Flight Training in Winnipeg

Hired!

2010-10-10T23:01:00.003-03:00

So, for those of you who haven't been following this whole blog, or who don't know me personally, upon completion of flight training, I did some glider instructing for the summer with the local cadet Region Gliding School. Since then I have been watching all the online job postings, and slowly working on my resume, not with much motivation cause I hadn't found anything that I was interested in applying on. Until one day, while browsing avcanada's job postings I came across a Cessna 208 FO position. So the times posted were reasonable for somebody who has never held a flying job before, and it was based out of Halifax Robert Stanfield International Airport, in my home city! So that was my motivation to finish up the cover letter, and get that sent in! I applied on the job Thursday, and Friday evening I received a phone call from the Chief Pilot and the job offer after a small change in there aircraft lineup for the winter, and I was now gonna be flying a Piper Navajo.

Training began the following Tuesday with a couple days of intensive ground school on type specific information. That was followed by a rather unusual problem, although problems themselves aren't that unusual when flying a aircraft as old as the Navajo. We went to test the hydraulic pressure in the gear system during start up, and all we got was the gear warning horn going off in out ear, so by about eight o'clock that night, the problem was fixed and we got airborne the next day. 3 flights later, and 3 days later I had successfully completed a PCC on type, and was ready to start flying the line. Training finished Sunday, and Monday morning was the first day at work.

Completion of Training

2010-06-10T11:27:00.002-03:00

As many of you already know, I am home from Manitoba. I completed my training approximately a month ago, leaving me with my Commercial Pilots license, my Multi Engine rating (Self explanatory) and my IFR rating (Instrument Flight Rules- So I can fly in less then ideal weather). Now the most common question is "So you can fly for like Air Canada now?" or "Who do you want to fly for?" so I'm gonna explain how this works a little.

NO I can't fly for Air Canada yet! My Commercial License gives me the opportunity to fly for hire now, so I can technically work as a pilot, BUT coming straight out of flight school, I only have about 270 hrs and not alot of experience as far as most companies are concerned, which is pretty true. So the next step for me is to find a small charter operation, or a company that does remote area transportation of food, goods, etc. The key to these companies is, if your not carrying passengers, the insurance company doesn't mind them throwing a rookie in the left seat and letting them fly, which is how somebody in my position is going to get there first 1000 hrs. The first 1000 hrs as mentioned previous, is like the magic number in which companies like to see as a minimum when they hire a pilot. Quite often when you start out with a company you don't even start right in the airplane, you will start out as a rampy (Somebody working the ramp, loading, refueling, cleaning the aircraft, etc) and from there eventually earn your way up in the company which will hopefully result in a seat in the cockpit at some point. So right now I am still working on my resume which I plan to start sending out in the near future.

I am also heading back to Debert again this summer, to instruct on the Glider Pilot Scholarship that is held for those cadets who are interested in learning to fly! So that will be the majority of my summer, and immediately after my return from there I am hoping to be heading out to Calgary to compete in a competition that names the Top Amateur Pilot in the country (The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition). I find out the end of this month if I made the finals, I will keep you posted!

That is all for now, seeing as how this blog was started for my flight training, and that is over, I will keep writing whenever I get a chance, and it will end being more of my story as an entry level pilot, and all the experiences that will occur along the way!

Last Post Fixed

2010-02-08T13:43:00.002-04:00

Previous Post Fixed!!

You should now be able to see the previous post, I lost internet when I was writing it, so I saved it into Microsoft word, and when i copied it back to hear it stayed as black text which was invisible on the black background!!

Pilots stuck on the ground, its like a fish out of water!

2010-02-06T22:35:00.001-04:00

After returning since christmas break, it has been all out doing preparation for the flight test!! Well this past Monday, all the work payed off with a 90% percent pass on my Commercial Flight Test! It was a great feeling to have that done and out of the way, especially since we had planned on leaving Tuesday night for Calgary, then Vancouver. Seeing as how I am sitting at my computer writing this right now, its obvious we have not made it to Vancouver, and have called the trip off, due to 3 days of us not being able to make it even as far as Regina, and due to our limited booking of the aircraft, and our instructor only being able to get so much time off, this morning when the no go decision was made for today, we decided to cancel all together. The weather does not appear to be ending any time soon as we are forecasted to receive about 10 cm of snow this weekend.

After we made the no go decision and today, we went to the hangar to unpack our stuff from the airplane, and end up sitting around in the hangar/on the wing of the airplane for a while having a good conversation about options, flying, whatever pilots talk about when they are on the ground, and sad cause they can't go flying! While we were sitting around talking, we kept being teased by the mechanics as they would walk by, about certains sights, and sounds we would be hearing if we had of been having out conversation on an apron in Vancouver somewhere. " Hey guys, aren't those those some large evergreen trees, Oh look at that bald eagle". It was pretty funny, but after finding out that there are flowers blossoming in Vancouver, it was a little more heart breaking to think that thats where we should have been at that moment instead of sitting inside a big hanger which was probly colder then outside in Vancouver!

After we stopped thinking about Vancouver, and finished our conversation, we found out there was a Manitoba Moose game happening at the MTS center tonight, so we got online checked availability, and ticket prices, and proceeded to purchase tickets, and thats where our evening was spent, watching the Manitoba Moose, play the San Antonio Rampage. While at the game, we found out that winnipeg is hosting a Pre-Olympic mens hockey game, this coming Tuesday with Switzerland vs Belarus, and for $14 could not pass up the opportunity, so we will be back at the MTS center Tuesday evening for another hockey game.

As for the training side of things, I am now studying the POH (Pilot Operating Handbook) for the twin engine airplane I will be flying next, and will be starting to study for the written exam of my Instrument rating in the very near future. Upon completion of my multi engine rating and IR (Instrument Rating) it will be back home, and the job search will commence!

I think this is everything new since my last post, so I will write again soon! Keep checking in for new updates and pictures!!!

Flight Test Week

2010-01-21T11:38:00.004-04:00

So as many of you have probly assumed by now, I haven't forgotten about my blog. After being harrassed at christmas that I hadn't posted anything in a really long time, I came back and jumped right into preparing for my Commercial Flight Test and haven't had time to write anything until now. the flight test is scheduled for Saturday, but the weather since Monday has been cloudy with snow, poor visibility etc. So I got up this early this morning hoping to actually get my Pre-Flight test done with my instructor, and as forecasted the weather was bad! So the most productive thing I can do today is spend an hour in the simulator later!

So i figured I would spend a couple minutes updating you all on here. There hasn't been to much happening since my return to Steinbach. The temperatures are much nicer now then before I came home, don't think I have seen anything colder then -11 since being back. Myself and a couple of guys have been out playing a fair amount of hockey. The local arena has an outdoor rink that they flood every morning, and admission is free, so we have spent some quality time playing some hockey with the locals, or just by ourselves!

I have attached a few pictures below of the results of fog at sub zero temperatures. We woke up Tuesday morning to seeing everything covered in frost, but it appeared so heavy that some people were speculating about freezing rain. It was actually freezing fog!!

This it what it looks like up close! This is the tip of the propeller!!

Big Three Days!!!....continued

2009-10-29T00:51:00.009-03:00

So sorry I have been so long getting the rest of this posted up here, it has been a busy last couple of days here for me, and if my posts seem to drop of here in the coming three weeks, its because I am studying for the written exam for my Commercial License. I am writing in tentitivly on the 20th of Nov.

So the day after our trip to Duluth, I took the warrior, which i had just gotten checked out on during the trip to Duluth, and decided to familiarize myself with it a little more, seeing as how i was taking it on a 7 hour journey the next day ( being the third big day!! ) So I headed in over Winnipeg city, and circled there for about 15 minutes getting some pictures of the city from overhead. A few of which I have attached below.

This third day, myself and one of the guys living the the trailer with me, embarked on a cross country to The Pas. If you have never heard of it, its okay, because its about 300 Nautical Miles ( 555 KM ) north of Winnipeg. This flight was to fulfill another criteria of the commercial license, which is a 300NM cross country from the point of departure, with a minimum of three stops on route. So we departed Steinbach at about 9:10, and flew direct to Easterville, about a 2hr and 15 min flight. Now easterville is a tiny little fishing community up north, so you can only assume, they don't have much of an airport. You can see for yourself via the pictures below, that that assumption is 100% percent correct. ( its the picture that more or less looks like i'm parked in the middle of no where ) As you can see, the "runway" is about 15 feet wide, and gravel, and actually turns into a road that goes into the little town if you backtrack to far with the airplane!! So upon getting our wheels up in easterville, we were then enroute to The Pas, which was about another 55min flight further north. We landed in The Pas no problem, until we got insdie the terminal by pushing a little red button, and then could not get back out to our airplane, because there was a number pad on the inside that we didn't know the code for! So after trying a couple of phone numbers that were supposedly the "Call for Fuel" numbers on a pay phone that was charging 50cents for each local call, we ventured over to a Environment Canada weather reporting station, in which the guy working inside called up the fuel truck for us, and within about 20 minutes, our airplane as filled up and ready to go. We finish having a little snack we had brought with us, because there is no food within 30 miles of the airport, and then headed back down south! Upon leaving The Pas, we were headed for Gimli, made famous by the Gimli glider in 1983 when an Air Canada flight made an emergency landing there. Upon landing in Gimli we were met by nothing other then some very nice old DC-3 airplanes owned by a company that use to fly cargo to the north, until Transport Canada shut them down. Other then that, the airport was very quiet. From Gimli, we ere headed on our last leg of our 7 hour trip, to St Andrews, Harvs Air's other campus, where the Warrior is based out of. We landed at St. Andrews at 5:45 making for a rather long and enjoyable day of flying! We were then picked up by one of the dispatchers from Steinbach, and driven back to Steinbach.

We even got so see a Northern Lights show on our drive back!!! It was a first for me!

I will try to keep you up to date, on progress in and amongst my studying, but I have alot to

study, so we will see how things go!!

This is the Red River flowing through downtown Winnipeg!

This below is a picture of the Esplanade Riel Bridge, one of the few of

its kind in the world, and it even has a restaurant in the middle of it!

This building below is the Manitoba legislature building.

The is the desolate little runway in Easterville, yes, that little gravel path on the left is the runway!!

We were amazed how nice the water looked on our way back home!!

Looks almost like tropic water!

DC-3s in Gimli!!

Big Three Days!!!

2009-10-23T15:42:00.003-03:00

So over the last three days, the events have well made up for the uneventful last little while!

Tuesday started at 4:00 am for myself, my instructor (Chris) and Matt Lehmann, another student here who is working on his instructor rating. We departed here at 5:45 after devouring some Tim Hortons that Chris brought for breakfast we jumped in the plane and headed for Baudette Minnesota, where we had to clear customs. Five minutes after landing customs was dealt with, we went inside to file a flight plan for the remainder of our trip to Duluth International. The sun had risen while we were on the ground in Baudette, which was a good thing, as we started to run into some weather as we got closer to Duluth. The ceilings just started forming above us, and basically just kept forcing us down, lower and lower all the way into Duluth. We ended up making the airport, after requesting special VFR ( Visual Flight Rules ) to get in. Upon landing we were marshalled to our parking spot, and had a carpet laid out so step on,upon exiting the plane. We then got on the bus, and they drove us across the apron, maybe 800 ft, to the terminal building!! Upon exiting the bus at the terminal building (FBO as its called) we saw 7 F-16 fighter jets taxi, and take off in front of us. We then went in, and got driving down the apron to the Cirrus factory! We went in, introduced ourselves, and let her know we were ready for the tour, as we were the only three getting a tour, and then she directed us upstairs to the customer lounge, where we helped ourselves to one of the many complimentary drinks in the fridge. We were then met by our tour guide, taken to a board room where he presented a little slide show on the history of the company, and a few specifications on the airplanes, and then took us to the factory, which was across the parking lot. The factory that is based in Duluth, it the final assembly factory, so the raw composite parts are produced at another facility in the U.S. and then shipped to Duluth where they are assembled and sold. We weren't aloud camera's inside the facility, but I do have several pictures of their aircraft from outside. After the tour of the factory, we went back to the FBO and signed our their courtesy car, and headed downtown to the city of Duluth. We were recommended to go try food from Grandma's Saloon. It is the name of a fairly popular chain restaurant in Duluth. We went and ate there, after noticing that there are alot of things name "Grandma's (something)" apparently Grandma was pretty popular. After lunch we headed back to the airport, grabbed a starbucks on the way, because Steinbach doesn't have one, and then went back to our airport. We waited for the weather to clear up to we could get back out of the airport, and headed to sky harbour from there. Sky Harbour ( photo attached) is a small little airport, on what looks to be a sandbar that was made as a wave break to protect the Duluth Harbour! We then headed back home, stopping only in Pinecreek to clear customs, the only ACTUAL international airport. It just so happens to have half the runway in Canada, and the other half in the U.S. Each customs office is also on its respective side of the border. This is only day one, but I have to run, so I will complete this post with the two days following soon.............

That is our plane the closest one to me, and that is about how far we got driven upon arrival to the FBO!!

This is the exterior of the Cirrus Factory, with several new planes sitting on the apron.

Brand New cirrus purchased by a Canadian, being polished up waiting for its new owner to come and pick it up, and fly it home!!

This is Sky Harbour.

This photo shows you how close the runway is to the water!! With a huge crosswind from the left!

Skimming the Border

2009-10-14T15:23:00.004-03:00

Over the last couple of days, since my last post at least, the weather has been on and off as far as being good enough to fly, normally better in the morning, and then deteriorating in the afternoon and evening. I have however still been able to get some flying in here and there! Yesterday I got out for 2 hours for a little cross country to the three little airports of Altona, Winkler, and Morden. All of which are within 15 Miles of the US border, Altona being the closest at only miles north of the Minnesota border. I did however refrain from sticking a wing tip over the border just to say I had done it. I am however planning a trip with Chris (My Instructor) to go to Duluth International Airport, for a tour of the Cirrus factory. Cirrus is a very nice modernly designed airplane that would cost you in the vicinity of $500,000.00 - $700,000.00 depending on the model. (http://cirrusaircraft.com/sr20/gallery.aspx?popup=true) The original plan was to do it yesterday, but Chris was getting back late from Vancouver, and the weather wasn't looking good, so we just decided to bump it for a week.

It is currently snowing here again right now, and it is forecasted for us to get 2-4cm again tonight. Due to the snow, I am not flying, therefore it is a study day for me, seeing as I still have my Transport Canada Written Exam left ahead of me. Just for those interested, this exam consists of 100 questions, and is broken up into four sections. Navigation, Airlaw, Meteorology, and General Knowledge ( engines, the working of systems, etc.) I have three and a half hours to write it, and the pass mark is 70%. 100 questions might not sound like much, but when there is this vast of a knowledge base to know, just to pass the exam you have learned ALOT because they randomly pick and choose questions from each of those topics.

I also have another couple photos from my trip yesterday!

The guy in this photo is the one I MIGHT be going to Calgary with...He tagged along yesterday just for the fun of it.

This is me in front of the plane while we got out and stretched out legs at Morden!!

Me with the Citabria!

2009-10-10T21:06:00.003-03:00

This is the Citabria I went solo in!!!

These are some pictures of Steinbach North, an airport about 4 miles north of the airport I am currently at.

There is a nice golf course on approach!

First Snow!!!!

2009-10-10T11:53:00.004-03:00

The photos below is what I woke up to this morning, after it snowing for about 5 hours last night....Probably somewhere around 4cm is what they were forecasting.

First, First, & First

2009-10-07T01:08:00.006-03:00

Starting with yesterday, I did my first solo flight in the Citabria (Tail Dragger Aircraft). Which was awesome!!! I think the funnest thing to flying them is A) a little more of a challenge, and B) they have a stick, instead of a control yoke which anybody will tell you, it is much nicer flying with a stick. I will have pictures to follow, they just haven't happened yet. Then last night I did my first solo set of night circuits. I have done all the other prerequisites for my night rating, I just need 3.8 more solo hours. This was fun, but only as fun as doing circuits (Basically Circles) can be, within the next couple days I will be doing a solo night cross country, which will be alot more fun!! That was yesterdays news, and today I went for my first solo cross country since I have been here. I have attempted two before now, but the weather has not cooperated, and didn't look to good this morning either, but it ended up being a pretty nice day.

Todays cross country consisted of a stop in Lac Du Bonnett, which I know means basically nothing to you, unless you have been there, or live here. But it is a nice small little privately run airport, right on a lake, so being on a lake it as actually a fairly large float plane dock. Such float planes do alot of delivery of goods to remote lakes north of winnipeg to fishing villages etc, and other people just have them for personal leisure. Today when I was up there, there was what I believe to be a Beaver tied up, and it was having several 19gal water jugs loaded on board. (Photo Below). There was also a very nice Pilatus PC-12 parked up there! I also have photos of that attached below.

These first two photos are of the Beaver on Floats that is docked and being loaded!

This is the Pilatus PC-12!! A very well designed small executive airplane!

This here is Fort Garry, the oldest standing Stone fur trading post still intact in North America! I snapped this photo while I was on my way into Saint. Andrews! That is also the Red River you see in the picture. Here is a link with a little more history - http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/mb/fortgarry/natcul/natcul2.aspx

October 3, 2009

2009-10-03T15:48:00.003-03:00

I figured since its been almost 5 days since I posted something I should get on that, then I was thinking as to what I could write about and realized that not much has happened in the last 4 days. The weather hasn't been very good, although we have managed to get up and do some instrument work. Otherwise it has been a pretty slow 4 days, other then a couple intense fooseball matches at the club while we're not flying. I am scheduled for some solo night circuits tonight though, provided the weather hold outs.

I did make a good discovery though, when myself and 6 other guys went out to a local restaurant for some food last night. They are called Irish Nachos. (Amanda, you would love them) They are a form of french fries (like the ones you get in the kitchen sinks at jungle jims) and then they load them with hamburg, tomato, jalapeño peppers, and alot of cheese. Needless to say they are delicious!!

UPDATES

2009-09-30T22:05:00.002-03:00

If you would like to be automatically notified when I post something new, just comment on this post with your complete and correct email address, and I can add it to the automatic notifier.

If you don't want your e-mail available to everybody by posting it on here, send your e-mail address to prtfw2@hotmail.com and I will add you to the list.

September 29th & 30th

2009-09-30T20:19:00.004-03:00

Today was a fairly uneventful day, aside from the winds, and lack of wind sock. In the past 48 hours at some point the winds were strong enough to snap the pole of the windsock, so it has been laying on the ground all day, on one of the days where it would have been MOST useful since I have been here. When there are any crosswinds here, they blow over, around, and through trees that line each side of the runway, this is turn creates quite a nice bit of turbulence on approach and low to the ground. Generally the last place you want to be being thrown around. I spent 2 hours flying today, mostly doing some instrument work up at altitude, but we also did about 8 take-offs and landings. Those were interesting...but a very good challenge.

Last night myself and Chris (My Instructor) went on our first night cross country. It took approx 4 hours en route, with 3 stops. Lac Du Bonnett which is a pretty cool airport, because it is actually a large float plane base with several float planes parked, and docked. From there we went to St. Andrews for fuel, then over downtown Winnipeg just to circle a couple of times and site see, then to Portage (SouthPort). Portage is where the Canadian military does there primary flight training, then it was time to head back home. We didn't arrive back in steinbach till about 12:13AM.

This is just a picture of the trailing edge of the weather that kept us grounded all weekend.

This is what the cockpit looks like at night, except camera's don't have very good night vision, so it as actually much easier to see then this picture would depict.

First Weekend

2009-09-27T17:06:00.005-03:00

So yesterday and today were no fly days for me, I was scheduled to do a cross country yesterday but the ceilings (clouds) were to low, and today a bunch of us were going to take 3 or 4 planes to a favourite burger stand in Beausejour, about 25 mins north east of where I am, but again the weather was pretty bad, so we cancelled the trip. The picture attached below is of a Pitts S2B, its a famous stunt plane that you would most likely see doing aerobatics at an airshow. It is owned by the school, and for $208, you can go up for a 30min ride in it!

And this is a photo of me (well, the plane i'm flying) doing a touch and go! It was taken by one of the dispatchers here at the school

First Two Days of Flying

2009-09-24T18:04:00.002-03:00

So yesterday was my first day of flying, and my first flight over flying a Citabria (Tail Dragger). So like normal for getting checked out on a different type of airplane, you go up and do some upper air work, such as spins, spirals, stalls, steep turns, etc... So being my first flight over the ever so flat Prairies, my instructor ( Chris ) asked me to find out where we were on out map, and while i was looking proceeded to ask if I had ever been upside down before....So I answered no! He then proceeded to take us throw a perfect 1G barrel roll, where the map I was holding didn't even leave my hand. Later that evening, I started my night rating which consisted of one hour of just circuits ( so practice taking off and landing) This was certainly a different experience but definitely fun!! I have been for a 40 minutes cross country flight today, from Steinbach to St. Andrews and back. Spent one hour of circuits in the Citabria,which at the end of, after only being in the airplane for two hours, and done about 10-12 circuits, I was offered a solo trip!!!! I chose to take it next time were out! Iam currently on my way to work on some instrument work in the Simulator for an hour!

First Day of Flying + Pictures

2009-09-23T11:19:00.008-03:00

So, its the morning of the 23rd (First day of flying). I spent all day yesterday getting groceries, and settling in, taking some pictures, and getting to know the guys in my trailer etc... Todays schedule is pretty nice though, because I don't have to go anywhere till 1:00 for a briefing, then fly at 3:30, my first flight of my tail dragger checkout in an aerobatic rated Citabria!!! Then I get to go for my first night flight tonight at 8!! Below are the pictures that I took yesterday!

This is the site out my trailer window!

My next door neighbours across the street! lol

The runway as viewed from the road!

The never ending road out behind the school!

The flight school on your right, and their hanger on the left.

The first one on the left is my trailer, trailer #1.

The fun begins already!!

2009-09-17T16:54:00.003-03:00

So I got an e-mail today saying that there was not available accomodations for me at the airport that I was planning on attending ( St. Andrews ) but that there would be a student leaving there soon, so would I mind going to Steinbach ( there other airport/campus ) for a couple of weeks until there is a room free'd up at St. Andrews. So I am going to Steinbach for the first week, or two, or maybe three, who knows. Then to St. Andrews following the completion of this other student who is currently occupying my room. LOL

Awesome Photos

2009-09-16T23:23:00.001-03:00

Just some awesome aviation photos for the first post!!

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/in_flight.html