season, but to be honest, we're talking anywhere from 2000-5000 dollars out of pocket...a little much for my budget these days, Especially seeing as there was no guarantee it would be of any use to me this season. It now appears it will be of use, and we can hopefully get it done as part of my company-PPC training and kill two birds with one stone.<br />
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In the midst of training, I also went out and helped out on some other flights as a second pilot/swamper for some cargo-intensive loads and as a way to get back in the airplane and try and shake some rust off. Eight months out of the cockpit can be a long time.... Its surprising how fast it all comes back though. I feel pretty comfortable in the Caravan, but still need a few more flights and some refresher training on systems, limitations and emergency procedures before I'll get re-checked out on that. The smaller, multi-engine aircraft will come first and I only have a few hours of flight training flights to do and if everything goes smoothly, I should be back on line with that one anyway within the next week.<br />
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Today was a long day of flying food, gear, gas and equipment out to a fishing lodge that is in the process of setting up for a season. First it was the crew, out to take down the plywood off the cabin and lodge windows and then all other jobs they have to get the place de-winterized and ready for guests. Then, the fuel and food to keep them going for the week or two they'll need to complete it. After that, its barrels of fuel for the boats and generators that they will need stockpiled to have in ample supply for most of the season. We'll do a few more runs over the season to top up the gasoline, mostly for the boats. In a week or two when they open up, it will be guests, both in and out, along with their gear and the occasional grocery run as well to keep the freezer stocked out there for workers and guests alike.<br />
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It's nice going out to this lodge compared to the outpost lodges I went to out in NW Ontario. Out here, they have three or four guys down on the dock when you arrive, to catch the plane and do most of the offloading. Compared to the outpost lodges, where the pilot has to do all the work, or his trusty dock-hand sidekick who comes along to hold the plane straight and level in cruise and then bust his hump with weedwhackers, barrels of fuel and chainsaws while the guests pile in and out of the plane.<br />
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Still a lot of Ice up here on the bigger lakes and a little on the rivers as well. This lodge is on a river, so most of the ice is out, but there is still a bit coming downstream that you have to watch out for on the water. It is after all, still pretty early in the season.<br />
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Even went out the other day to take some officials from the local highways department up to have a look at some of the ice conditions on one of the local rivers. They wanted to go upstream a ways and have a look at what was left to come down the pipe before they gave the official all clear. Happily, this springs breakup and runoff has been very mild and uneventful. Which is a good thing, as we just bought a little house right in the middle of the flood plain....haha.<br />
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The first little bits of new grass are just starting to poke out from under the snow-flattened grass and the trees are only just starting to show signs of budding, no leaves yet though. On the coast, its pretty much moved past spring and into early summer....With the short summer season up here though, things move pretty quick though. I'll bet I see green grass lawns and trees full of leaves inside of two weeks.<br />
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I also just realized that since I don't work at the FBO anymore, I could post a few pictures from the CENSORED pile that might have got me in trouble before.... Since I haven't had a chance to take many pictures yet, expect some random aviation pics from the past....<br />
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<br />5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-48311838221847597572011-08-14T13:24:00.001-07:002011-08-19T18:59:15.555-07:00Your file is uploading, please wait......
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<br /> Went out the other day on a flight to Fort Liard, and ended up holding for most of the day in the community.
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<br /> It was hot, like 30 degrees hot, and I had dressed for a relatively cool morning and still in bug-protection mode. ( pants and at best, a long sleeve shirt wit the sleeves rolled up )
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<br /> I did get the opportunity to hang out a little bit with the husband of a husband-and-wife team that manned the Fort Liard Community Aerodrome Radio Station. They had an interesting story of getting on during a hirinjg blitz for the 2010 Olympics and after it was over, their pick of a few interesting spots in the North. ( My suspicion is that if you are the type of person who finds places like these in the north interesting, you probably get your pick of the litter. I tend to agree, but I'm sure the vast majority most likely feels otherwise...
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<br /> It was a nice little airport setup, with all the basic airport-things you need. A little building, a parking lot, some radio gear, maybe a nav-aid and some runway lighting. A bathroom, a few chairs and magazines in a waiting room, a run-up pad and a hangar.
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<br /> From left to right, the instruments and radio gear are;
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<br /> A Wind Direction indicator
<br /> A Wind Speed Indicator
<br /> Dual Altimeters ( For giving out Altimeter settings )
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<br /> The wind direction/intensity indocators are the two big black dials on the far left. I always thought that the wind information they gave you was averaged out, but apparently not in a place like this, as I asked him after watching him give out an advisory to a helicopter. Maybe thats an ATIS thing?
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<br /> The CARs operators get a fair bit of downtime while on shift and manning their posts, so these places are usually pretty clean and this one was no exception. Its the unattended ones that tend to be a little on the grotty side...
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<br /> I got the grand tour and was surprised to find this bad boy lurking in the closet.
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<br />This is the NDB, the electronic guts of the airports only functioning nav-aid.
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<br /> a Non-Directional Beacon is typically a fairly low-power AM transmitter, usually located at the airport or a short distance away and I've always been told is the most common up here, mostly due to the low-maintenance and low-cost to setup. Imagine my surprise when I found the W.O.P.R in the closet, pumping out random 1974 computer noises and a vicious amount of BTU's that their poor little window-mounted air conditioner couldn't even pretend to keep up with.
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<br /> In my mind, I had always imagined a little box, about the size of a portable radio!
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<br /> We live in interesting times in the field of Air Navigation. The use of GPS as a primary aid is quickly catching on. Costs for certified installations are dropping and the number of approaches available to those who choose to invest in the hardware and the training, get the comfort of an approach more accurate by a factor of ten than what you can do with this one.
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<br /> In fact, I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of aircraft and pilots, flying around with un-certified GPS setups in their aircraft, to an airport with an NDB, are using the GPS to tell them where the beacon is as opposed to the ADF ( radio reception gear for the NDB ) and maybe sparing a glance over at the poor little ADF needle bobbing and weaving around from time time as a back-up.
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<br /> After hanging out at the airport for a few hours, I decided to brave the heat and go for a little stroll around the village. I managed to find a route that followed mostly the shady side of the street and made my way down to the river to have a peek. Its a nice little town, lots of old-school log cabin type structures, right in the middle of the village, and right alongside modern stucco-sided ranchers.
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<br /> One woman had a food-stand type of mobile trailer set up on her front lawn. It wasn't open, but looked like the "mobile" part of the setup had long since stopped being an option and she had hunkered down to sell burgers and fries off her front lawn. Great idea, but good luck trying to float something like this with the zoning folks down south!
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<br /> Thanks are due to my Mother, who gave me the tip of reducing file size to try and get photos posted on here. I went from an avewrage of a meg or two per picture and a good five or ten minute wait on the upload, to a couple hundred kilobytes and a 10 second upload time!
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<br /> Back in business.
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<br /> Its kind of too bad, I really looked forward to doing a bit more posting this summer, but a couple things have conspired against me.
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<br /> One was the photo issue. I love posting pics, even just to look back at myself. The upload time made posting a bit of a drag and I stopped altogether for awhile.
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<br /> The other issue is that now that I am flying passengers around, and living and working in such a small community, I'm a lot more aware of how posting details that could identify my customers or my employer, might not be such a good idea in the general business sense. Or not, I might just be a little paranoid or self conscious...
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<br /> Anyhow, to try an catch up, here are a few pics and a few littler adventures of late;
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<br /> Went fishing a few weeks ago. Had a weekend off and nothing to do, so I threw my fishing stuff in the car, packed a little cooler with lunch and drinks and hit the road. I'd seen a decent lake a couple hours drive away and a river that connected to it that was purported to have a set of waterfalls on it.
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<br /> Fishing was pretty goo, a lot more fishing jumping then biting it seemed. The dragon-fly's were out in abundance and were doing their clumsy mating flying down close to the surface of the river and I suspect thats what the fish were feeding on. When they mate, they are joined together but still manage to fly around, just not with very much precision. I imagine from below the waters surface a pair of conjoined dragonflys buzzing the rivers surface and/or occasionally getting stuck in the water, is a decent target.
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<br /> The little spot where I was fishing had one other fisherman when I got there. He told me he had seen a bear across the river an hour earlier. A half hour or so after I showed up, we could hear it walking/ crashing its way through the bush on the other side of the river. I eventually did see him a little later on, as he came free of the trees and found a spot in the tall grass along the river to lie down in.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xuFXdr_0RI0/Tkg99mVRhOI/AAAAAAAABBQ/yx-5-eB3HjQ/s1600/weasels.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xuFXdr_0RI0/Tkg99mVRhOI/AAAAAAAABBQ/yx-5-eB3HjQ/s320/weasels.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640826661752636642" /></a>
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<br /> Also happened to turn my head and see a family of mink? weasels? crossing the river about forty feet behind me. They were pretty quiet, so I only noticed them by fluke.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_NnPnV5bWJQ/Tkg-MlsxUII/AAAAAAAABBY/wXEnD59jpR8/s1600/weasels%2Bswimming.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_NnPnV5bWJQ/Tkg-MlsxUII/AAAAAAAABBY/wXEnD59jpR8/s320/weasels%2Bswimming.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640826919280791682" /></a>
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<br /> After fishing for a few hours with moderate success ( 4 little Northern Pike and 1 decent sized Walleye ), I popped in to see the falls on my way back to town.
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<br /> The falls were pretty spectacular to see. I think there are three sets of falls on two seperate rivers all close by up here and all worth a look.
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<br /> Was a little nervous about wandering around the footpaths, as there were bear warning signs up and no one around but me. In my fishing tackle box I have a little bell that you can clip to the tip of your rod in case you are throwing out a baited hook and then sitting back waiting for the fish to bite. It also doubles as a good little bear-bell, clipped to my pants pocket and ringing away with each stride. Grizzly bears in the area can be readily identified by the presence of such bells in their spoor.
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<br /> If you look closely at the top of the falls on the right hand side of the picture, there is a little rock just before the falls themselves.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-naxGfRUpl8Q/Tkg_6J69KrI/AAAAAAAABBo/3smmsfYUThs/s1600/Falls.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-naxGfRUpl8Q/Tkg_6J69KrI/AAAAAAAABBo/3smmsfYUThs/s320/Falls.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640828801609706162" /></a>
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<br /> Closer inspection reveals that it is a little inukshuk-type structire built by some pretty brave/stupid people.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ABURle3N6AA/Tkg_hoFSv5I/AAAAAAAABBg/2Kol2YonNJ8/s1600/insanity%2Brocks.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ABURle3N6AA/Tkg_hoFSv5I/AAAAAAAABBg/2Kol2YonNJ8/s320/insanity%2Brocks.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640828380209397650" /></a>
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<br /> The countdown is officially on, as I will be leaving to go home to the West Coast for the winter in less than two weeks. I've got a good little stockpile of pictures, so perhaps I'll get the motivation to post some more on here once I'm back in the land of unlimited high-speed internet.
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<br />5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-14068368913655114772011-07-05T19:15:00.000-07:002011-07-05T20:21:38.215-07:00Looks Okay.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqQGdz8K8a0/ThPK9QZiHRI/AAAAAAAAA_o/ktG3Jn1LaTs/s1600/IMG_0169.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VqQGdz8K8a0/ThPK9QZiHRI/AAAAAAAAA_o/ktG3Jn1LaTs/s320/IMG_0169.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626063513238773010" /></a><br /><br /><br />Got up for my first revenue flight with passengers today for my new employer. I took a fellow up to a little northern community called Lutsel k'e as the<br />regional Dene organization is having it's annual general meeting. It's<br />held in a different community in the region every year and this year<br />it was Lutsel k'e's turn. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gZOuspB1HSY/ThPQnNlX9QI/AAAAAAAAA_4/rJRtseNmQBg/s1600/SSA54383.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gZOuspB1HSY/ThPQnNlX9QI/AAAAAAAAA_4/rJRtseNmQBg/s320/SSA54383.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626069731595777282" /></a><br /><br /><br />I am actually typing this on my Iphone sitting in the little terminal building as I am "holding" here for a couple hours while I await my passenger to finish up at the meeting and then bring him back to town.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-waeyGKbiBd8/ThPOM80e0WI/AAAAAAAAA_w/5TsKbRkEfWM/s1600/SSA54385.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-waeyGKbiBd8/ThPOM80e0WI/AAAAAAAAA_w/5TsKbRkEfWM/s320/SSA54385.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626067081395884386" /></a><br /><br /> Flight up was good, exactly an hour and a half. There was a little<br />bit of low cloud and rain on my departure and it started to look iffy,<br />but quickly cleared up and it was high cloud for the rest of the trip.<br /><br /> The direct route would have taken me out over the lake, a good 20 or<br />30 miles from shore but given the limited visibility and low ceilings<br />in the rain, I opted to stick to the shoreline so I would have a good<br />visual reference to the ground as I ducked under the first little bit<br />of clag.<br /><br />On arrival near CYLK, I heard a medevac call on the radio from an Air<br />Tindi plane as he tried to get ahold of the local Community Aerodrome<br />Radio Service (CARS station). I thought they'd be open based on the<br />airport entry in the CFS, but he got no answer that I could hear.<br /><br /> ( The CFS is the Canada Flight Supplement, a small book about the size of a brick and approximately the same weight. The pages are the super-thin newsprint variety that you might find in say, a bible. Published anew every 56 days, it lists the details of every Aerodrome in Canada. I've always thought it to be more than a bit silly in this day and age to being wasting so much paper, but hey, two expired CFS's make a great set of chocks for your planes tires, so its not like they cant be recycled.... )<br /><br /><br />Sometimes while flying, you only get to hear one side of the<br />conversation as an airborne transmitting radio has much greater range<br />than a ground station, since our radios are VHF and limited to line of<br />sight.<br /><br /> I got within 20 miles and made my own call to the CARS station and got silence from them as well, guess no ones home...<br /><br /> The Tindi aircraft called me up directly and gave me their ETA as only a<br />minute or two before mine, so I let him know I'd wait for him to land<br />before I started into the airport zone. He was using a Medevac call sign,<br />so he had priority over me as far as I was concerned. He was doing a<br />straight-in approach to the runway I expected to be the active based<br />on the winds reported at the field before I left. I stayed about four<br />miles away from the airport on the "dead" side and waited till I saw<br />him on the runway before I turned in to start my own straight in<br />approach for runway 08.<br /><br />For an airport with no ground station (since they were apparently<br />closed), an arriving aircraft will usually cross overhead the field to<br />have a look at the windsock and determine the runway is clear and<br />which runway is more into wind for the landing. Since the Tindi pilot<br />had established that for me, and given me a wind report once he<br />landed, I simply followed him in instead of crossing goer and circling<br />back around for the landing. Its always appreciated to pass it on to anyone else coming in as it saves a lot of unnecessary maneuvering at low altitude and airspeed.<br /><br />Taxiied in and conveniently there was two sets of concrete pads.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dZpJR9SIfEk/ThPQ_Uhwe9I/AAAAAAAABAA/YkfVDT83Srs/s1600/IMG_0167.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dZpJR9SIfEk/ThPQ_Uhwe9I/AAAAAAAABAA/YkfVDT83Srs/s320/IMG_0167.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626070145776516050" /></a><br /><br /><br /> Most airports of this size that I have been to, only have one pad, so<br />that was a bonus. Since most of he airports up here are gravel runways<br />and taxiways, they usually have at least one concrete pad that we can<br />park with our props over top of so that on start up we don't pick up<br />little rocks and beat little dents into our props. You still have to<br />have a look at the pad before start up as you will often have to sweep<br />the area just under and ahead of your prop as there is usually a couple<br />little rocks hanging around.<br /><br />Once we landed and my passenger went off to town I went into the<br />little terminal building, called back to head office to report my<br />arrival and had a little of my lunch I brought.<br /><br />The Tindi medavacs patient showed up along with a nurse from the<br />health station. After she was done loading up she drove up to where I<br />was standing and let me know that if I was sentenced to hang out for<br />the whole day here, I was more than welcome to come down to the health<br />centre and watch TV.<br /><br /> Apparently, that's what all the pilots who hold<br />here do. Very nice of her to offer, but I brought my fishing rod and<br />was still thinking of walking down to the lake. After she left and I<br />started typing this out on my phone, I realized I had already killed<br />an hour and decided it might be better if I stuck around. My passenger<br />mentioned he would try and get done sooner rather than later and it<br />might even be less than a two hour hold.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ctUxwPqVgzs/ThPRjR9u_dI/AAAAAAAABAI/Ds5Qr5AUgr4/s1600/SSA54386a.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ctUxwPqVgzs/ThPRjR9u_dI/AAAAAAAABAI/Ds5Qr5AUgr4/s320/SSA54386a.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626070763563843026" /></a><br /><br /><br />Another Tindi plane, this time a dash-7 came in and I briefly worried<br />that he wouldn't have room to get around me. Once the medevac plane had<br />left, I ended up being parked in the middle of the ramp. He had lots<br />of room though and only stopped long enough to shut down two engines<br />on one side and let two people off and then they blasted off.<br /><br />The CARS guy had shown up just before the dash-7, which I imagine is<br />the "sched", and as soon as they taxied onto the runway and he had let<br />them know that there was "no reported traffic ", I heard the radio<br />click off and off he went, back to town till the next scheduled flight<br />I bet... Haha. Actually, he ended up coming back fifteen minutes after I typed that and was there for the rest of the time, including my departure.<br /><br /> My coworker pointed out as well that this airport is in the Northern Domestic Airspace, and as such, its runway designation is in degrees True, as opposed to Magnetic. <br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oy3aUr-79Sc/ThPRwCV8rhI/AAAAAAAABAQ/wsY1x8YDO6c/s1600/SSA54387.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oy3aUr-79Sc/ThPRwCV8rhI/AAAAAAAABAQ/wsY1x8YDO6c/s320/SSA54387.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626070982708735506" /></a><br /><br /><br /> The runway sign indicated that this is Runway 078T instead of the traditional 08. I also just realized, usually these signs depict BOTH runways, as in a runway designated as 08 ( magnetic heading somewhere between 075 and 085, I can't remember how they round up or down, so forgive me if this is wrong. ) will also be runway 26, as the opposite end of the runway can be used as a "different" runway if departing the other way. So these signs, usually say " 08 - 26 " or " 07 - 25 ", but this ine only indicates ONE runway, even though I know for a fact the other end is a perfectly useable and legal runway. Odd.<br /><br /> Lining up to land here, your magnetic compass would indicate a direction of about 053 degrees. <br /><br />Back at base I had another flight of similar length waiting for me, but it ended up getting pushed over to tomorrow morning as the winds at my destination were starting to get a little hectic and there was little real urgency for the flight to happen that day.<br /><br />We had about a 15 knot headwind on the way up here, and going home I snuck up a little higher and ended up picking up 25 knots directly on the tail to get home a lot faster than the trip up.<br /><br /> In good form as well, I traded fuel for speed on the way up so that I wasn't lingering too long in the headwind scenario and on the way back I throttled it back a little to get back the fuel I burnt on the way up and let the wind do more of the work.<br /><br /> Air Tindi was pretty busy today too it seems. I heard two Tindi palnes talking on their way to a Lodge outside of yellowknife, before they took their conversation " company" ( over to a private company frequency ). Got back to base and looking at the news, it would appear one of those planes was most likely carrying the Royals...cool.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew1Za-VjwFw/ThPSVTw6ncI/AAAAAAAABAY/KpvhPi-4Z2g/s1600/SSA54382.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew1Za-VjwFw/ThPSVTw6ncI/AAAAAAAABAY/KpvhPi-4Z2g/s320/SSA54382.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626071623040409026" /></a><br /><br /> I noticed this instrument right outside the terminal building as well. I've seen them in other places, but never hada chance to take a picture. I THINK it's used for measung the height of a cloud layer for their weather reports, but I'm not 100% on that. It kind of looks like an old sextant.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ggI1oxQ1X5c/ThPS1sTqaEI/AAAAAAAABAg/Vc1iWo2fqN0/s1600/SSA54368.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ggI1oxQ1X5c/ThPS1sTqaEI/AAAAAAAABAg/Vc1iWo2fqN0/s320/SSA54368.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626072179384412226" /></a><br /><br /> I got to fly this leg the other day, even though you might say we had a " passenger ". This fellow is known as a "hummer" as sometimes in commercial air cargo they will get a little sticker that says " HUMR "....that stands for Human Remains.<br /><br /> They always indicate somewhere on the box which side is the Head, as it is fairly important that it always be kept "head-up if there is any incline in loading / unloading or transport. I am told this is to keep the embalming fluids from pooling in the head.... In this case, we received the box with only two notations on it, one on each end and they both said " legs "...sigh..... We opened up a corner to see if there was any other way to tell, but everything is well wrapped up, and I was NOT opening things any further.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> I took a few photos with my phone today, hoping the lower resolution pics would translate to faster upload times, but no dice. Its still pretty darn slow....5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-4135338949262916122011-07-03T19:59:00.001-07:002011-07-03T21:18:00.002-07:00I will call you Betty, and Betty, you can call me Captain.Finally got my PPC Ride today.<br /><br /> We've been trying to book it for a little over two weeks and its been frustrating for everyone, my employer included. Its a fairly short season already and to be limited to freight runs and tagging along for empty legs has me feeling a little less than useful at some points. <br /><br /> But that's all out of the way as of this morning, I passed my PPC ride and can now fly the C337, aka The Push/Pull as pilot-in-command for both passengers and freight runs. admittedly, the work that they have for this plane is somewhat less than the Caravan, however, with my training and flight test out of the way on the C337, its on to the Caravan training now.<br /><br /> It's kind of funny in some respects, as the C208 Caravan only requires that I be trained to a PCC standard and no PPC ride is required to act as PIC with passengers under Day VFR.<br /><br /> Funny, because in my mind, the Caravan is a more complicated aircraft, is larger, and being on amphibious floats, has a couple more features that require some training on.<br /><br /> I'll back it up a little for the non-aviation folks reading along. <br /><br /> A PPC is a Pilot Proficiency Check. Its a Flight Test ( A " Ride ", abbreviated slang for CheckRide ), conducted by either a Transport Canada Inspector or an Authorized Check Pilot. In larger companies, you may have one of your own pilots conducting the Ride as an ACP, but for most people ( I think ), you'll consult the list of available ACP's in your area and work your way through the list till you find one who is available and qualified for the particular ride you are after. Quite often, the person will be an employee of one of your competitors.<br /><br /> I don't know if it happens or not ,but I suspect, that one might be a little hesitant to look at ACP's in your immediate locale, as they will be your competitor and the perception of bias would be hard to avoid... I'm sure 99% of them are objective and fair, but I can't help but think the perception might be enough..<br /><br /> A PPC is sort of like a license for a particular aircraft, but not quite a type rating. If you hold a valid PPC, say, for the Space Shuttle, you could, in theory, go over to the other Space Shuttle operators in your neighborhood and get a job with them. The fact that you have passed aircraft-specific training and a flight test, allows them to greatly abbreviate your training program and save a bucket load of money.<br /><br /> So... side-note here but worth mentioning, it would appear that some pilots, hell-bent on career progression, would abuse this process and have Company A train them, get their PPC and promptly quit to go work for Company B, now that Company B will actually deign to return their calls hiring them will save them thousands ( I'm not even joking here.. ) of dollars in training.<br /><br /> If you read AvCanada, you would come to the conclusion that this is the rule rather than the exception that I suspect it is. Perhaps I'm an optimist, but I tend to take things from that site more than a sprinkling or too of salt... <br /><br /> Because of the above, some companies have started demanding new-hires undertake a " bond " to ensure they stick around long enough to make training them worthwhile, or even have them cough up cash up front upon being hired and having it repaid to them slowly over the length of their indentured servitude.<br /><br /> In any case, that's a PPC, a notation on your license that says you can carry passengers, for hire, in a specific ( usually multi-engine ) aircraft, for hire.<br /><br /> A PCC, on the other hand is a Pilot Competency Check. Semantics you might think, but substantially less stringent training protocols and the flight test is usually at the end of your training where instead of sending you off to a date with a transport Canada Inspector for a flight test, the chief pilot fills out a piece of paper and says, ok, you're good to go. No Flight test, per se, although I'm sure most do a test of sorts. But mostly, training you to competency and then signing you off.<br /><br /> A PCC is non-transferable in the way a PPC is. If you walk over to a competitor, they still have to do all the same training to issue you a company-specific PCC, there is little advantage to hiring someone with a PCC. ( Other than the fact that they probably have some experience )<br /><br /> Most single engine aircraft do not not require a PPC, only a PCC, to fly under Day VFR conditions with passengers.<br /><br /> Enter the C208 Caravan. Legally, a single-engine plane. Although much larger than the little multi-engined C337. Turbine to boot as well, which is actually quite nice to operate. I guess easier too as well in most respects, but like engine heating/cooling for piston engined aircraft, a turbine has its own gotcha's that need to be monitored and handled as well.<br /><br /> In my mind, a much larger, more complicated aircraft. But legally, I've already done the hard part on the little C337. In theory, the training for the PCC on the Caravan, should be easier, if you read into it the apparent spirit of the regulations, having assigned it the less stringent regimen of PCC training instead of PPC.<br /><br /> My employer says I have it wrong, the Caravan is a much easier plane with much more docile handling attributes, is simple to operate and " just a big 172 ". I agree with him in some respects, my flying experiences on it so for, about a half dozen hours, have been pretty surprisingly easy. Hard to get over the size of the thing though, up a dozen feet in the air on the amphibious floats.<br /><br /> Even in the cockpit, the thing is big. Your own seat with plenty of legroom, no shoulder rubbing with your copilot and your own heating, ventilation, controls, instruments and even your own door, haha.<br /><br /> Amphibious, because it has floats that have a set of retractable landing gear hidden up inside them, allowing you to retract the wheels and land it on water as a float plane, or extend them and land on a runway. This part I like. Lots of water around here and very few runways, the floats definitely give you a few more options in the event of.<br /><br /> Anyhow, back to my story...<br /><br /> So we finally nail down an ACP to do my ride, it was booked a few days ago for early this monring in another town, about an hour and a bit flight away.<br /><br /> Two days of refreshing my head with the book stuff and I think there was a flight as well that I went along on for the empty leg home to keep fresh on flying the thing.<br /><br /> Up early this morning and I made myself eat breakfast, even though I often skip breakfast, particularly feeling a little nervous as I did this morning.<br /><br /> Not that the flight test was a " jeopardy event ", with failure bringing and immediate end to my employment, but the time, expense and delay in getting this test arranged was fairly substantial for my employer. To go home, do some remedial training, rebook and go back to do another one would be...uneconomical at best and a complete waste of time at worst, given the short length of the busy season up here.<br /><br /> Gather up all my current charts, maps and supplements. Check the plane out from head to toe and fuel it up and top off the oil. Double check I have all my training records, license, medical, lucky troll doll and am wearing clean underwear.<br /><br /> Check, check and roger that.<br /><br /> I did up and printed off a copy of our Operational Flight Plan ( OFP ) as it has navigation details, weight and balance information, fuel calculations, time enroute and a few other details. I'm hoping that if I am asked to do a Navigation Exercise, like planning a simulated trip with a simulated cargo/passenger load, I can forstall the drudgery of going through all the calculation minutiae by showing the examiner how we can simply and easily do it all with a spreadsheet, instead of a #2 pencil, a wizwheel a bunch of charts, graphs and performance calculations.<br /><br /> I know this sounds lazy, but here's the deal.<br /><br /> I know my aircraft can perform suitably well, tolerably even, with as little as 2000 feet of runway, fully loaded and a warm day.<br /><br /> So. <br /><br /> If I get sent somewhere that has 5000 feet of hard-surfaced runways to pick up one guy and the temperature isnt anything crazy... I probably will not get out the performance charts and graph it all out. <br /><br /> If the runway was 1500 feet, sure, you bet.<br /><br /> If it was 30 degrees out, yeah, absolutely.<br /><br /> Same goes for the navigation log. If I'm doing the same trip over and over to the same place, I know how long it takes. I know how much fuel I expect to burn. I know the track distance between a few major landmarks, and if my GPS went T/U, I could pull off a groundspeed check without too much trouble. <br /><br /> Block fuel burns and standard power settings eliminate the need for a lot of the foo-far-ah as well. I can calculate them in my head, revise as is necessary. <br /><br /> It was all a moot point however, as the examiner wasn't interested in much of that stuff at all.<br /><br /> The ground portion was an oral exam on the aircraft itself and our companies operations manual and company-specific policies and procedures. I knew the majority of the aircraft stuff off the top of my head, but looked up two items in the book ( I'm allowed to do that ) that I had even the slightest doubt about.<br /><br /> A couple quick calculations to show I actually knew how to use the performance charts and we were off for the air portion.<br /><br /> Again, this was mostly demonstrating proficiency with this specific aircraft. Little time was wasted on testing me on things that frankly, I have already been tested on, several times. <br /><br /> I made a couple errors, notably;<br /><br /> In my steep turns, I gained a bit of airspeed on the first one and my altitude control was sloppy in the second. I eyeballed a power increase for the first steep turn purely out of habit. I've had no trouble with steep turns, even up to 360 degrees around with little or no power increase and losing negligible airspeed, with this airplane.<br /><br /> On the altitude, I was a bit flustered by what looked like a fatal 10 mph airspeed increase on the first one that I sloppily dove into the second one, starting out 50 feet higher than I should been.<br /><br /> Then the Single-engine overshoot, that is, a simulated approach to landing, conducted at altitude, the examiner calls for an overshoot or go-around at a couple hundred feet above your simulated runway altitude and then fails an engine mid-overshoot, close to the ground. I managed to get the engine failure and feathering drill down in a timely fashion, but let my airspeed increase away from best-rate and ended up leveling off at a pretty low altitude while I got the engine feathered and then noticed I wasn't climbing due to wasting airspeed on forward motion instead of using it to climb my wounded bird away from the simulated trees. I got it done within limits, barely.<br /><br /> A couple other small items and the examiner commented that the ride was well done and I had passed.<br /><br /> All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I felt with the ride and the lack of busy-work, that, as I mentioned before, I have already been tested on and could do again if required, but were not all that applicable to an aircraft-specific proficiency check.<br /><br /> All of this being done during the " Debrief " session after the flight of course. Or as my Chief Pilot who sat in on the debrief called it " the ass-reaming ".<br /><br /> I flew us home and that was that. Glad that's out of the way, looking forward to heading out on my own for a few trips now.<br /><br /> We have a " Court Party " trip tomorrow, where we fly an entire courtroom, judge, prosecutor, crown defender, sheriff and court stenographer out to a remote community to conduct a few trials in the local community hall.<br /><br /> In the afternoon, we get started on a large project freight-haul where have a dozen or more loads staged in our yard for transport to another remote community. A good chunk of the load is steel plates that are stupid-heavy and a full load will look comical, being just a single inch-thick layer on the floor of the plane. The plane will look completely empty at maximum gross weight. These will be in the caravan so hopefully I'll get some stick time towards my PCC training over the next week as well. <br /><br /> Sorry I am not able to post much for pictures these days. My internet connection is limited to tethering my PC to my iphone and piggybacking on the 3G signal. Fine for internet browsing, but uploading and downloading things are incredibly slow and frequently crash or time-out.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-70249538380694540582011-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:002011-06-19T21:49:12.066-07:00Happy Fathers Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kGC2BhdTUW0/Tf7GT-tcsII/AAAAAAAAA_I/APXD28SipBk/s1600/IMG_0127%255B1%255D"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kGC2BhdTUW0/Tf7GT-tcsII/AAAAAAAAA_I/APXD28SipBk/s320/IMG_0127%255B1%255D" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620147431558393986" /></a><br /><br /><br /> Fathers day today, first one for me as a new Dad. A little melancholy as I'm away from my baby girl and my Lovely Wife. My wife made a great little video for me with TWO wearing an I (Heart) Daddy shirt and we had a nice little chat this morning. <br /><br /> Also a little melancholy as my own Father passed away a few years ago and I'm sure he'd find my present situation entertaining as well. I was actually born not too far from where I am presently employed, up here in Canada's north. During the couple years before and after my birth, he made the trip up here to find work. He was most definitely of the "enlightened" generation, to put it delicately and I always thought it a strange place to go to find work back in the sixties and seventies. He ended up mostly driving a cab, but made at least one foray back here a few years after my birth to do it again and make some income. I guess cab driving paid fairly well back then, who knows.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_OUkXfxrSbA/Tf7PAas1LpI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/8cu8xgQdDJw/s1600/Jim%2BJosh%2BJapan.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_OUkXfxrSbA/Tf7PAas1LpI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/8cu8xgQdDJw/s320/Jim%2BJosh%2BJapan.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620156991079263890" /></a><br /><br /> It was always an interesting conversation point when I was a kid, as to where I was born. Even though we moved away when I was only a few months old, I used to use my birthplace as a bit of a badge of uniqueness. Not so unique now, EVERYONE here is born where I was born...haha.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Was a day off for me as well, as it seems most sundays are around here. More because we dont have a lot of work on sundays than anything else. <br /><br /> First I thought I might go hit up the driving range and hit a bucket of balls. I realized its probably been almost two years since I swung a club. Not that I was any good to begin with, but I'm not going to get any better by not golfing. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dt98oMSCaxs/Tf7BIQNl5tI/AAAAAAAAA-4/Z7gWJiXWbtI/s1600/IMG_0157%255B1%255D"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dt98oMSCaxs/Tf7BIQNl5tI/AAAAAAAAA-4/Z7gWJiXWbtI/s320/IMG_0157%255B1%255D" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620141732540049106" /></a><br /><br /> I enjoy golfing in much the same way as I do fishing. Its a reasonable excuse to get outside and enjoy the outdoors for a long period of time. If I simply walked back and forth in a park for three hours, people might think it a little odd, same as if I sat on a riverbank and stared at the water for three hours. Luckily, all I have to do is swing a club at a little tiny ball and then go looking for it in the bushes for three hours and people think thats entirely acceptable.<br /><br /> I did in fact, change my mind and went fishing instead. There are a ton of places around here to go fishing, but everyone keeps telling me to go to the same spot. Every time I've been to that spot as well, theres always four or five other people there as well. I've tried a few other spots, with limited success, but have always found good results at "the spot". Not a bad location either, just off the end of the runway. Got to watch the water tankers and bird dogs take off and land a couple times too. Oddly, downwind as well....( the plane in the picture is back-tracking and about to turn downwind for the takeoff. )<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTkS9I2wA7Y/Tf7Fb53p3EI/AAAAAAAAA_A/Blk0gxaEZBI/s1600/IMG_0151.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mTkS9I2wA7Y/Tf7Fb53p3EI/AAAAAAAAA_A/Blk0gxaEZBI/s320/IMG_0151.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620146468186348610" /></a><br /><br /> Apologies for the crap quality, its an iphone picture, at full zoom, but I was trying to get a shot with the windsock as well.<br /><br /> I'll always remember one of my instructors telling me how she remembered which direction the windsock was indicating. That was, The Tail of the sock, is where you want your tail to be. So the direction it is "pointing", where the pointy end is, is where you want your tail to be pointed. Sounds silly, but it stuck.<br /><br /> Actually, thats kind of funny too, I've met quite a few people over the years who misunderstand the whole taking-off-into-the-wind thing. Non-pilots of course and not an indication of their intelligence, but just kind of a funny assumption that your average person has about how an aircraft and a wing works.<br /><br /> For the non-pilots, we take off into wind as the wing of an aircraft does not give a hoot about the ground beneath it. To the wing, the ground does not exist. It exists only in its own medium, the air. The wing creates lift due to the airflow over it. How it gets that airflow, it also doesnt GARA where it comes from. You could design a giant hand to launch it, a-la paper airplane, you could lead it around by another aircraft that had an enormous fan mounted on it to blow air over its wings, or you could strap a couple engines to it and propel a large mass of air backwards creating a newtonian reaction of forward thrust. All of which are perfectly acceptable, only one of which is actually used, so far. ( there are other ways, like throwing kerosene into a tube with a little fan in it that spins at insane speeds and then light it on fire, but thats another story )<br /><br /> In any case, if an airplane is sitting stationary on the ground and a 10 mph wind is blowing on it ( from the front ), the wing thinks its moving through the air at 10 mph...becuase it is. Its not moving over the ground at 10mph, but remember, the wing doesn't care about the ground, its all about the air.<br /><br /> So, if your wing needs 100mph to generate enough lift to get the rest of the airplane off the ground, then you only need to generate 90 mph of forward motion with the engine(s) if you have a 10mph headwind. The opposite is true for a tailwind, you will need to go 110 mph (on the ground )to get that same 100mph relative airflow over the wing.<br /><br /> This all changes once you are actually in the air, but thats another story too.<br /><br /> In any case, I watched, curious, as the giant aircraft took off, with a tailwind. I think they were on a training flight as they returned pretty quickly, so who knows, maybe there was an operational reason. <br /><br /> It could also be that the tail wind was of little concern to them versus other concerns. Occasionally you might take off downwind as there are obstacles on the into wind end of the runway. Or noise-sensitive areas, or traffic considerations, or any number of other reasons that might necessitate a decision to take off downwind. Particularly if the wind was a minor wind to begin with. Not judging, just noted with curiosity at the time.<br /><br /> I remember too at one point when I first started flying, and noting that the winds aloft can be routinely 40 Kmh at even low altitudes, why do those little fluffy clouds not get ripped apart by the howling windstorm going on up there?? Why do they float along and rarely seem disturbed by all this commotion?<br /><br /> It was explained to me once and it always stuck with me. If you are floating down a river in a Canoe, just hanging out and having a cold beverage, letting the current whip you downstream at 10 mph, its not too crazy. If you look at the shore, its really cruising by, but if you ( irresponsibly, shame on you ) throw your cold beverage can in the river, it will float alongside you peaceful as can be. Like the wing, it GARA what the ground ( shore ) is doing ,while it is in its own medium, doing its own thing. Its all relative.<br /><br /> Did some emergency procedure and single-engine maneuvering training in the push/pull yesterday as well. With one engine out, its actually quite a nice little plane to handle. <br /><br /> Unlike the conventional twin, there is no yaw or controllability issue, only a loss of power. In fact, it can be tricky to determine which engine has done the failing...<br /><br /> In a conventional twin, its usually fairly obvious, the nose is pulling hard to one side and you have to actively work at it to keep it straight with the rudder. The lack of activity on one foot/rudder pedal tells you that is is the side generating zero-thrust. Dead Foot = Dead Engine. <br /><br /> You can check the engine instruments in a conventional twin and they will give you some indication, but they can be a little too subtle. Since the engine is still turning,( because the propeller is spinning in the relative airflow ), the oil pressure might still be up ( ish ) and the engine is still fulfilling its duties as an air pump, so the manifold pressure will not change very much, the alternator might still be generating some electricity, the vacuum pump might still be pumping vacuum. But the prop isn't generating thrust, its actually generating drag, using that relative air to turn the engine. And turning that dead engine is a lot of work. Work that your good engine is now doing and you'd rather dedicate to other tasks, like keeping you in the air.<br /><br /> On the push/pull, since there is no adverse yaw ( that pulling-to-one-side ), the best indicators are the fuel flow gauge and the propeller RPM. The fuel flow gauge is the better of the two as a failed engine eats no fuel, so one engine will register zero fuel flow. ( I know, I'm glossing over partial-power-loss, bear with me )The RPM gauge will still indicate something as the propeller is still spinning, but it should be less than the operating engine. In our training, it was about 300 RPM lower, which isn't much and requires a concerted "look" at the gauge, a glance could easily miss the difference.<br /><br /> That wrapped up my training flights on this aircraft as well, next stop is PPC ride and then I can fly passengers for hire. All I have to do is pass...5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-22831772582298769772011-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:002011-06-14T14:24:23.903-07:00Flying in the North<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tXDTzpH4tiw/TfWbJsDq42I/AAAAAAAAA-g/fe6pBDekJQM/s1600/snoop1.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tXDTzpH4tiw/TfWbJsDq42I/AAAAAAAAA-g/fe6pBDekJQM/s320/snoop1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617566700962243426" /></a><br /><br /> I wanted to call this, "flying in the arctic ", but then I started thinking it might be a bit pretentious. We didn't really go all THAT far north and frankly, there were still trees around, so I'm not sure it really counts as The Arctic.<br /><br /> It was however, my first time flying into the Northern Domestic Airspace.<br /><br /> Canada of course, is separated into several different types of Airspace and Air Traffic Control Areas. Blanket "Airspace" separations are the Southern Domestic and Northern Domestic varieties. Control Areas are Southern, Northern and Arctic.<br /><br /> The Airspace delineations are primarily due to the different type of navigation required in each. In the Southern, you use Magnetic Tracks and in the North, due to the proximity to the Magnetic north Pole, you use only True Tracks. The Control Area delineations are a little different, but have more to do with how IFR traffic is handled and who handles it. Arctic and Northern control areas see a lot of trans-polar long-haul flights that use our airspace due to great-circle routing between the USA and Europe/Asia.<br /><br /> In the picture above, the airplane is sitting on a small pad of concrete at an otherwise gravel/dirt runway and airport ramp. These are important, as it allows us to start up the engine and/or run it up, without sucking up rocks and beating our poor props to death. Once the aircraft is moving, most of the rocks that get sucked up, go back wards, but while stationary, they tend to take chunks out of the props. The pad should be swept off with a broom if there are rocks on it, but generally they are relatively clean.<br /><br /> In any case, our mission was to take a couple of Power Co. employees up to two different communities so they could do some testing of the local power distribution systems. Specifically, they had a special video camera that sensed heat and they had to take some film of every pole-mounted transformer in these communities. Apparently, when these things develop issues, they give off heat, so they can fix them before they pop. In the words of one of the technicians, " any electrical system having problems, will let you know by giving off heat. "<br /><br /> First leg was about 250 statute miles north and took us over/near the Yellowknife control zone. I talked to them on the radio and let them know we were there as a courtesy and was glad I did. There were several aircraft up in the area doing training flights and one of them was pretty close to us. I think it was a king-air and they were doing IFR training. Most likely, head-down and at high speed.<br /><br /> They weren't in the control zone, so had stopped talking to the tower and tower passed us their callsign and suggested we advise on 126.7 our position. We did, with no response, but stayed with Tower and they kept an eye on things and eventually let us know it looked like they were leaving the area and we could relax. Thats not really what he said, but thats what he meant.<br /><br /> Onto our first community and we held for about an hour and a half in the little airport building. Its actually pretty impressive, considering this town probably has a little over a hundred occupants.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjF5ITU_Z34/TfWX0rfNvUI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/vL6bfoe5irI/s1600/SSA54363.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjF5ITU_Z34/TfWX0rfNvUI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/vL6bfoe5irI/s320/SSA54363.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617563041497201986" /></a><br /><br /> Not much to do here, other than chat, read old fashion magazines littered around the terminal and go poke around and look at an old airplane that was derelict out in the back patch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BvyrrHgoQVM/TfWWBB_H-FI/AAAAAAAAA-I/PSW4Iiv7K3Y/s1600/SSA54360.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BvyrrHgoQVM/TfWWBB_H-FI/AAAAAAAAA-I/PSW4Iiv7K3Y/s320/SSA54360.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617561054671796306" /></a><br /><br /> I thought it remarkable that this airplane was sitting there for so long and didn't look like it had been too badly vandalized or otherwise abused. I surmised it might have been because of this ancient sticker in the back window, threatening EVEN DEATH for such malfeasance.<br /><br /> Story was that the airplane had an accident here 12 or 15 years ago and had sat here ever since. Either the owner was offered an insurance pay-out to write it off and he accepted, or it had no insurance and the costs to fix it were not worth it.<br /><br /> If the insurance company did pay out on it, then they too decided it wasn't worth doing anything about either and there it sits. Considering what even small aircraft components are worth in their parts values, I'm surprised the insurance company didn't mount some kind of salvage operation. Even if it was to go in there and disassemble the thing, strip it for the most valuable parts and leave the rest.<br /><br /> The techs had a cab pre-arranged to take them into town, which was about three miles from the airport. We overheard the cab driver quoting them 50 bucks a head for the ride, so we decided it wasn't worth tagging along into town.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fWe9d6YEQZw/TfWXDsC6vrI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/xZ-JH5UwT_w/s1600/SSA54361.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fWe9d6YEQZw/TfWXDsC6vrI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/xZ-JH5UwT_w/s320/SSA54361.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617562199833362098" /></a><br /> <br /> View from the airport, looking over the bay towards town.<br /><br /> They were only gone for about an hour and half and we loaded back up and blasted off for our next destination. This leg was a bit longer, at almost 350 statute miles.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uDGx0DkfUuo/TfWeynxfNXI/AAAAAAAAA-w/TgR3tQU68VI/s1600/SSA54366.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uDGx0DkfUuo/TfWeynxfNXI/AAAAAAAAA-w/TgR3tQU68VI/s320/SSA54366.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617570702721758578" /></a><br /><br /> Had to go around once at the next one as the strip is a little on the short-ish side ( 2000 feet ) and the approach was fudged a little, with a missed touchdown mark and too much speed. Next one was better and we held there for a little over an hour and half as well as the techs did their thing in town.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bCLavxtQED0/TfWdsUGoYmI/AAAAAAAAA-o/g-cavmU6xUU/s1600/SSA54365.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bCLavxtQED0/TfWdsUGoYmI/AAAAAAAAA-o/g-cavmU6xUU/s320/SSA54365.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617569494850888290" /></a><br /><br /> After that, we had to make a quick hop over to a nearby town ( 90 miles ) to fuel up before we made the final leg back home ( 190 miles ). <br /><br /> At the fuel stop, we fueled up quickly, with one eye kept on an approaching thunderstorm. Just after we finished, the Chief Pilot who was with me, got called into the terminal building and I let the guys know that if this delay was more than 5 minutes, that we would most likely be delayed, waiting for the storm to pass. He was out in less than a minute and we blasted off, leaving the approaching storm behind.<br /><br /> We actually were dodging thunderstorms for most of the second half of the trip, but they were easy to spot and we gave them a wide berth.<br /><br /> Back at base and its put the airplane to bed and do the paperwork for the flight. Almost 6 hours of flying!5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-48501896299026942422011-06-11T20:10:00.000-07:002011-06-12T07:37:34.948-07:00On The Road Again<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wxHanCb4TIA/TfQyph7_sOI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/YbteREf503A/s1600/SSA54323.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wxHanCb4TIA/TfQyph7_sOI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/YbteREf503A/s320/SSA54323.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617170324303884514" /></a><br /><br /> Well, I finally arrived in my new summer home. I left Vancouver on Monday morning at 0700 and arrived in the north around suppertime on Tuesday.<br /><br /> The first day actually started a few days ago with packing, sorting, cleaning and taking care of all manner of tasks before flying the coop for the summer.<br /><br /> This morning came early with my little girl deciding to get up a full hour before her usual rousing time. Perhaps she was as nervous as me. Unfortunately drinking a bottle of milk worked for her, but not me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hV_UkcA2E_Q/TfQ0BONwKwI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/NGa5tsq4I5g/s1600/IMG_4306.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hV_UkcA2E_Q/TfQ0BONwKwI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/NGa5tsq4I5g/s320/IMG_4306.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617171830838143746" /></a><br /><br /> I switched cars with the wife and packed most of my stuff last night, to save ten trips to the parkade at 0600. I usually drive the nicer of our two cars, as I spend considerably more time on the road with my daily commute. For this trip , I took the "other" car. I want to call it our Beater, but it is actually the same year as the "good" car and was almost given to us by a relative, so don't want to risk offending anyone....<br /><br /> The 500 of the 1000 kilometres I drove today were very nice. Other than some fuzziness out the windshield due to what I suspect were my " allergies " acting up on departing my wife and daughter this morning, things were very pleasant. Some early clouds at 0700 leaving home turned to sunshine by 1000. <br /><br /> Just before Jasper, the Check Engine light came on in the car.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKMOzOn8WNA/TfQ1kDLfhLI/AAAAAAAAA8g/FWWD39yS3kI/s1600/SSA54333.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKMOzOn8WNA/TfQ1kDLfhLI/AAAAAAAAA8g/FWWD39yS3kI/s320/SSA54333.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617173528682923186" /></a><br /><br /> Great. <br /><br />Quick pit stop to check things out and everything that could be checked was normal. Engine wasn’t running hot or anything, all fluids were good and no performance change in the engine. I’m chalking it up to some weird better-get-a-dealer-to-do-an-oil-change timer that needed resetting or a sensor issue. The car lived all of its life down on the coast, so maybe it didn’t like the altitudes I was driving at…who knows. We got the car from a relative for 500 bucks, so it was pretty much a gift. If it had to end its days behind some garage in Blue River while I carried on the trip on the greyhound, so be it. <br /><br /> I also noticed the windshield wipers were pretty badly worn so I picked up a new one in Jasper. Yup, ONE new one. I’m that cheap.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8W0_M68_G4o/TfQ2MSrJGNI/AAAAAAAAA8o/Efbla_6z7fk/s1600/SSA54337.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8W0_M68_G4o/TfQ2MSrJGNI/AAAAAAAAA8o/Efbla_6z7fk/s320/SSA54337.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617174220036970706" /></a><br /><br /> Google maps had me turning off the yellow head highway just before Hinton, but I was considering stopping for the night and figured Hinton would have a little more to choose from in the way of cheap motels then the alternatives up the road. I disobeyed Mssrs. Brin and Page and carried on into Hinton. After fuelling up the car and my belly, I noticed I had a wifi signal in the parking lot of the gas station so took a few minutes to check out the interweb. I was actually getting a little road-weary and was hoping to download an audio-book to keep me entertained for a few hours. I checked the app store and it was mostly Christian audio books and a few old classics, like Tom Sawyer and Sherlock Holmes. The wifi signal wasn’t that great and they were fairly large files, so I skipped it. While rechecking the route on google, it now had me going an altogether different route now that I had gone 20 miles past the original turnoff it had commanded.<br /><br /> The new route had a few more sizable towns and frankly looked a little more direct. Interesting. I also noted that I wasn’t nearly as far into the trip as I thought. I figured Hinton would be at least half-way, but no such luck. If I stopped there, after twelve hours of driving, the next day would be at minimum 14 hours more. There was plenty of daylight left, so I pressed on for Whitecourt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcwsG159-iw/TfREW7cJZJI/AAAAAAAAA8w/m6jnqa646Gc/s1600/SSA54339.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcwsG159-iw/TfREW7cJZJI/AAAAAAAAA8w/m6jnqa646Gc/s320/SSA54339.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617189795941409938" /></a><br /><br /> Whitecourt had me in a cheap motel, The Ritz. I was a little skeptical as there was a pub attached to the Motel, but luckily Monday night wasn’t party time in Whitecourt, so I got a quiet night. <br /><br />I did have a few concerns about finding a room on the way up. I’ve been through Alberta before and have come across towns that are booked solid with oil workers. Every motel is booked up by 2 pm and any rooms available are double what you would expect to pay. <br /><br /> While I was checking in at the Ritz, another fellow was also checking in and the clerk read him out a 400 dollar-plus bill. My turn came and I asked if there were any rooms available, he replied “ yes, fill this out please :, handing me a check in slip and quickly moving on to the next customer waiting in line before I could ask the rate. I filled out the slip waiting for the other shoe to drop and me having to hand it back over and go sleep in the car. 75 Bucks. Sweet!<br /><br /> Next morning it was greasy spoon breakfast and back on the road. From Jasper on, the highways got progressively smaller and smaller.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DjdakDj60k/TfTC0OSUTLI/AAAAAAAAA84/nn6kXbuq1u4/s1600/SSA54343.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DjdakDj60k/TfTC0OSUTLI/AAAAAAAAA84/nn6kXbuq1u4/s320/SSA54343.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617328837681761458" /></a><br /><br /> At Peace River, I called up to my new employer and checked in so they would know when to expect me in town. A last minute stop to pick up a few things and then the final stretch.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aTdVAFrjbHM/TfTEUjYwaZI/AAAAAAAAA9A/tLczYOo7ZrM/s1600/SSA54344.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aTdVAFrjbHM/TfTEUjYwaZI/AAAAAAAAA9A/tLczYOo7ZrM/s320/SSA54344.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617330492613355922" /></a><br /><br /> From Peace River north, the highway got quite a bit smaller, but also a lot straighter as well. In fact, there wasn’t much for turns from that point on till the NWT border. Those turns that were there were the same diameter and radius. If you looked at them from an aerial view, I’m pretty sure they made up the two 90 degree corners on a full-section of land, where the highway had to bend around developed farmland. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vx_edWb83Kw/TfTEzBRUahI/AAAAAAAAA9I/4VMzLjR2m6w/s1600/N%2Bof%2B60.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vx_edWb83Kw/TfTEzBRUahI/AAAAAAAAA9I/4VMzLjR2m6w/s320/N%2Bof%2B60.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617331016031300114" /></a><br /><br /> At the NWT border, I was awaiting the giant sign to take some pictures of my first foray North of 60 since I was a baby. Pulling into the little pull out, I noticed two cars pulling in behind me. As I rooted around in my bag for my camera and a drink, I caught a glimpse of the two guys getting out of the cars and noticed they looked young, white and excited. In the back of my mind I thought, I bet these guys are doing the same thing up here as me. <br /><br /> Sure enough, they were two recent flight college grads moving up North to take ramp jobs with two large air carriers up here. We chatted for awhile and took each others pictures under the big sign. They mentioned they were going to be looking for a place to stay in the town where I was headed, but I was still a little unsure about my accommodations to offer a place to crash. Plus, showing up to my new employers with guests in tow, probably wouldn’t have made the best first impression. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-orq1YkYMlXQ/TfTK1vX-wMI/AAAAAAAAA9g/izpjkyiaP9A/s1600/SSA54350.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-orq1YkYMlXQ/TfTK1vX-wMI/AAAAAAAAA9g/izpjkyiaP9A/s320/SSA54350.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617337659836776642" /></a><br /><br /> I stopped at a waterfall for a quick peek and they passed me by. I decided if I saw them in town, I’d get a phone number from them and give them a quick call after checking in, to see if it was OK to offer them a place to crash. I didn’t see them again and ended up visiting for awhile anyways, so it was a moot point. I felt bad turning down an opportunity to help these guys out, you never know when connections like these can come in handy…<br /><br /> I gave my new Co. a call when I got into town and was directed out to the hangar at the airport to come and meet everybody. Very nice people, and a nice little setup. I got the tour of the operation and of my new home for the summer.<br /><br />Voila. Casa Mia.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MR5Xq7pTKYo/TfTMttvZ-YI/AAAAAAAAA9w/7M3ncwOVpNE/s1600/IMG_0133.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MR5Xq7pTKYo/TfTMttvZ-YI/AAAAAAAAA9w/7M3ncwOVpNE/s320/IMG_0133.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617339720982460802" /></a><br /><br /> Its actually quite a nice little setup. I have a great big double bed, a couch and a kitchen table. A microwave, and Oven, a Stove and a fridge/freezer. I was worried that the fridge/freezer would be beer-fridge sized and necessitating buying food in tiny little batches, but it is actually quite ample.<br /> Everything had been cleaned out for me and stocked with all the basics, dishes, linens, cutlery, towels, bedding, toaster, pots and pans.<br /><br /> They took me out for dinner that first night, so I forwent grocery shopping till the next day. Day after that was actually a hockey-game night, so I went over to a coworkers place to watch the game and ended up eating there as well. The night after that, it was over to the bosses place for dinner. So, havent actually done much in the way of cooking. In fact, I think the only supper I’ve actually cooked so far was a soup and sandwich affair. <br /><br /> Didn’t realize it, but we actually have 24 hour daylight up here right now. I kind of thought you had to be a little further north to get this, but I was wrong. Technically, the sun sets, but its more of a twilight, with the sun just below the horizon for an hour or two from like 0130 till 0330. During that time it just looks like a really long sunset, turning to a sunrise. It threw me for a little loop the first few nights, as I’d wake up in the middle of the night and check my watch, thinking it was 6 or 7 by the light, and it turned out to be 3 or 4 in the morning. Hasn’t bothered me so far, but everyone keeps saying that it will. We’ll see.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ocjmrt7oaAo/TfTNFvnpemI/AAAAAAAAA94/TaJ9VMl-Y-Q/s1600/SSA54352.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ocjmrt7oaAo/TfTNFvnpemI/AAAAAAAAA94/TaJ9VMl-Y-Q/s320/SSA54352.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617340133803653730" /></a><br /><br />This is about as dark as it gets. <br /><br /> First few days were a flurry of studying company and aircraft documents and writing all the exams to satisfy my training. In between, I went out with them on a few runs and got to get acquainted with the aircraft. Day one had me “flying” the kingair on a little two hour-return flight and later that afternoon the Caravan. <br /><br /> As I’m not formally trained (yet) on these aircraft, it’s not really “flying” in the legal, loggable, sense or even training, but it was quite a nice surprise to get a couple takeoffs and landings along with the usual straight-and-level orientation flying.<br /><br /> A couple days later it was wrapping up my ground training on the aircraft I will be doing my ride on and the one I will be doing most of my flying in, the Cessna 337 Skymaster.<br /><br />Behold, “Snoopy”.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qja2ZpgtM8U/TfTNpVtUTkI/AAAAAAAAA-A/xQay54X4iQM/s1600/snoop.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qja2ZpgtM8U/TfTNpVtUTkI/AAAAAAAAA-A/xQay54X4iQM/s320/snoop.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617340745323400770" /></a><br /><br /> The skymaster or 337, is a little bit of an odd aircraft. Its one of very few push-pull configuration twin-engine aircraft in existence that I know of. In fact, there is a special class of Instrument Rating that you get that is pretty much specific to this aircraft only.<br /><br /> You can get a Group 3 IFR, which covers all single-engine airplanes and a Group 1 which covers all ( conventional ) twin-engine airplanes and a Group 2 for this bad boy, specific to this aircraft only. Technically its good for all “ Centre Line Thrust Multi Engine Aircraft “. Of which, I only know of this one.<br /><br /> Technically, the Group 2 also allows me to fly any Group 3 aircraft as well.<br /><br /> In order to carry passengers for hire, I also have to do a Transport Canada flight test or “ ride “ to get what is called a PPC, a Pilot Proficiency Check. Coincidentally, the PPC will also act as an IFR flight test, renewing an existing rating or giving me initial qualification, provided all other requirements are met. I have all the other requirements done, so hopefully over the next few weeks, I will have a fresh instrument rating on my license. There is still the possibility that they will only be doing a VFR PPC for me, as that is 99% of the flying I will be doing, but they said they will try and arrange for me to do an IFR one if they feel I have a reasonable chance of success at challenging it.<br /><br /> So, after finishing off the ground stuff on this aircraft, it was flight training time. Me and the Chief Pilot went out for an hour of my mandated flight training and did a little instrument work, some steep turns, stalls clean and dirty and then back to the airport for some circuits. I got some good feedback from the Chief, who had bucket loads of experience flying up here and in taking in new guys like myself for their first jobs. It’s a different world out here than the one you get introduced to in the flight school universe.<br /><br /><br /> The Caravan and King air flights were also my first time flying a turbine powered aircraft. The Caravan being a single engine and the King air having two turbine engines hanging off the wings.<br /> <br /> A few major differences, but the basics are still the same. Set Engine power output, match prop RPM to give you the desired performance. Monitor key temperatures and pressures and don’t exceed key limits.<br /><br /> The KingAir is a pretty sweet machine. Lots of technology and a lot faster than anything I’ve flown before. Very responsive as well and quite a treat to handle.<br /><br /> Got to go to a local fishing lodge as well to run in supplies for them. This is very familiar to me…drums of fuel, groceries and propane.<br /><br /> We were also told that on one run we would picking up two girls who were coming out of the camp. Since they hadn’t even had their first guest yet and these workers were just up there doing all the season-opening chores of opening up a lodge, it’s a bit unusual to be bringing people out. <br /><br /> The story we got when we were loading back up to leave, was that one of them had a family member in the hospital and the other simply didn’t want to stay for the rest of the season without her friend. I wasn’t buying the hospital story for a minute. I think the truth was that they had no idea what they had gotten themselves into and were bailing.<br /><br /> Back at base we phoned a cab for them to go back into town. Getting into the cab one of the girls asked us, “ where’s a good place to stay for the night in town, where we can drink? “. <br /><br />Hmm. Yeah, or go to the hospital to visit your dying great-uncle.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-7620626506429298562011-06-03T21:04:00.000-07:002011-06-03T21:15:44.237-07:00North of 60Sorry I haven't posted lately, small issue with interweb connectivity. Issue being I don't have any yet. <br /><br /> I have packed up and moved north for the summer and arrived at my new summer abode a few days ago..<br /><br /> I'm now living in a trailer out behind the Hangar of a small charter airline in the north . Trailer sounds bad, but it's not, it's actually quite cozy and fully equipped. <br /><br /> I'm surrounded, literally, by some of the coolest airplanes still flying today. Without giving it away, most of these aircraft are recent television personalities. <br /><br /> I'm also knee deep in company training and exams. I finished my multi engine rating a few weeks before heading out on the road and also completed allof the legal requirements for my IFR rating as well. The only thing I need to complete my IFR is a flight test, which will be satisfied by a PPC ride in the aircraft I am slated to do most of my flying this summer in. It remains to be seen how much flying that will be, but the people I am working for are fantastic and have been very up front and honest with me about the whole thing. I am also getting trained on two other aircraft which are substantially larger than anything I've flown to date and both are turbine machines as well. <br /><br /> I'd love to post more details, but I'm typing this on my iPhone and it's not easy. Hopefully I have a decent connection within the next few days or so.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-69657783491767793212011-05-14T19:22:00.000-07:002011-05-14T20:44:15.842-07:00Tick Tock Tick Tock<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OsSGv79kUGo/Tc9IPwmzk-I/AAAAAAAAA7s/8ChN1SkTzzw/s1600/SSA52242.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OsSGv79kUGo/Tc9IPwmzk-I/AAAAAAAAA7s/8ChN1SkTzzw/s320/SSA52242.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606779496682460130" /></a><br /><br /> Wow, I certainly am feeling the hours and minutes as they pass between between my toes these days.<br /><br /> Two weeks now till I get in the car and point it North. <br /><br /> Yesterday morning was D-Day down at Transport Canada as I went in at 0900 and sat down to the first of two exams, back to back.<br /><br /> The first one I've been studying for over the last five months in between work, raising a newborn and surfing the internet, reading pilot-blogs. The second one, not quite as much. The first exam is for my Instrument Rating, the INRAT exam. I printed off a copy of the study and reference guide from Transports website and have worked my way down the list of recommended reading material and exam topics. <br /><br /> If TC wrote a written exam for driving a car, for example, the study guide might say something like " Steering Pinion Torque Sensing " and after dutifully studying steering design for thirty-some odd hours including the full engineering history, design and practical operation, you would get one of the two following questions:<br /><br /> If turning to the right, the control wheel should be rotated in which direction?<br /><br />A.) Clockwise<br />B.) Counter-Clockwise<br />C.) Both<br />D.) Up<br /><br /> And you would sigh about all that brain space dedicated to the knowledge of the brothers Rack and their French competitors, the Pinion freres and their ground breaking work in the field of vehicle steering.<br /><br /> Or, you get one of these;<br /><br /> If the Over-Limit stops on the starboard side of the steering Rack are engaged, what is maximum pressure allowed in the hydraulic fluid bypass orifice before the hydraulic pump reverts to the standby mode?<br /><br />A.) 6<br />B.) 42<br />C.) Clockwise<br />D.) Up<br /><br /> And it all becomes worthwhile....<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h1yehZC1rYY/Tc9IsnNKNPI/AAAAAAAAA78/r4Qy15cw8rk/s1600/SSA52230.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h1yehZC1rYY/Tc9IsnNKNPI/AAAAAAAAA78/r4Qy15cw8rk/s320/SSA52230.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606779992375178482" /></a><br /><br /> Anyhow, I passed the INRAT with a respectable score. I felt I got a fair mix of questions type one and two as above and my " knowing " of the answers before seeing the choices was pretty accurately matched by my final score. Sometimes with multiple choice exams, you know you were guessing on lets say, 25% of the questions, you had no real clue as the correct answer, yet you got an 85% mark.... I got 4 questions wrong in the end and two of them, I knew were wording issues that could have been interpreted two different ways ( and of course those answers were represented among the available choices.. ).<br /> <br /> The other two, were part of a larger series of say a half dozen related questions, and I'm not sure which ones I got wrong. They don't tell you specific questions you got wrong, only give you a generic area of knowledge that you need to study on. Its so awesome when the back of the exam sheets says you need remedial study on " The Atmosphere. " or " Aerodynamics, Flight ".<br /><br />Sigh.<br /><br /> Anyhow.... The other exam, was the IATRA. I think it used to stand for Intermediate aircraft Type Rating or something along those lines. Apparently it doesn't stand for anything anymore, but they kept the acronym as it was catchy. I concur.<br /><br /> I looked at the study guide for this one about the same time I started the course about five months ago and noted that it had a lot of similarities to the INRAT and those areas where it differed were actually very similar to the Flight Dispatcher exams I wrote a couple years ago. I planned on writing this one at some point, just not at the same time, or under the gun time-wise. I didn't look at the study guide again, to avoid getting distressed about being woefully unprepared, as I simply didn't have the time to study for it, so it was a moot point.<br /><br /> Even so, I scored fairly well on it at the end of the day. I did however notice a differential in the ratio of Questions-Known to Questions-Guessed and the multiple choice format gave me a few extra points for being able to successfully pick a letter out of four possible choices.<br /><br /> So, those hurdles are down, and they were weighing fairly heavily on me. Pooch either of those exams and I would be re-writing them on the day before I am scheduled to leave. Do the unthinkable and fail them a second time and I'd be kissing this job goodbye, as there would be a 30-day wait till a third try would be allowed.<br /><br /> Back in the Simulator today to brush up on a couple of things, the last sim session I will probably do. As my instructor pointed out to me, hopefully the last sim session that I have to pay for, hopefully, in my career. If there were any more for me in the future, they would/should be paid for by the employer.<br /><br /> I'm glad to be rid of that thing now too. In the beginning, I loved it for the savings versus trying to learn some of the IFR stuff in the aircraft with that insane meter spinning like crazy... But, I've had a hell of a time controlling the sim during the engine-failure-under-IFR portion. During these sessions, one of the simulated engines on the simulated multi-engine plane is failed during a flight where all reference is by instruments only ( ie in cloud ). In the real aircraft the nose yaws noticeably over to one side, but is controlled by the rudder and bank angle with pretty authoritative result. There is also all kinds of feedback in the controls and the aircraft itself to guide you through it as well. <br /><br /> In the sim, she simply pulls hard over and tries to roll over on her back. I get stuck trying to wrestle it back under some semblance of control and usually end up doing a poor job of the engine feather part because I know that feathering the prop probably wont change the outcome of the flight if its done while inverted.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RVqiCu8nuDk/Tc9HcwvRIvI/AAAAAAAAA7c/-tL42XKZfBA/s1600/SSA52235.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RVqiCu8nuDk/Tc9HcwvRIvI/AAAAAAAAA7c/-tL42XKZfBA/s320/SSA52235.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606778620544623346" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">This is a picture of a coal-fired power plant out in the prairies. I found it neat that it created its own little fog/cloud bank over the discharge pond/slough where the hot water is ejected after the steam turns the power turbine. If you look closely too, you can clearly see the the piles of coal where they get stockpiled and then hauled to the plant by truck. </span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qXgwHFCN0k/Tc9IFqSIYXI/AAAAAAAAA7k/AK8MU6CXgvM/s1600/SSA52237.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qXgwHFCN0k/Tc9IFqSIYXI/AAAAAAAAA7k/AK8MU6CXgvM/s320/SSA52237.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606779323186438514" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nk3cvHGLNYg/Tc9IaVOJMYI/AAAAAAAAA70/qOqFfhGGn0w/s1600/SSA52238.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nk3cvHGLNYg/Tc9IaVOJMYI/AAAAAAAAA70/qOqFfhGGn0w/s320/SSA52238.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606779678309822850" /></a><br /><br /><br /> More drama with the last push to get things wrapped up before the end of the month, but the list of Must-Have-Done things is shrinking quickly, while the list of hmm-that-might-be-a-good-idea continues to grow.<br /><br /> I have two more IFR Cross-country flights to do, booked in for next weekend. One of them has to be 100nm in length and the other is just a training flight to a couple local airports to do a few different types of approaches and sample some of the airspace around here.<br /><br /> One big shopping day has to get done at some point. I've been growing a list of stuff I need for the new neighbourhood, mostly decent outdoor clothing and a few household items for the summer abode.<br /><br /> I need to cancel my car insurance once i arrive up North, as my employer is giving me the use of a small truck for the summer.<br /><br /> I need to pack up my computer and make sure I have a wireless receiver installed so I have internet access while up there. The XBox will probably stay home for this trip as I don't have a decent enough TV to play it on anyways and there is no way I'm showing up at my new job with a TV in the back seat of my car.<br /><br /> I need to get our good car tuned-up, cleaned up and oil-changed before the end of the month so it can be passed over to TLW. It is overdue for both the tune-up and the oil change, hasn't been vacuumed in a shameful amount of time and has recently developed a little rattle in the exhaust system at certain RPM's. I suspect a hangar is busted and needs a little work before it develops into something worse.<br /><br /> I need to get all my tax paperwork in order and either take it with me to finish electronically up there, or find time to do it here. I have a small amount of self-employment income, expenses and training expenses for my foray into freelance ultralight-instructing last summer and now we have a Dependant to add into the mix of income tax excitement.<br /><br /> There's lots more stuff to get done, and more seems to get added to the list everyday...strangely though, the amount of time I have left to get it accomplished seems to keep shrinking...almost daily it seems!<br /><br /> I'm throwing in some pictures I took during my trip up North-ish back in February to my self-invited interview for the other job. Mostly because I have no relevant pictures to add and I feel bad about that.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cL39MrXbhhw/Tc9I7EZ6j_I/AAAAAAAAA8E/b24hTR1sgm0/s1600/SSA52244.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cL39MrXbhhw/Tc9I7EZ6j_I/AAAAAAAAA8E/b24hTR1sgm0/s320/SSA52244.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606780240731475954" /></a><br /><br /> This was kind of funny. We had a fairly high-end car parked in one of our hangars while it awaited sale at an auction. This is pretty common, only the proletariat park their cars in "garages", the true elite hangar their rides. <br /><br /> Anyhow, I was assisting a flight crew off their aircraft and over to their hotel with one of our vans and while we waited for the last crew member to finish up on the plane, some of the others expressed an interest in the car they could see through the widow, so I gave them the 50-cent tour. One of them actually showed me a neat feature of this Rolls-Royce SomeThingOrOther. When the driver opens one of the rear doors for his or her passenger, their is a little button on the inside of the door-jamb that you press. Presto! out pops an umbrella, stored neatly in the doorframe. Sweet.<br /><br /> They asked whose it was and I replied jokingly that it probably belonged to a (ex) drug dealer as it was currently up for auction sale. We then peeked in the trunk and it was completely empty, except for a small brick-sized packed wrapped up in duct-tape and bubble-wrap in the middle of the trunk floor. Looking like a brick of contraband like you might have seen on Miami Vice... If you are that old that you know what Miami Vice is. Or that young that you know what gets wrapped in duct tape and bubble wrap in the truck of a (ex)drug dealers Rolls.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-22758772785413117582011-05-07T23:44:00.000-07:002011-05-08T00:14:20.459-07:00Big things are afoot....Wow, a lot has happened over the last three weeks or so.<br /><br /> Pretty much every single " plan " that I had in store for this summer and ALL of my tenuous job leads or options, have changed or disappeared altogether.<br /><br /> TLW and I went out East to visit my mum and had a great time. I promise a post about this at some point in the future, but I'm a little short on free time at the moment... The Wee One had ZERO issues on the plane, in fact she passed out the moment the engines lit up on all four flights. Even the longest leg of almost 6 hours was no problem for her. Seatmates all around were pleased by this development, as were we.<br /><br /> Northern fueling / flying job disappeared into the fog of the employer simply never getting back to me...at some point I wrote it off, and of course the next day they email to tell me they are posting the job opening and for me not to worry, I was still in the running. Phone call about two weeks later tells me, sorry, you are now, in fact, out of the running.<br /><br /> Skydive pilot job out east that they seemed quite eager to have me fly for them, also disappears with the owner telling me he will call me when he is in town so we can have an interview face-to-face. His trip dates come, no call. I email to remind him we were going to get together before he leaves town...leave-town date comes and goes without a reply and I still haven't heard back. No phone number for him as the drop-zone is closed for the season and he is still on the road...<br /><br /> Kinda got me thinking about meat-bombing, so I obsess on it for a few weeks and apply to pretty much ever drop zone in the country. Got a few replies, but nothing that looked liked it had any legs.<br /><br /> I learn that amongst skydiving types, a " Whuffo " is a derogatory term for a non-skydiving person, whose stereotypical question is along the lines of " Whuffo you wan jump outta dat a'plane? "<br /><br /> Then TLW wakes me up one morning. <br /><br /> " There is a phone call for you, some guy from the Northwest Territories, wake up. "<br /><br /> A brief phone interview ensues. I got the company name at the start of the call, while I was still waking up, and by the time I realized what was going on, I had forgotten it. It was now too far into the call to ask for it without sounding half-asleep, stupid, or both. Luckily, they have a very unique aircraft type and I CSI'd them and their website after the call. <br /><br /> Two days later, there is an arranged conference call with the CP and the guy who originally called me. The job is offered, accepted and start date set.<br /><br /> June 1st I'm outta here!!<br /><br /> I am going to try and keep things as confidential as I can, at least for awhile. If you know, or figure out, who I am working for, please keep it to yourself.<br /><br /> I'm packing up the car and heading north ( over 2000 kms north ) at the end of this month and have definite plans to be there for the summer and am hoping it turns into more. <br /><br /> TLW and TWO, will be staying down here, until we know if this will be a permanent or seasonal position, which I most likely will not know till late summer. It was hard last time I went away, more for TLW then it was for me as I simply had too little time to feel sorry for myself or my situation. This time, she's the one with the distractions and the preoccupation, and I'm the one who will be challenged. <br /><br /> I am playing ostrich with this one and trying not to talk or think too much about how much I am going to miss my girls. <br /><br /> But things are moving forward again and we both are EXTREMELY excited by this turn of events. Who knows if it will turn out to be a good thing or not, at least things are happening.<br /><br /><br /> So, watch this space... The next couple of weeks will be an insane rush of finishing off the IFR training and getting ride-ready so I can do a PPC ride to complete my IFR. I need to write both the INRAT and IATRA exams in 5 days. Both to get it out of the way and also to ensure I have a chance to re-write if it comes to that, as there is a 14-day waiting period between a failed exam and the next rewrite.<br /><br /> I've been studying for 4 months, so I am hoping for a positive result.<br /><br /> So, if you've suffered through the last year or so of banality, spotty posting schedules and pathetic whining, stick around, things are about to get fun again...5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-74248251905989412372011-04-05T22:37:00.000-07:002011-04-05T22:48:28.522-07:00J is also for Just trying....Totally off-topic, but a blog that <a href="http://report-on-conditions.blogspot.com/2011/04/just-freakin-game.html#comment-form">I follow</a> posted a story about a Paramedic down in California who was attacked after a baseball game in LA. He was wearing the "wrong" jersey apparently and is now in intensive care in an LA hospital.<br /><br /> There is a million sad stories like this playing out around the world, every minute of every day, even as we speak. Think about your situation, sitting on your computer reading this....can you compare or even convincingly empathize with someone in the intensive care waiting room, waiting for news of your father and his senseless injury or death?<br /><br /> You can't solve the worlds problems, but you can't turn away from them all either.<br /><br /> To donate, or to hear the full story, please click below.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.smco-ems.com/bryanstow.html">http://www.smco-ems.com/bryanstow.html</a><br /><br /> If you can't donate, I bet you can tell this story or pass the link to at least two people in the next 24 hours....<br /><br /> It could be as easy as posting two paragraphs on your blog or cut-and-pasting the above onto your facebook status...5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-40980956887435888682011-04-03T15:59:00.000-07:002011-04-04T00:43:33.943-07:00J is for Job....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eM8TSD4FNW8/TZluxQQqaUI/AAAAAAAAA6s/nmTg25jgOgg/s1600/DSC03551.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eM8TSD4FNW8/TZluxQQqaUI/AAAAAAAAA6s/nmTg25jgOgg/s320/DSC03551.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591622204814682434" /></a><br />( I know, shameless, but if TLW can play dress-up with her, why can't I ? )<br /><br /> Ok, I'll admit it, I am pretty much stumped for a ramp-related entry that would fall under the letter J.<br /><br /> A couple of other bloggers who I follow have both posted recently on the subject of jobs, or lack thereof, and since I am furiously job-hunting as well, I thought I could stretch it into something. Since the whole point of doing the A-Z thing was really nothing more than a way to kick myself in the ass and actually churn out an entry or two now and then, I figure it fits the spirit, if not the letter of the law.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DTUsRFayPtc/TZlzxMPDA-I/AAAAAAAAA7E/qnqBb3ir0Vo/s1600/SSA52220.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DTUsRFayPtc/TZlzxMPDA-I/AAAAAAAAA7E/qnqBb3ir0Vo/s320/SSA52220.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591627701292303330" /></a><br /><br />I'm a big fan of following blogs. I feel a little bit like I'm watching some sort of reality-show, but the realest kind. There's little in the way of editing and it all happens in relative real-time. In following along with someone, you build an idea of the " character " with tidbits of information picked up in their entries over a couple of years. As well as glimpses into their personality that they probably didn't even intend to impart, but as the "viewer" you get to see, regardless if they meant for you to see it or not.<br /><br /> In a reality show, they'd edit out the bits that didn't fit the character they are trying to portray, you only see exactly what they want you to see. In a blog, the blogger probably tries to do the same, but given the nature of your average bloggers post-production editing skills, you probably get a lot more.<br /><br /> There is also the aspect of the interaction, in a blog, you can ask a question after the "episode", in the comments section. You'll usually get a response as well, adding a whole nother layer to the experience.<br /><br /> Its actually easy to forget that these are REAL people, leading real lives.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KLBsGAxp1pU/TZlxS4pB6jI/AAAAAAAAA60/TKDSBVdTPCE/s1600/tomcruise.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KLBsGAxp1pU/TZlxS4pB6jI/AAAAAAAAA60/TKDSBVdTPCE/s320/tomcruise.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591624981613242930" /></a><br /> Another Happy Customer - this one bought a MASSIVE gift basket as a thank-you gift for the FBO crew. Some seriously high end chocolates and all manner of exotic treats. Very classy!<br /><br /> Anyhow.... Both <a href="http://medevaclife.blogspot.com/">Dagny</a> and <a href="http://airplanepilot.blogspot.com/">Aviatrix</a>, two aviation-blogging-action-figures whose entire seasons I have followed over the last four years or so, have both lamented on their dogged, but unsuccessful-to-date job searches. I might as well join in...<br /><br /> To really and truly complete the illusion that this is somehow related to working at an airport, I'm going to stretch the J is for Jobs connection by commenting on the fact that there usually are a lot of pilots hidden in the mix of baggage handlers, tug operators and other airport workers. <br /><br /> At the FBO where I work, I've personally seen two guys go from bag smasher to Multi-Turbine FO's in a little less than four years. One of them flies on a KingAir 350 doing the medevac thing and the other is sitting in the right seat of a Citation XLS. Albeit, the Jet-guy ( Citation XLS ) had a few years of instructing time to add to his credentials... I suspect that the KingAir-guy has probably surpassed him now, as they fly the living snot out of that machine...<br /><br /><br /> I came across another blog the other day as well, worth<a href="http://threemilesfinal.com/"> checking out</a>. Back story appears to be; local BC boy gets pilots license, smashes bags in YYZ for awhile, moves to Newfoundland to work as a dispatcher, buys camera, starts blog. Funnily enough, as the blog is not on blogger, I can't follow it with my usual methods, and it had me linking to my facebook page if I wanted to "follow". I did that, I like to get new entries from blogs I follow as-they-are-posted instead of catching up on them en masse, or worse, forgetting all about them.. Then I noticed on the facebook link that he is friends with two people I know from the airport out here...both pilots and ex bag-smashers as well.... haha.<br /><br /> Anyhow, when you finish flight school and you have little else to offer an employer than your meagre Transport Canada Minimum required hours, pretty much ANYTHING to do with an airport environment or an aircraft could be considered an additional skill. I'm kind of getting to the point though that I feel like I'm spending a little too-much time hanging out at the airport again and not getting on with getting on. I suppose you can chalk that up to basically taking a year-off to hatch our new family addition, but it starts to feel a little depressing watching people who were a year ahead of you at one point in a career progression be three years ahead of you now...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DRv_acgt3CQ/TZl0E4GXHWI/AAAAAAAAA7M/n34jL4ysJog/s1600/SSA52240.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DRv_acgt3CQ/TZl0E4GXHWI/AAAAAAAAA7M/n34jL4ysJog/s320/SSA52240.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591628039484546402" /></a><br /><br /><br /> So, Plan A was to find gainful aviation employment for this summer. Originally, we were going to limit my searches to permanent, year-round, worth-moving-for opportunities. Didn't matter where and would most likely be somewhere of less than desirable locale... This plan sort-of hinged on my completing the MIFR well before spring. That isn't going to happen now. In fact, I would count myself lucky to have a Multi-Engine rating before I get my first sun-burn this year, at the rate things are going.<br /><br /> Between my schedule with work, The Wee One and The Lovely Wife's study schedules it was already going to be a stretch. Throw in an aircraft that has been down for maintenance for over a month now, and a solid month of absolute crap weather before that...well, you get the idea.<br /><br /> I've beat the hell out of the simulator in that time, skipping ahead to the IFR portion of the course while we waited for the Multi-Engine Aeroplane to rejoin the living. Good use of the time I suppose, but in light of some of the prospects for this summer, it might be a bit of a waste of time at this point.<br /><br /> Anyhow, Plan A started to look iffy at best, so we decided to open up the possibility of ANYTHING. Another season away working a seasonal position, a ground job that had prospects, ANYTHING. <br /><br /> So, I've been dutifully sending out emails and cover letters to all the contacts in my prospects list. Over the last two years, I've maintained the list, adding actual peoples names as they've replied and told me to PFO ( Please F%^&^ Off ) and a shorter list of people who have replied with even a hint of interest in my resume in the past.<br /><br />Oh - side note. I looked up PFO to see if there was an actual abbreviation that had been bastardized or if it really existed in it's commonly understood form.<br /><br /> Turns out, PFO does actually mean Please F&*k Off and is common use, apparently even in some HR departments.<br /><br /> One other notable use of the acronym PFO was in British Emergency rooms, usedto classify a type of injury common on weekend evenings... Pissed, Fell Over. I'm not even making this up.<br /><br /> So anyhow, not too much in the way of results on the job front, but here's where I am;<br /><br />Plan A.2 <br /><br /> Ground job in a Northern Place. Company owns at least a half dozen aircraft and phone-interviewed me last year( I didn't get it last year ). I stayed in touch with a couple emails over the winter and a self-invited visit/interview to their facility in February. They've advertised the position, but emailed me before-hand to let me know I am still in the running, but they have to advertise the spot before they hold formal interviews and/or hire someone. I hold my chances at this one to be a little better than 50/50. I suspect I would be worth a lot more to them in the long-run with a MIFR and my lack thereof for this spring might hurt my chances. I do however have experience with the ground position duties and am qualified for their entry-level aircraft. In theory, as long as I got a MIFR in the first two years of working for them, I wouldn't ever be under-qualified for internal movement, assuming normal progression. If FO Freddie runs off to Air Canada without notice, and I'm the only one around but lacking a MIFR...well, it would be like having your headphones on and not hearing the " Does anyone on board have a pilots license? " call on the P.A.... <br /><br /><br />Plan B.1<br /><br /> I emailed the owner of a sky-diving outfit ( known as a Drop-Zone, or DZ ) in a far-flung corner of the country. The owner would like to have a sit-down interview in late April when he passes through where I am now. Basically, if I was to live near the DZ, it sounds like there would be a fair bit of work for me. It looks like a lot of fun, and I didn't see any pictures of moose carcasses on their website. I would however, have to relocate to said far-flung corner and the financial considerations of trying to subsist on what would essentially be a part-time job are not exactly adding up. It wouldn't take much to make up the difference though, so I'm not giving up on this just yet, perhaps I can do some freelance moose-carcass transporting at night, who knows.<br /><br /><br />Plan C.1<br /><br /> I sent a bazillion resumes out to owners and chief pilots of flying services associated with fishing lodge and outpost operations. My reply-rate when I had a total of Zero experience in this market segment was about 6 replies to 200 resumes. Those 6 replies included those who took the time to tell me to not bother them with my useless resume. This time, with the possibility of another season away from home, doubly difficult now to even consider with a certain soon-to-be-walking-and-talking individual in our little household, my 200 resumes got me about two dozen replies. A solid half dozen of those expressed sincere interest, but no offers of a job. I knew float-season hiring had already come and gone, but at that time, going away was off the table. <br /><br /> The sincere replies mostly consisted of " we have our pilots hired for this year, but, as always, someone inevitably flakes out once the season is underway and you are top of the list to get a call if/when they do ". <br /><br />Plan D.1<br /><br /> Keep plugging away at the MIFR and accept the fact that I might not get any flying work this summer. I make pretty good money at my present job and I do get to work <span style="font-style:italic;">near</span> airplanes. Another year of equity in the condo ( which is getting smaller by the day, due to you-know-who's newfound mobility ), another year of family close-by while our little girl is still little. And of course, another year behind....<br /><br /> It might even work out well to not complete the IFR part right away, most of the simulator stuff we do at the flight school for 150 bucks an hour can be practised at home on my computer for roughly , oh, nothing per hour, and done ad nauseum. It sure would be nice to go into a flight test actually feeling comfortable with the material..<br /><br />Plan E.1<br /><br /> Screw it. I'm going fishing.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eGsju9i_XK8/TZltV26tKhI/AAAAAAAAA6k/vuIUaLUgS48/s1600/DSC02454.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eGsju9i_XK8/TZltV26tKhI/AAAAAAAAA6k/vuIUaLUgS48/s320/DSC02454.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591620634643606034" /></a>5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-87335716076124119802011-03-22T10:27:00.001-07:002011-03-28T23:06:13.620-07:00I is for International GarbageYeah, thats pretty much all I can come up with for I...its a little bit of a stretch as all I could think of was " International ". Theres lots of Intl things going on out at the airport, but most people are aware of most of them. International Flights, International Customs, International Arrivals, yada yada yda.<br /><br /> But there is actually such a thing as <span style="font-weight:bold;">International Garbage</span>.<br /><br /> See, when a flight arrives, everything on that flight that isn't part of the aircraft ( and will be subsequently leaving ) needs to clear customs. <br /><br /> The passengers get cleared, the crew gets cleared, even the aircraft itself gets cleared. Sometimes the booze and duty-free items on board the aircraft are even sealed by customs as a sort of " bonded cargo " where they have entered the country, but someone has promised that they will not be sold or consumed while visiting and will in fact leave again.<br /><br /> But there is an interesting grey area with the trash. The trash will indeed be staying, so it needs to be cleared right? I mean, you are importing all manner of stuff, including fresh fruit and vegetables which are a big non-no in many countries. They could be infested with foreigner-bugs after all! Just try bringing an orange through customs sometime and see how seriously they take it.<br /><br /> But your orange is nice and clean. <br /><br /> And it's not covered with a babies diaper, a pile of coffee grounds and a used sick-sac. The orange in the garbage is, so customs, while taking it seriously, don't actually want anything to do with it. So, between them and the airlines, they invented a procedure for dealing with International Garbage that looked good on paper and would convince any lawyers reading through the procedures manuals that all was being done tickety-boo.<br /><br /> The procedure, as I understand it, is to paint some of your dumpsters a different colour. <br /><br /> Ok, there's more to it than that, but its all on paper..the reality of it is....some of the dumpsters are painted a different colour. <br /><br /> Thats it.<br /><br /> They'd have you believe much more was being done, but to be blunt, no.<br /><br /> Some operations don't even have access to this special colour of paint and the garbage gets thrown in a regular green one.<br /><br /> Anyways, thats the story there. If you ever get the chance to take one of those college or trade school Airport Management courses and they start in on the International Garbage, just sit in the back row and snicker, you know the truth.<br /><br /> Its kind of sad sometimes to see what gets thrown in the trash after some flights. I mean, stocking the galley on a large charter airliner has its challenges. I'd compare it to stocking an RV for a long road trip. At home, you have all kinds of extra's that you dont think about, like ketchup or salt and pepper or forks. To set up for a charter, you have to bring EVERYTHING. A lot of the larger airliners that charter out tend to sit awhile between trips as well, so you can't just leave the fridge stocked, it all has to go at the end of the trip.<br /><br /> Enter the Lineman, who will helpfully take away this stuff ( and avoid it becoming Intl Garbage ) and see that it gets recycled ( yum! ). Or, follow your Ops Manual which spells out how International Garbage must be segregated and disposed of properly. sigh.<br /><br /> I remember one Global Express that came into town one night for a maintenance stop. It was actually at the end of a series of trips that had it pretty much continuously on the move for its corporate owners, shuttling around execs for a little over three months. The thing had literally been around the world a few times over, in each direction. As a result, the galley had slowly been stocked to the hilt with all the little accoutrements of a good kitchen. Spices, sauces and salad dressings from around the world. They handed us about a half dozen packed boxes full of all kinds of interesting stuff. ( Which we of course threw in the appropriate coloured dumpster...not )<br /><br /><br /> Oh, and not Aviation or Ramp related, but a true story. This happened to TLW and I last year and I stumbled on this email summarizing the event for our strata council.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">I is for Intruder</span><br /><br /><blockquote> <span style="font-style:italic;">To whom it may concern,<br /> <br /> On the morning of July XXth, 2010 a person claiming to be a XXXXX resident entered our unit, without our permission and refused to leave until the police were called and they were removed from our suite.<br /> <br /> My wife and I were sleeping at approximately 0700 and were both awakened by a loud banging outside our patio door. It sounded like someone had hit our patio balcony glass several times with their hand. I got up and saw out the window a person standing on the walkway outside our ground-floor unit, with their back to the glass, partially obscured by the stone wall.<br /> <br /> I went out on the patio to find out the reason for the disturbance at this hour and saw that it was a man in his late 20's or early 30's holding a small boy, perhaps 4 or 5 years old. I also noticed another resident across the street walking his dog, and he had made a comment to the gentleman with the child that " people are still sleeping you know ", most likely in response to having seen him banging on the glass.<br /> <br /> I asked the man what the problem was and he said " theres something going on, you have to call the cops, theres someone in my apartment, you have to call the cops ". He appeared quite agitated and scared, along with his child. My first impression was that he was under the influence of drugs as he appeared quite nervous, sweaty and unable to stand still. I told him I would call the cops and went back inside my suite to get the phone.<br /> <br /> As I picked up the phone, my wife, watching out the patio door yelled " He's throwing his baby over the deck! He's coming in! " <br /> <br /> The man entered our suite with his child, through our patio door and went into our dining area and crouched down on the floor with his child. He instructed me to lock the door and call the cops. I told him at this point to leave our suite and that I was already calling the cops. He said he needed to stay here and to keep the doors locked, and that he did not want to leave.<br /> <br /> He also told me at that point, that he was a resident of building XX, suite # XX. I spoke with the 911 dispatcher and passed that information to them as well.<br /> <br /> While we waited for the police to arrive, my wife called our neighbour, XXXX, a member of strata council, and asked that he come over to make sure this was in fact a resident as well as to have additional assistance.<br /> <br /> XXXX arrived and confirmed the man as a resident of XXXX and waited with us until the police arrived, approximately 10 minutes after the inital call. The entire time the man remained in our dining area, crouched on the floor with his child. He made several phone calls on our phone, at least one of which was to his father or father-in-law. As he had put his father on speaker-phone when he dialed, I heard his father ask him " what kind of trouble have you got yourself into this time ? ".<br /> <br /> The police arrived and I let them into the building by passing them our fob over the patio railing. As soon as they entered our suite they called the man by his first name " XX ". He seemed surprised that they knew who he was, but one of the police made a comment that " oh, we know who you are, XX ". He was put into handcuffs and removed from our suite.<br /> <br /> At this time the police took my name and details, but on my asking them if they needed a statement from me, they declined. <br /> <br /> We will be following up with the XXX Police Service to ensure that charges of unlawful entry, trespassing, mischief, and/or break and enter have been laid against this individual. If charges have not been laid, an official complaint will be lodged with the Police Ombudsman.<br /> <br /> I strongly urge strata to look into the status of the occupant(s) of Suite XXX in building XX and if in fact this person is a rental tenant, that steps be taken to evict this tenant.<br /> <br /> On listening further to the police discussing the situation with the father outside our window as he was taking custody of the child, we heard that this family has had extensive problems with drugs and alchohol. The police also noted on entering the suite, that there was broken glass and evidence of some kind of altercation.<br /> </span></blockquote><br /> <br /> Domestic Garbage, that one.<br /><br /> Oh, no charges were laid against him. On following up with the cops, I was told by the investigating officer that he is a known crack-head and that he was having a paranoid episode, and " thats just the way it is when they on crack. ".<br /><br /> I further followed up with the Watch Commander to file a complaint or push to get a little more than a shrug of the shoulders, but no dice. He echoed the same sentiment.<br /><br /> There was a little more to it as well, as the officers responding in our suite actually thought that the boy was ours. While they were cuffing this guy, instructed my wife to go around behind this douchebag and get the kid. In hindsight, putting my 8 month pregnant wife in between a man and his child while he is being handcuffed inside an apartment he forced his way into while high on crack probably wasn't in her best interest. Especially since the cop had at least three of his buddies standing behind him with their thumbs in their belts that could have / should have, done that particular task.<br /><br /><br /> Anyways, sorry for the lack of pictures with this post and lately in general...I haven't brought my camera to work for a while and have regretted it more than a few times.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-30631006260195575892011-03-05T22:51:00.000-08:002011-03-05T23:47:25.348-08:00H is for Heavy PadAt our FBO we have two parking areas for large aircraft. These are areas of the ramp where the surface is made of reinforced Concrete instead of asphalt. The concrete can support much heavier loads than the asphalt and is thus the place where we park the big jets.<br /><br /> We have a little procedure we use for parking them that we like to call " spinning " them.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RN4xq_i2m6g/TXMwtHHOawI/AAAAAAAAA6E/kG4gTEbtynw/s1600/Spinning.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RN4xq_i2m6g/TXMwtHHOawI/AAAAAAAAA6E/kG4gTEbtynw/s320/Spinning.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580857914803776258" /></a><br /><br /> I tried to type up a description, but failed. Instead, behold my outside limits of my artistic abilities.<br /><br /> The red line represents the path you want the aircraft to take as you marshal it into position. <br /><br /> So, first off, the aircaft has to be kept close to the side of the ramp as they taxi in. as most of our larger aircraft arrive at night, some crews will be a little nervous about taxiing this close to the edge of the pavement. Crews that have been here before recognize the awesomeness that is our marshalling crew and will usually take direction well. Others, just don't.<br /><br /> Secondly, the path once the aircraft is on the pad and you are getting ready to " spin " them, needs to take a small 45 degree turn to it's right. This can be difficult to convey with marshalling wands. Technically, there is marshalling-ology for this and the degree of turn is sometimes indicated by the arm you are using to show the direction of turn being at a 90 degree angle to your body ( normal turn ) a higher angle, towards the ground, of say 120 degrees ( sharper turn ) or pointing sharply downwards, say 160 degrees, representing a hard turn. <br /><br />If you are facing the aircraft and want it to turn to it's right, you indicate the direction of turn with an outstretched Left arm and wave the Right arm from an outstretched position, towards your head.<br /><br />I've also seen it where the speed of the moving arm represents the sharpness of the turn. <br /><br /> As both are kind of obscure and usually not in most of the " official " marshalling guides, the second method usually works best as an increase in the speed of your signal is a little more obvious in my opinion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4CgLtNIJI7w/TXM4dxmU3EI/AAAAAAAAA6M/jN003LprJuw/s1600/Spinning%2Bright%2Bway.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4CgLtNIJI7w/TXM4dxmU3EI/AAAAAAAAA6M/jN003LprJuw/s320/Spinning%2Bright%2Bway.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580866447423626306" /></a><br /><br /> In any case, the little 45 degree turn allows the Main Landing Gear to move up the pad, so that when you finally make the larger turn, the wing will be centred over the pad, instead of hanging over the grass. This way, we can get ground vehicles past that side of the aircraft and we don't have under-wing slung engines running over grass and ingesting lawn clippings.<br /><br /> The problem is that most crews who are first-time to our ramp, once they realize we are taxiing them towards the edge of the ramp to facilitate turning them around 180 degrees or so, figure that once you start them turning, they should power up and crank it over, all the way over.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlc_Ki8szWU/TXM4s87wtCI/AAAAAAAAA6U/2y-eRUzUknY/s1600/Spinning%2Bwrong%2Bway.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlc_Ki8szWU/TXM4s87wtCI/AAAAAAAAA6U/2y-eRUzUknY/s320/Spinning%2Bwrong%2Bway.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580866708164359202" /></a><br /><br /> A large aircraft requires a good deal of momentum, power or sometimes both, to make a sharp turn like that. Considering they are coming in slowly ( scared of taxiing off the edge of the ramp, in the dark and uncertain of the marshallers ) once they realize our intent-to-spin, as soon as you indicate any turn, they will usually pour the coals to her and crank the nosewheel over.<br /><br /> It can be a challenge to get the gentle turn in first. <br /><br /> Technically the 45 degree turn is followed by another little straight-ahead segment as well. If they've already powered up and cranked it over, when you suddenly switch from a turning indication to a straight-ahead one, there can be some hesitation to comply. In probably 20% of the cases, they simply decide you are an idiot and continue the turn.<br /><br /> Thats on their first visit. We'll take the time to explain what we are doing and we usually get a little more trust the next visit.<br /><br /> It has to be hard for some of the flight crews though. I've seen some linecrew ( thankfully not at our FBO ) who I wouldn't trust to marshal a golf cart around a football field, let alone a 100 million dollar jet around a small ramp, in the dark, full of millionaire passengers.<br /><br /><br />H is also for Hold Entries<br /><br /> Not much in the way of hold entries on the ramp, but there sure are a lot in my simulator sessions at the flight school lately.<br /><br /> A hold is a way for Air Traffic Control ( ATC ) to park you in the sky. This might be for traffic spacing, a closed airport, runway or other problem. It can also be used by the pilot to park themself in the sky for a bit. Perhaps to change plans, figure out an aircraft issue or anything else where you'd rather stay in one place instead of blundering off in one direction and then have to turn around and come all way back depending on the new plan.<br /><br /> So, a hold is a maneuver that will ensure an aircraft will stay within a prescribed area assigned to it by ATC ( the Protected Airspace ). A hold is also defined by a navigation "fix". A fix being a spot that can be defined by the navigation instruments in the cockpit. Usually a radio-based navigation aid, but can also be a GPS coordinate.<br /><br /> Depending on the direction that you are approaching the fix, there are three different maneuvers that you are recommended to use when entering the hold. <br /><br /> For those people who know what a hold is, I won't make you scratch your eyes out listening to me explain hold entries.<br /><br /> For those that don't know what a hold is, I won't make you scratch your eyes out listening to me explain hold entries.<br /><br /> Suffice to say there is a little bit of mental math and a whole lot of visualization to do it properly.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-29874431670540798702011-02-27T22:50:00.000-08:002011-02-28T01:04:43.344-08:00G is for Gear Pins<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PaRtGOWuKcg/TWtbCASeGZI/AAAAAAAAA4s/eiJ38ySVBbs/s1600/DSC03519.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PaRtGOWuKcg/TWtbCASeGZI/AAAAAAAAA4s/eiJ38ySVBbs/s320/DSC03519.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578652653423827346" /></a><br /><br /> So, I've been working hard at my Multi Engine / IFR Rating.<br /><br /> The Lovely Wife has been working hard at a Medical Terminology course thats a pre-requisite for another course that starts in April. <br /><br /> I've been working my day job, TLW has been a full-time mommy for some time now and we've both been juggling study breaks, personal time and of course, night-shift with The Wee One.<br /><br /> It has gotten to the point where we have an online calendar that we both consult before doing anything, replete with respective study periods, class or lesson times, personal time blocks, family commitments, my work schedule and of course, a small portion of the day where we are expected to sleep...<br /><br /> Hectic, to say the least.<br /><br /> Unfortunately, blogging has taken a back seat to pretty much everything else. The only reason I'm typing this, is I should be practicing hold entries on flight sim and planning a mock IFR cross-country flight and my brain has surrendered. It was either this or play some mindless flash game on facebook. <br /><br /> I just saw The Social Network and have decided I need to stop giving those losers my money and/or contributing to their page-load counts.<br /><br /> In any case, heres an update on the last month or so and some of our happenings, aviation and otherwise.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Wee One<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> TWO has had a few milestones lately. They seem to come so fast. Everything she does is usually a first of some sort or other and physiologically speaking, big things are afoot.<br /><br /> She just hit six months and we are easing her into "solids". I use that term loosely, and frankly, so do her bowels. A little Rice Cereal mixed with a bit of mushed-up fruit. A new fruit every three days or so, so we can spot any allergies or other issues. So far, Bananas and Strawberries, all systems nominal.<br /><br /> For the last couple weeks she has made the leap from rolling over onto her tummy and back by herself, to getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth in a threatening manner. The threat of course, is that we will go to the kitchen to prepare her mush and come back to find she has walked into the den and started blogging.<br /><br /> A couple little white pointy daggers have popped out of her gums. Two on the bottom and one up top. Came as a bit of a surprise as there was little fanfare or histrionics with their arrival. A little extra drool and some funny sleep patterns of late, but thats it. <br /><br /> Not that the teeth will assist in any way with her current eating routine of gumming the spoon and rubbing mush into her hair and hands. <br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Multi-IFR Training<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> Ack, where to begin. This one is by far the most cerebral part of my flight training so far. An innate set of "Good Hands and Feet" ( which I am not professing to have ) will not save me on this one. Lots to learn and memorize.<br /><br /> I'm currently training on a Seneca II. A Twin-engine, turbocharged, non-pressurized, 7-seat aeroplane.<br /><br /> Quite a nice plane actually and it seems to have power to spare compared with some trainers I had a chance to look at while shopping around. 200 Horsepower a side to be precise, and with the turbochargers, all of that is available, right up to 12,000 feet before she starts gasping for air.<br /><br /> Avionics are very nice as well. Seems the AI and/or DG packed it in a while back on this plane and in the research of the Re and Re, they discovered that installing a partial glass cockpit, in the form of an Aspen HSI system, was cheaper, or at least a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade.<br /><br /> The AI is(was) the Attitude Indicator, the little blue and brown ball shaped instrument that you would use to reference the horizon when it's not visible out the front window. The instrument has a gyroscope inside it, run(usually) by a vacuum system and is a key component in the Instrument-flying instrument set. The DG is the Directional Gyro. Similarly run by vacuum and a gyro, it gives you a compass direction on a stable platform. <br /><br /> That is, more stable than a little piece of paper mounted on a pin and floating in a glass jar full of kerosene and bouncing around in an aeroplane and trying to give you indications of magnetic directions while being packaged inside a metal aircraft and sitting on top of all the radio equipment, electrics and spinning gyro bits....<br /><br /> So anyway, the Aspen system is pretty sweet. It's a "partial glass cockpit" in that a couple of key analog and/or mechanical instruments have been replaced by a small computer display screen that gives you the same info, and more, from a solid-state system.<br /><br /> And wow, does it ever give you more.<br /><br /> In some ways, its frustrating, as I'm trying to learn Instrument flying procedures and regulations, handling a larger aircraft and its extra complement of systems, learning the flight test guide and preparing for the written, but then you throw in a modern GPS system and whole slew of extra little "oh, let me show you this, this is cool, watch what it will do " bits and I find my brain tuning out the nice-to-know stuff in sheer survival mode, for favor of the you-better-damn-well-know-this stuff.<br /><br /> The aircraft has had some mechanical issues of late, but luckily, we are forging ahead with the IFR part of the training, so on a day when I miss out on the Multi-Engine part of the course, due to weather or other issues, we can head over to the Simulator Shack where I can sweat it out for an hour trying to learn and practice some of the stuff I have been dutifully studying for months now.<br /><br /> At Six Bucks a minute in the real airplane( a beer a minute ), I'm more than happy to sit in the sim at a fraction of that and practice it till I've got it semi-down.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Day Job<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> Work out at the airfield has been busy lately. Mostly busy as we've lost some staff over the last year that haven't been replaced due to the economy. As our company US-Owned, they are feeling the pinch a lot more down there and it is having a trickle down effect onto management up here. As always, the monkey at the top of the tree looks down and sees the smiling faces of all the little worker-monkeys making their way up. The monkey at the bottom looks up and sees nothing but @$$holes.<br /><br /> The fuel distributor that we sell for, has also switched over to a new metering system in our trucks. Our old system was so old it was barely computerized. It had these giant " RAM Cards " that were the size and shape of eight-track cassettes and held the days pumping data on it for download at the end of the day. <br /><br /> I'm sure they held upwards of a kilobyte or two of data on each one. Heady stuff for 1972, not so much today...<br /><br /> Now we have a new system, and it's much maligned, as all new systems are. I could rant all day about it, but I'd probably get in trouble and frankly, you always end up coming across as some progress-reluctant Luddite when ranting about the perceived shortcomings in technological change.<br /><br /> I've done a little work with database systems and crude programming in the past though and even to my untrained eye, I can spot the work of a hack when I see it, that's all I'm going to say.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Job Hunt<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> Some exciting prospects here... <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6HvcWkMXWxs/TWthsvusnLI/AAAAAAAAA58/1UySqCORxG4/s1600/IMG_0054.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6HvcWkMXWxs/TWthsvusnLI/AAAAAAAAA58/1UySqCORxG4/s320/IMG_0054.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578659984782957746" /></a><br /><br />a company I interviewed with over the phone last year is looking like a good potential prospect for this year. I kept in touch with a couple updated resumes over the winter and I actually just got back from making the trip out to see them and introduce myself and get the tour of their operation. It wasn't technically an "interview", but it was close and I suspect something might materialize on this front. Would mean a move to another province and another adventure. Lots to consider and lots of stuff I shouldn't be talking about until things fall more into place....watch this space...<br /><br /> Aside from that, with the addition of the MIFR rating to my license, it will pretty much be " complete ". That is, there is little more I can add to my license in the way of training and ratings that will help me get a job. Now, all I need to get a job is some experience. But of course to get that, I will need to get a job.....funny how that works...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ECOCRCPybKU/TWtcHDP2agI/AAAAAAAAA5M/iLTWDUmGYdg/s1600/DSC02601.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ECOCRCPybKU/TWtcHDP2agI/AAAAAAAAA5M/iLTWDUmGYdg/s320/DSC02601.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578653839629117954" /></a><br /><br /><br /> I saw they are looking for more ultralight instructors down at the grass strip where I worked last summer. I'd love to do it again, but frankly, with The Wee One, I really need to find a full-time flying job...trying to fly part-time, work full time and parent full-time, just doesn't add up. Either that or find a cure for sleeping.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Iphone<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> TLW and I recently traded in our circa 1986 "contractors model" cell phones for a pair of nifty little Iphones. <br /><br /> Wow. <br /><br /> Now I see what they mean when they say smartphones. These really are little PDA's, with very functional Internet browsing, email, GPS and all kinds of other functionality. Our little calendar I mentioned earlier is based on a google calendar, but is synced up to both our phones. If either of us makes and entry on the calendars on our phones, it automatically updates the main one online and the other phone as well.<br /><br /> Some of the Apps available for this thing are pretty sweet too. Lots of little games and novelty ones, but lots of really useful stuff as well.<br /><br /> Highly recommend.<br /><br /> ( but of course, everyone else in the world knew this four years ago, and I'm just now catching up )<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Road Trip<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4kK9FJMgmOc/TWtaolt1i7I/AAAAAAAAA4k/ujbqalJrHg4/s1600/DSC03511.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4kK9FJMgmOc/TWtaolt1i7I/AAAAAAAAA4k/ujbqalJrHg4/s320/DSC03511.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578652216794123186" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D7gtWdkZ188/TWtaGmmqxiI/AAAAAAAAA4c/xd4i6byyBJQ/s1600/DSC03504.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D7gtWdkZ188/TWtaGmmqxiI/AAAAAAAAA4c/xd4i6byyBJQ/s320/DSC03504.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578651632916940322" /></a><br /><br /> As part of my trip out to A Different Province, I got to briefly visit some places from my youth.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1rLNoM54nTE/TWtY2zcNXtI/AAAAAAAAA4E/fXVwzILd5Z0/s1600/DSC03501.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1rLNoM54nTE/TWtY2zcNXtI/AAAAAAAAA4E/fXVwzILd5Z0/s320/DSC03501.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578650261973196498" /></a><br /><br /> My old elementary school, complete with separate Boys and Girls entrances.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHgoCjv1aIs/TWtZJZc0ZZI/AAAAAAAAA4M/A2YlJG3AwO4/s1600/DSC03497.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHgoCjv1aIs/TWtZJZc0ZZI/AAAAAAAAA4M/A2YlJG3AwO4/s320/DSC03497.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578650581413946770" /></a><br /><br /> My old house.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgPY9r6qV3k/TWtZX9FKDXI/AAAAAAAAA4U/tGbq8KttVFc/s1600/DSC03506.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgPY9r6qV3k/TWtZX9FKDXI/AAAAAAAAA4U/tGbq8KttVFc/s320/DSC03506.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578650831496547698" /></a><br /><br /> The little alleyway off on the right is actually a steep little gravel road that receives No Winter Maintenance from the snow plow. But every year, some yahoo tries to do a hill-climb in their car or truck. Our kitchen window looked out onto this alley and I'd often get to see the offender come level to the window as I did the dishes and slow to a tire-spinning crawl right in front of me... Then I got to watch their cocky grins morph into white knuckle terror as they started, slowly at first but quickly gaining speed, sliding backwards down the hill.<br /><br /> I remember coming home from school one day and finding a giant car-shaped hole in our wall from where one of these losers had slid into it and then slunk away.<br /><br /> Luckily, the house is ( was?) owned and rented out by the city. Ownership being retained by the highways department in consideration of future expansion. At least that was the story twenty years ago when I lived there..<br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;"> Random Pics;<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> Some shots of a very interesting visitor to the field recently, a British Military ( RAF ) Vickers VC-10.<br /><br /><br /> This thing has Four engines, mounted two-a-side on the tail. Very unique design and a rare catch indeed for this neck of the woods.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haP85uNcp50/TWtbuFQWd3I/AAAAAAAAA48/0rR4k3pK908/s1600/DSC03530.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haP85uNcp50/TWtbuFQWd3I/AAAAAAAAA48/0rR4k3pK908/s320/DSC03530.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578653410671359858" /></a><br /><br /> <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vENmJOTD-yw/TWtbNO38CxI/AAAAAAAAA40/0P2TFRSJM3E/s1600/DSC03522.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vENmJOTD-yw/TWtbNO38CxI/AAAAAAAAA40/0P2TFRSJM3E/s320/DSC03522.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578652846317636370" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2kTwsUKajU/TWtb6md7EQI/AAAAAAAAA5E/LYTJz5EoP3Y/s1600/DSC03518.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2kTwsUKajU/TWtb6md7EQI/AAAAAAAAA5E/LYTJz5EoP3Y/s320/DSC03518.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578653625745084674" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iYsZ-zNNvMQ/TWtcYYgTYtI/AAAAAAAAA5U/M3kcU9tX4zw/s1600/DSC03528.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iYsZ-zNNvMQ/TWtcYYgTYtI/AAAAAAAAA5U/M3kcU9tX4zw/s320/DSC03528.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578654137393046226" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3_HETI5MLa8/TWtf-lg7o7I/AAAAAAAAA5k/1RY3OYYzw64/s1600/DSC03539.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3_HETI5MLa8/TWtf-lg7o7I/AAAAAAAAA5k/1RY3OYYzw64/s320/DSC03539.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578658092255257522" /></a><br /><br /> I was poking around a 767 the other day and was looking at the nose gear and thought I'd comment on this. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cST8yM7IrF4/TWtfXLhoolI/AAAAAAAAA5c/ZvrOjrnLqoA/s1600/DSC03538.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cST8yM7IrF4/TWtfXLhoolI/AAAAAAAAA5c/ZvrOjrnLqoA/s320/DSC03538.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578657415263986258" /></a><br /><br /> On most large aircraft, and some smaller corporate jets as well, there is bit of linkage on the nose gear that connects the steering mechanism in the plane, be they cables, hydraulic assist cylinders or otherwise, to the nose wheel assembly. When you are towing some of these aircraft, you need to "disconnect" the steering mechanism otherwise you could damage parts of it when you turn the nose wheel manually with your tug or tow bar.<br /><br /> On some of the larger airliners, because the assemblies are far too heavy to be simply hooked together with a little pin, they have a "bypass" pin that you insert into the appropriate orifice and you have free rein to steer away. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_JtrvGtQyr8/TWtgPlQw80I/AAAAAAAAA5s/tLMih6xcctM/s1600/DSC03540.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_JtrvGtQyr8/TWtgPlQw80I/AAAAAAAAA5s/tLMih6xcctM/s320/DSC03540.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578658384245224258" /></a><br /><br /> As Linecrew, when towing an aircraft with disconnect-able gear, you had bloody well remember to disconnect before towing and reconnect afterwards. Like all things aviation, it ultimately falls to the pilot to ensure it is in place before he (tries to ) taxi away for take off. But, just because the ultimate liability rests with him, doesn't mean your fair share of vitriol isn't coming down the pipe if you fail to do your job....<br /><br /> Sweet, I've been struggling to come up with something for this posts " G is for..." item and I just stumbled on it!<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">G is for Gear Pins</span><br /><br /> A lot of larger aircraft will also have Gear Pins that need to be inserted before the aircraft can be moved around on the ground. The purpose of a Gear Pin is to stop the gear from retracting inadvertently while being towed. Usually its just a little pin say the thickness of a finger, that is inserted into the gear retraction assembly that would physically stop it from retracting. <br /><br /> As Linecrew, part of the service you can offer is to put the pins in place while the pilots are dealing with passengers or putting the aircraft to bed. Particularly where the main gear require a little bit of a stoop or kneel on the dirty ramp to put the pin in place. White pilot shirts and slacks generally do not stand up to this too well. As a good linecrew, you know where the pins are stored on the aircraft ( little cubbyhole on the stairs or in a cabinet inside ) and have them in even before the crew notices. Again, still their responsibility to ensure they're actually in...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgMr4Eft3F4/TWtgnvrZxFI/AAAAAAAAA50/6e7j0TPv7PA/s1600/DSC03541.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fgMr4Eft3F4/TWtgnvrZxFI/AAAAAAAAA50/6e7j0TPv7PA/s320/DSC03541.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578658799358166098" /></a><br /><br /> I thought this was kind of neat too. On the nose gear, there is a panel for the ground crew to operate some functions on the aircraft, from outside. One of those functions is to shut off the APU ( Auxiliary Power Unit ), and on this one, you can actually discharge the fire extinguisher bottle into the APU if it catches fire. I've seen this on some Airbus aircraft as well, actually on the fuelers panel. Which is kind of handy as in a lot of cases when you are fueling an aircraft, the crew is upstairs with the APU running and you're the only one down stairs. If a fuel-related emergency were to occur, you might not be free to run upstairs and tell them to shut off the APU ( or to evacuate, for that matter ). Shutting it down on them though would certainly get their attention.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-32941198257079247822011-01-08T17:18:00.000-08:002011-01-16T10:23:18.541-08:00F is for Filming<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM3EDFGxrI/AAAAAAAAA34/litFEeSOH9U/s1600/DSC03135.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM3EDFGxrI/AAAAAAAAA34/litFEeSOH9U/s320/DSC03135.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562850507418420914" /></a><br /><br /><br /> Occasionally the FBO where I work is used as a movie set. This week it was some US television series I had never heard of, but based on the amount of equipment they brought, it is obviously a big deal.<br /><br /> My favourite piece of kit they bring is the catering truck.<br /><br /> The Lovely Wife introduced me years ago to the Catering Caper and I've enjoyed it ever since. The fact is most movie shoots are comprised of many different contractors, all brought together to do their little part of the big picture. One of these contractors is the Caterer. The Caterer is simply tasked with feeding everyone on set, ie all the different contractors, actors, etc. The beauty is, they have no idea who is who and if you are packing a walkie-talkie, a clipboard and/or a reflective vest and make your way to the food area, chances are, you're getting fed. <br /><br />The food was good.<br /><br />( PS - I think I blogged about this before, but can't remember and am too lazy to look. Sometimes I find I have done this and can't help but think I am gravitating towards being THAT guy.. the one who has run out of interesting stories and starts repeating himself.... )<br /><br /><br />F is for Fire<br /><br /> Not something you'll find airside..hopefully... but definitely something we have to prepare for and take measures against. We used to wear Fire Retardant uniforms but sometime last year they decided that wasn't necessary anymore. Not sure what the justification was or if it as a simple cost/risk analysis, but there it is. We take Fire Extinguisher training every year and have no less than three extinguishers on each truck, one in the cab and two big ones on the back of the truck as well. We've also got a big 200 Pounder on wheels in front of the building in case of an aircraft fire. It kind of looks funny as it has great big wagon-wheel style wheels on it..<br /><br /> Most of the staff is of a similar mindset when it comes to this bad boy. That is, if there is ever a fire big enough that it is needed, chances are, we will have long since run away anyhow. I suppose if there were people trapped in a plane or something, it would change things somewhat.<br /><br /> A few years ago, the Avgas truck at one of our competitors had a mechanical malfunction while it was idling on their ramp and ended up catching fire. The fire started in the cab and they tried to fight it with hand-held extinguishers while it was small enough, but eventually, they ran away as well.<br /><br /> I'm told it took over 30 minutes for the local ARFF trrucks to show up, which, frankly, I have a hard time believing. But I'm curious if they would have run away as well. I wouldn't go anywhere near a burning Avgas truck. No way, No how. Turns out, the truck burned to the ground, with the tank and its flammable contents intact. <br /><br /> Luckily, 99% of our fuel sales are Jet Fuel. Jet fuel is very similar to Diesel and is very difficult to ignite. Similar to gasoline, the fluid form of jet fuel is actually not "flammable". You can throw lit matches into a puddle of jet fuel all day and not worry about it. Both gasoline and jet fuel need to be in vapour form in order to be lit by an open flame. In a liquid form, there simply isn't a combustible mixture, lots of fuel, a source of heat, but not enough oxygen to make it work. The mixture is simply too "rich". Add some heat, say from hot tarmac or a hot engine part and the fuel will start evaporating, turning into a vapour and mixing with the air.<br /><br /> Now we're getting somewhere. <br /><br /> Now we have a mixture that WILL ignite with an open flame. Gasoline will evaporate and create flammable vapours at practically room temperature. Jet fuel, needs to be much, much hotter to create a mixture that will burn. The temperature at which a fuel will create flammable evaporative vapours is known as its flashpoint. A puddle of gasoline on a hot ramp, will have a layer of highly flammable vapours coming off it, that you can even see on a hot day. Jet fuel won't.<br /> <br /> Further to Jet fuel being relatively stable, a very large percentage of our deliveries into-plane are done in a closed system. The single-point nozzles are designed to deliver fuel without exposing it to the air ( or the fueler ) and any opportunity for unintentional evaporation.<br /><br /><br />F is for Frustration<br /><br /> Started working on my Multi-IFR over two months ago and at this rate, 2013 is looking pretty good for completion. Unless it happens to rain next winter...at all. I can only dedicate my two weekend days to flying and my instructor has my other day off, monday, as his fixed day off as well. The plane was down for mechanical repairs for almost three weeks in December and my instructor has also taken a three week vacation over the holidays. I'm starting to think that the goal of getting the entire MIFR done on a part-time basis between now and April might not be realistic. I'm already starting to consider only finishing the multi portion and maybe looking for another seasonal job for the summer.<br /><br /> Between TLW's mat leave and renting out our place for the summer, we could probably swing a summer away if I could find something worth going for. Accommodations are probably going to be the single largest deciding factor though. I'd also have to get approval for another leave of absence from my current employer as we'd be back in the fall. <br /><br /> It would be a lot nicer to finish the MIFR and actually be able to move somewhere semi-permanently, even if it meant working on the ground for a little while longer.<br /><br /> So yeah, frustrating.<br /><br /><br />F is for Freighter, Foreign<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTMz-wB4wEI/AAAAAAAAA3g/Fcgf6XEqke0/s1600/DSC03130.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTMz-wB4wEI/AAAAAAAAA3g/Fcgf6XEqke0/s320/DSC03130.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562847117870415938"></a><br /><br /> This occurred a few months ago, but I don't think I ever got around to posting the pics or details. One of our local Helicopter outfits was shipping a couple of Super Puma helicopters over to Afghanistan, and they chartered an Antonov 124 freighter to come in and pick them up.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM2OuMNc1I/AAAAAAAAA3w/9ku4BhI3F1c/s1600/DSC03126.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM2OuMNc1I/AAAAAAAAA3w/9ku4BhI3F1c/s320/DSC03126.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562849591278007122" /></a><br /><br /> The helicopters were staged on our ramp for a couple days while they worked on getting them ready for shipping. Mostly this involved taking the blades off and crating them up, not sure what else they did as both birds looked pretty ready-to-go once they got their blades back.<br /><br /> We were tasked with baby-sitting the workers as they came and went from the disassembly area as most of them did not have airside access passes and needed to be escorted to and fro with Block Passes. The local airport authority sent out three little security cars as well to set up a little perimeter around the work are and make sure no one wandered off down the taxiway. <br /><br /> The security guys come out for the movie shoots as well, and essentially they take a chunk of airside ramp and turn it into a non-restricted area so that all the (well fed ) workers can come and go without too much trouble.<br /><br /> I also got called in for an extra shift on the weekend that the AN-124 came in to help tow the helicopters over to the other side of the field where the freighter would be parking and be there to help the crew if they needed our services.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTMzpQk3MII/AAAAAAAAA3Y/ECbRG5pMk4o/s1600/DSC03117.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTMzpQk3MII/AAAAAAAAA3Y/ECbRG5pMk4o/s320/DSC03117.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562846748649926786"></a><br /><br /> Our ramp isn't quite big enough to handle an AN124, so we used the Air Canada ramp instead.<br /><br /> Day of, and the freight forwarder ( Panalpina ) sent out their Heli-Logistics guy to come and oversee the whole deal. I've done a few project jobs like this and it is usually fun. If everything is well organized and planned out in advance, the forwarder is just a third wheel, but the minute something goes wrong, guess who everyone turns to, looking for Plan B?<br /><br /> Me and the other guy who were going to do the tow decided we'd have one guy on the tug and another taking up lead in one of the vans. The vans have much better radios ( and you don't have to compete with the tugs engine to hear them ) and we had quite a few people who wanted to ride-along.<br /><br /> The other guy has done a lot more towing than me, and doesn't like talking to Ground Control, so he took the tug and I took lead in the Van. Most of the towing I do is with the Lektro, a special vehicle designed for towing aircraft by lifting the nosewheel off the ground. Frankly, its kind of cheating it's so easy. You can still get in trouble if you don't know what you're doing, but the fact that you steer through the aircrafts nosewheel instead of through a pintle hook and two points of attachment a la a tow bar, makes it laughably easier than towing with a tow bar. As these helicopters have a very low front end, we can't "scoop" them with the Lektro, so its tow-bar time..luckily not for me. <br /><br /> My usual towing jobs involve vey short distances on the field, mostly one or two taxiways at most and rarely across any active runways. This time I made sure I had a pen and paper ready for my taxi clearance from ground.<br /><br /> Helicopter Tow plus one, cleared Alpha, Foxtrot, Charlie, Hold short runway 26 left.<br /><br /> Cross runay 26 Left, Delta-five, Delta to the ramp.<br /><br /> We got the helicopters in place and waited for the Antonov, wasn't hard to miss it on approach, the black smear of exhaust behind it was pretty obvious.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM0TGbxvWI/AAAAAAAAA3o/KEys7adU31U/s1600/DSC03132.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TTM0TGbxvWI/AAAAAAAAA3o/KEys7adU31U/s320/DSC03132.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562847467481972066"></a><br /><br /> As it taxied in, we all noticed that the ground handling company that had been arranged was not there... They were supposed to be there with marshallers and a ground power unit. Just as I took the spare wands out of the van and prepared to marshal him in myself, one guy in a pickup showed up. The arrival schedule had changed at least three times over the past week and I guess no one had notified them. I was kind of disappointed as it would have been my first time marshalling one of these, but glad at the same time as it was pretty tight. <br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzFkk3t7RQDpfuL21X0HtF_WLm-mReoZ3b3gCM1r6LsA6SZ6juYQoWTT5B64J3BUmj5i9XNj5yU8yAh_hmC-A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-44919337825817922472010-12-24T23:52:00.000-08:002010-12-24T23:54:14.521-08:00Not mine, but seasonally appropriate.<br /><br /> Merry Christmas everyone!<br /><br /><br /><br />Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,<br />Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ.<br /><br />The aircraft were fastened to tiedowns with care,<br />In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.<br /><br />The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,<br />With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots.<br /><br />I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,<br />And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.<br /><br />When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,<br />I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.<br /><br />A voice clearly heard over static and snow,<br />Called for clearance to land at the airport below.<br /><br />He barked his transmission so lively and quick,<br />I'd have sworn that the call sign he used was "St. Nick".<br /><br />I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,<br />The better to welcome this magical flight.<br /><br />He called his position, no room for denial,<br />"St. Nicholas One, turnin' left onto final."<br /><br />And what to my wondering eyes should appear,<br />But a Rutan-built sleigh, with eight Rotax Reindeer!<br /><br />With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came,<br />As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:<br /><br />"Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!<br />On Comet! On Cupid!" What pills was he takin'?<br /><br />While controllers were sittin', and scratchin' their head,<br />They phoned to my office, and I heard it with dread,<br />The message they left was both urgent and dour:<br /><br />"When Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower."<br /><br />He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,<br />Then I heard "Left at Charlie," and "Taxi to parking."<br /><br />He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh<br />And stopped on the ramp with a "Ho, ho-ho-ho..."<br /><br />He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,<br />I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks.<br /><br />His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost<br />And his beard was all blackened from Reindeer exhaust.<br /><br />His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,<br />And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn't inhale.<br /><br />His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,<br />His boots were as black as a cropduster's belly.<br /><br />He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red,<br />And he asked me to "fill it, with hundred low-lead."<br /><br />He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump,<br />I knew he was anxious for drainin' the sump.<br /><br />I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,<br />And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.<br /><br />He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief,<br />Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief.<br /><br />And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,<br />These reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog.<br /><br />He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,<br />Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, "Clear!"<br /><br />And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,<br />He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.<br /><br />"Take taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction,<br />Turn right three-two-zero at pilot's discretion"<br /><br />He sped down the runway, the best of the best,<br />"Your traffic's a Grumman, inbound from the west."<br /><br />Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night,<br /><br />"Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight."5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7920249280746318655.post-41410627538645188122010-12-14T00:00:00.000-08:002011-01-01T10:19:09.462-08:00E is for Emergency<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQckkmxYldI/AAAAAAAAA2c/Z2ECt5nz4zs/s1600/DSC02426.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQckkmxYldI/AAAAAAAAA2c/Z2ECt5nz4zs/s320/DSC02426.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550445277058995666" /></a><br /><br /><br />E is for Emergency(ies)<br /><br /> And we do get the odd one from time to time out here. Most of the time they are a non-event. A cockpit indication that may or may not mean something is or isn't going to do what you want it to do when you need it to do what it is supposed to do when you ask it to do it.<br /><br /> We have a prettty clear view over to the fire hall on the other side of the field, so when they roll the crash trucks, all the flashing lights usually catches someones eye. The call on the radio on our end is usually that " someones getting a parade ". I like to grab one of the handheld Icom radios and tune into Tower frequency and listen in. The ARFF ( Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting ) trucks will usually position themselves at the arrival, mid-point and departure end of the runway where the parade-recipient is landing and once they are down they will go onto the runway and follow the aircraft. <br /><br /> If it's a real emergency, the aircraft usually stops on the runway. If its an emergency of the faulty-instrument-bulb variety, then they will follow the plane to the gate and then go back to the firehall.<br /><br /> When it's the real deal, the fire trucks will relay to tower a discrete frequency for the aircraft to speak with them directly on, so they can coordinate shutting down engines, putting out brake fires, evacuating or de-planing passengers and what not. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQcnBiNF7hI/AAAAAAAAA2k/CBMlw9Nthqc/s1600/DSC02427.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQcnBiNF7hI/AAAAAAAAA2k/CBMlw9Nthqc/s320/DSC02427.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550447973072498194" /></a><br /><br /> In this particular case, it was a rejected take-off caused by birds being ingested into one of the engines causing the engine to fail quite spectacularly. There was a loud series of bangs and a couple big puffs of smoke. Then they sent out FodZilla, our airport's resident street sweeper truck, to clean up the mess on the runway. If you look closely, you can see the big FodZilla sticker on the side of the truck.<br /><br /> FYI - FOD is an abbreviation for either Foreign Object Debris or Foreign Object Damage, depending on whether you found the offending Foreign Object before or after it hit or was ingested by an aircraft.<br /><br /><br />E is for Eating<br /><br /> A favorite pastime of mine...and something I routinely get to do in the airport environment. We tend to get a fair bit of left-over catering off arriving aircraft. Especially the larger aircraft that transport sports teams. If there are 40 people on board, there are 40 Chicken and 40 Fish meals, along with snacks, drinks, desserts. If you are chartering a transport category aircraft for only 40 people, the catering bill is the least of your concern. The crew already tucked one away in their luggage for the hotel room and since you helped them get their gear out of the cargo area, tidy up the cabin and run them to the hotel, you'll usually get a stack of the meals, a tray or two of cheese, meats, desserts and whatever else they have for your troubles.<br /><br /> One of my neighbours just completed his flight-attendant training and they happened to do the on-aircraft portion of their class at our FBO. I ran into him a few times and took the opportunity to " train " him myself on the important aspects of line-crew / flightcrew relations and upkeep thereof. Give the food the the lineguys before the catering trucks show up and pitch it all in the garbage and you'll never carry your bags down the air-stairs yourself again.<br /><br /><br />E is for Engine Start<br /><br /> When we're marshalling out an aircraft, one of the more important things we're doing is helping to make sure engine start is done safely. The part most people see is all the arm-waving when the planes are moving to or fro their parking spot, but for the most part, the pilots know where they are going. The marshaller is really just there to watch out behind the plane, where the pilot can't see and assist in tight quarters to make sure they don't run into anything. I've talked to some guys who are quite convinced they are running the show when they get a hold of a couple lighted wands, but I know better. We are an added layer of safety, like chocks on an air-brake equipped truck.<br /><br /> Once the passengers and crew are aboard, the marshaller takes up position in front of the nose of the aircraft, in eye contact with the captain, who sits(usually) in the left seat. When they work their way through the checklist to the part where they want to light up an engine ,they will hold up one finger or two, depending on which engine they want to start. The marshaller will signal in return by pointing to the concerned engine with the wand and waving the other wand vertically, over his head in a circular motion. <br /><br /> Engines are numbered 1 through whatever, usually just 2, but in theory, as many as 8, starting from the captains left, or the aircrafts left wing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQctRYpOlQI/AAAAAAAAA2s/CIHf8qPTkRM/s1600/marshalling-signals-cagc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XGiTP-ZVwmY/TQctRYpOlQI/AAAAAAAAA2s/CIHf8qPTkRM/s320/marshalling-signals-cagc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550454842453824770" /></a><br /><br /> The marshallers main job during engine start is to make sure there is no one passing behind the aircraft and that the general area is clear. if it isn't safe to do so, the marshaller will hold the wands up, crossed in an X, indicating to hold off on starting. Unfortunately, this whole dance is so routine, that it can be hard to get the pilot to stop. They are expecting you to indicate all-clear, you have the last 100 times. More than once I've requested a stop, had eye contact with the pilot while indicating not-clear, and have them carry on and start up anyways.<br /><br /> The other function during engine start is fire-watch. A lot of fuel is moved around during start and not all of it gets burned. Some aircraft actually leave a little puddle of unburned fuel on startup or shutdown. The marshaller needs to be ready to signal the pilot in case there is any type of fire. Its one marshalling signal that a lot of marshallers don't actually know as they probably learned it once and then never used it again.... I suspect if you used the proper signal they wouldn't know what the hell you were trying to say. The look on your face though would probably give it away. I think I would resort to basic (frantic) hand gestures if I got any sort of confused look from a pilot if I ever had to use that particular marshalling signal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Someone just mentioned to me the other day that the mechanics that were on trial for the crash of the concorde in Paris were found guilty of manslaughter recently.<br /><br /> Basically, an American Airlines aircraft that departed before Concorde, left a part of some kind of the runway. That part, once run over by Concorde, proceeded to be deflected upwards at highspeed, puncturing the wing and fuel tank just before take off. Leading to a large in-flight fire, crash and the death of all aboard and the end of the Concorde altogether.<br /><br /> I would like to think of France as being a civilized country and I sincerely hope that if there was negligence on the part of the mechanics, that it was gross negligence in order to find them guilty. I'd hate to think there was simply pressure to scapegoat someone. Particularly given the clientele that usually rode around on Concorde. The cynic in me wonders of those particular passengers and surviving families might have a bit more sway than usual... I'm all for being accountable, especially when your job demands it by its nature, but it seems easy to take it too far sometimes.5400AirportRdSouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06864920053222979747noreply@blogger.com0