A week in Edmonton

Looks I'll be spending the next week here in Edmonton. Just drove up to be on call here until Friday. We have a jet sitting here, but there is no crew. We have a flight scheduled to Vancouver Island on Friday, but need to be on call here all day tomorrow in case something comes up. Then we have another day free and then Sunday off to Winnipeg and back. Then somewhere there is also a day in Vancouver, I think Tuesday night I'll be there, but I'm not certain.

My last trip to Vancouver was great. Got to see a few of you fine folks and was generally quite pleasant. EXCEPT, that our clients were late. We were to leave at 10pm on Sunday night but didn't get out of there until past midnight! We landed in Calgary just before 3am.. what a night. And the funny thing was, that plane was scheduled to go out for an early morning trip to Texas and the crew was already at the airport getting ready for their flight at 3:20am. I went to bed, and they ended up flying to Texas.

Maybe I'll hit up the West Ed Mall while I'm up here.. that'll help kill a bit of the time up here.

I'll be in Vancouver this weekend

In an ironic twist of fate, my folks are out here in Calgary visiting, and now I'm off to Vancouver for the weekend.

I wasn't likely to see much of them anyways, as they plan to spend Saturday and Sunday almost exclusively at Spruce Meadows for the big horse shows going on.

Still.. an odd little stroke of luck that we swapped homes for the weekend. :)

'tis the life of an on call pilot. But at anyrate, if you're around and have some time, fire me an email or post here and maybe we can catch up.

Justin climbs Mt Fuji

Justin has successfully (as in still alive) climbed Mt Fuji in Japan. He's over there doing some work and schooling and having a great old time as I read about it on his blog.

He recently posted about his experiences climbing the great Mt Fuji and has posted some great photos as well. Check it out here: Climbing Mt Fuji.

Laptop clean up

My laptop over the past couple of months had really started to slow down. No matter how often I ran a disk defrag or any of the other cleanup tools, it just wasn't running 100%. So it was time for the drastic, but necessary, full format and reinstall.

I had recently acquired an external 250gb hard drive from futureshop at a pretty darn good price, so I backed everything up onto it and began the process a couple of days ago. I couldn't have been more happier with the results. She runs like she should. It is taking some time to reinstall everything that I had previously running, but so far so good. She works great and has likely increased general speeds by 40%. Not bad for 2hrs worth of work. I highly suggest the same to others if they find the computer just isn't running like it should. Just make sure you backup everything important before you do!

Also, on a side note, my folks will be in town this weekend. They decided to take a road trip out here in the SMART car. Quite the trip! But should be good, my mom has never seen the place where I am now, nor has she seen my place of employment. So I'll take them around for the grand tour. The reason they're coming out is for all the horse shows taking place at Spruce Meadows this week. My mom is a big horse fan and I plan to give her a belated bday present of a 3 piece frame with pictures that I took of her and her horses when I was back in Vancouver last.

Sacha on the state of aviation security

Sacha encounters the latest gong show that is airport security in these troubled post 9/11, shoe bomber, and liquid bomb days.

In his recent post on airline security, while traveling back from LAX he gets to see first hand at what the current state of security measures have become.

It is a little out of control these days. More of a case of "CYA Syndrome", which stands for Cover Your Ass. It's a constant reminder why I am thankful enough that our company does not have to deal with most of the security hassles that plague the majority of the traveling public.

Cessna Caravan gets wet

Well it's not secret to any pilot in Canada wishing to climb the commercial ranks and fly for a living, that for many people, starting out means having to fly in some interesting locations usually in northern Canada.

Flying supplies and people into small remote little airstrips. A lot of the times, where air transportation is the only way in and out. I feel very fortunate to have been able to bypass this portion of the industry, and constantly aware of the type of sacrifices some have to make.

There was recently a Cessna Caravan which was trying to operate out of a short strip in a northern location. They were actually operating off of an Esker. Long story short, the aircraft was likely overloaded beyond it's means, and already operating out of a short strip (1400 ft), so with a bit of bad luck, this take off turned bad. Here are some shots of the take-off roll which just recently appeared on one of the aviation forums I frequent. (Click on the image for a larger picture)

On the takeoff roll

Attempting lift off

SPLASH

All were OK, so that's the most important thing. The plane was still in good shape though. Aside from the engine, so it will be recovered. I think it is still sitting in the marsh still. It will take quite a bit to get it recovered from such a remote location. I believe they will be using a large transport heavy lift helicopter which will cost many many many thousands of dollars to get the job done. Here's a picture of the plane after it came to rest:



This same aircraft has had a bit of a troubled past, most recently being operated by a now defunct Vancouver operator after it had engine problems and crashed while attempting an emergency landing near Port Alberni, killing the pilot and some passengers.

There will always be a need for these type of aircraft to operate in some pretty remote areas, I just continue to hope that people see these types of incidents and realize that maybe they shouldn't always push the limits of the airplane or themselves.

Onto a softer topic... PUPPIES!

I got back from a trip yesterday after taking a father and his 2 kids out to Windsor Ontario. He was only going to be staying there for a couple of hours, so we weren't quite sure exactly what he was up to. Maybe signing some papers, or foreclosing on a house or something. When we dropped him off we still had no idea, and then he said he'd only be an hour. So that peaked our interest even more. Whatever though, makes my day quicker.

We left from Edmonton and it took 3.5 hrs to get there. The return trip would be another 10 mins more than that. So what could it possibly be that he needed to travel over 7hrs for and only stay for an hour in town? A PUPPY!

They had traveled all this distance in the jet to go to a breeder and pick out a puppy. What a cute puppy too. At best guess I'd say he was something like a beagle or bloodhound. I'm thankful they had enough sense of mind to bring blankets and newspapers and plastic rolls to lay down on the floor in case the puppy needed to relieve himself. But he was very well maintained, he spent equal amounts of time sleeping the arms of each of the 2 young girls that had accompanied their father on this adventure.

But even I got something out of this trip. As soon as I saw that this trip was going to Windsor I picked up the phone and called Bonnie. She's living there now with her fiance (yup, you heard me right!) Jim. I haven't seen Bonnie in quite some time, so I made sure to see if she was available to come to the airport. Too bad we didn't have a little bit more time, as I could have gotten the grand tour of Windsor. But she was able to come out and visit me at the airport. Here are a couple pics we snapped on her camera.

Bonnie having a seat in the nice cabin

Captain Bonnie at the controls :)

We tried taking self portraits of the 2 of us in the cockpit, but none of them really turned out very well.. so I've photoshop'd 2 of them together!

Bonnie and the Citation Excel

Count on the media...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the media has one heck of a way of trying to explain things to John Q Public, that even they don't fully understand.

And I'm sure this is the same in many professions, but of course I see it all the time when the media is reporting on something aviation related.

Take this article about an unfortunate incident where an Air Canada Jazz pilot left the cockpit to use the washroom and then unfortunately, couldn't get back in as the door had jammed!

Pilot locked out of Jazz cabin mid-flight

Here's a couple of brief excerpts I'll comment on:

...the pilot on Flight 8475 apparently left the cockpit to use the washroom at the back of the plane, leaving the flight's First Officer in control of the plane.

However when the pilot returned, the door was apparently stuck -- or locked -- and the pilot was unable to return into the cockpit.

Eventually, the crew forced the door open by taking the door off its hinges completely, and the pilot safely landed the plane -- although in the event that the pilot was unable to access the cockpit, the First Officer is trained to land the aircraft.

Perhaps some of you can spot out the poor choice of words in this article, but I'm sure most of you are none the wiser thanks to a poor understanding of what really goes on in the cockpit and just general misconception which has likely been aided along thanks to the awesome job the media usually does.

What I'm trying to point at here, is that there are TWO PILOTS on board the aircraft. A Captain and a First Officer. While both are fully trained on the aircraft, the Captain is also referred to in most cases as the "Pilot in Command". Meaning he usually has more experience and the general flight is under his command. The First Officer is then referred to as the "Second in Command". Both of the pilots fly the airplane, and divide up the duties in the cockpit which alternate on each flight leg. So for a 2 flight day, the Captain would fly the aircraft with the assistance of the First Officer working the radios, calling out pertinent flight information and handling other duties such as physically retracting the landing gear and moving the flap position levers once called for by the other pilot. This would then reverse for the next flight. The First Officer would then fly the next leg with the assistance of the Captain performing the other duties.

The point I'm getting at is that it is a shared cockpit. The First Officer (Co-pilot as some refer to it) does not just sit there and assist, but not fly the airplane. It would be an extremely boring job to just sit there and never fly the airplane! They maintain their same seat positions in most instances (Captain on the left and First Officer on the right) but this changes nothing, as almost all aircraft are fully controllable from either seat.

So as you can see it irks me when I read these reports from the media always referring to the co-pilot or First Officer as back ups and helpers and rarely as what their real job is.. a PILOT. So to read in this article that in the event that Captain could not return to the cockpit the First Officer was trained to land the airplane.. yeesh. Of course he/she can land the damn airplane, he/she's a freaking pilot! Would you like an unqualified individual up in the cockpit up there just helping one pilot out? Let's hold a lottery at the beginning of each flight for a "pilot helper" and just pick a passenger to sit up front. Grrrr.. media.

Another recent report was about the Air France A340 that crashed off the runway in Toronto. The newspaper had written a comment which had basically said: 'It has not been ascertained as to why the First Officer was flying the aircraft, and not the more experienced Captain'. Hell, I'll tell you right now, because it was the First Officer's leg to fly! Now obviously if the Captain had deemed it in his best interest to take control of the aircraft, then it is his right at any time as he is in the ultimate command of the aircraft. But if the First Officer was flying, this is not an uncommon occurrence.

And I'm sure aviation is not the only industry in which this occurs, but of course I read reports everyday related to my field of expertise as I'm sure most of you do too. So it pains me when I read the ignorance being reported, and the general public is lead to believe it is the real deal.

The WRX is alive again... ahhhh

Finally. Purolator came and knocked on the door this morning at 10:30 and I went running to the door. My car's ECU had returned after a very extensive delay.

It took me only a few minutes to re-install the unit and screw everything back into place. The unit is actually located under the passengers foot board protected by an aluminum skid plate. I had meant to take pictures, but I had other things on my mind. :)

First impressions out on the open highway were a definite notice of improvement. But I wasn't quite sold. It wasn't until I started to look at what the car was doing and how smooth it was that I realized it had been improved tremendously. I drove a solid 120kms around the outskirts of Calgary from very slow speeds up to.. well.. let's just say an "undisclosed impressive speed".. all for testing purposes of course.

The power is extremely smooth and the new powerband throughout the RPMs is really where this new ECU shines. I have power where I didn't have power before, it gets that power much sooner, and holds it longer. 1st gear now pulls like a freight train. I'm very happy with my decision. Despite taking twice as long as planned for the transit back and forth of the unit, it all is made up for with the new performance gains it has given the WRX.

It is a new machine.

Rage!!! - Car related.. you bet!

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Well, the gongshow continues. In order for the shop to tune my car's ECU (brain) unit, they actually need a similar car to install my ECU into, and then plug into the car's data ports. They are unable to just plug directly into the ECU. This wasn't a problem last week because the shop had a WRX there that they were going to use. But come today they realized that the guy had come and got his car and gone out of town!

PROBLEM. So a message is posted on the Subaru Message Forums in the Vancouver section asking for help. The shop offers up some good deals on parts and services to anyone willing to drive out to Squamish tomorrow (Tuesday) for a few hours and have their car be used as the connecting link for my ECU tuning. Finally I get an email saying that somebody will be coming - finally relief!

So now as long as the tuning goes fine tomorrow and in a timely manner it will be sent out for an overnight delivery to me and I'll receive it on Wednesday.

I also just happened to be looking around at our company flight schedule, and we currently have a plane in Vancouver that is due to come back tomorrow afternoon. Intriguing isn't it! So if anyone is able to drive out to Squamish to do a parcel pick-up and deliver my ECU (small box) to the Vancouver airport by 2:30pm tomorrow (Tuesday Aug 29th), please email me or post here immediately! It would save me an entire day of not having my car, and helping to put an end to this huge fiasco! I will be very grateful!!!

Still no working car... insanity grows

Such great weather we've been having and I can't get any further than my feet can take me around the neighborhood. It's driving me insane!

Canada Post messed up a little and some new driver didn't try hard enough to deliver my package to the car shop on time. Therefore... everything has been delayed. They won't even get a chance to tune the ECU until Monday. Which means I will have them overnight the package for a Tuesday delivery. I'm irked to say the least.

Our flight schedule has changed so much over the past couple of days, that I'm no longer doing all of those flights I had previously mentioned in my last post. So I have no idea what I'll be doing in the next week. It's all up in the air. I just hope I don't get called out for a last minute flight, as I have no vehicle! I'll have to cab it to work in a worst case scenario.

Needless to say Canada Post got a scathing complaint about this whole ordeal.

I miss driving my WRX!

It teases me just sitting there in the driveway. I continue to wait for my car's ECU to be returned with the new and improved programming geared towards better performance and smoother application of said performance.

The latest I've heard is that it has arrived in Squamish, and if they can finish with it by tomorrow before 1pm, then I can purolator it back here for a Saturday special delivery so that I can have access to my car before Monday. Monday I've got a 3 day trip coming up on the jet where I'll be do a significant amount of traveling. And I'd like to be able to have my car so that I can drive to work! Otherwise I'll have to beg a roommate for a ride to work early Monday morning.

So far the trip has me going to San Diego, Omaha, some place in Vermont, then some place in Ohio, then over to Toronto, up to a town right next to the Quebec town that I visited on my North Bay ON trip (Temiscaming), back to Toronto, then to some place in South Dakota, then over to a place near Salem Oregon and then finally back up to Calgary. So, should be a good trip. I'll get to travel a long distance in the jet and see a lot of new destinations.

You might have also noticed I changed my banner at the top of the site. It's a shot of downtown Calgary. Unfortunately, the Calgary tower is hidden behind some of the other buildings. At any rate, as I continue to be snap happy with my new camera, that banner is likely to change with various scenic shots.

W R X

Well it has been quite a while since I've done any modifications to my WRX. That time has ended. :)

Foolishly, as soon as my jet raise kicked in I go and spend a little money. But I couldn't help it. I've been very good as to not spend any excessive money on the Subaru for quite some time. I've been waiting a long time to do this particular mod. But before I continue, here are a couple of pics I took of the car this past week with the Calgary downtown landscape in the background.





So, back to the modification. I've taken the ECU (brain of the car), out of the WRX and shipped it out to Squamish, BC. For there, nestled near the sea to sky highway is a rally and performance shop called Rocket Rally. This group of individuals is made up of the old Canadian Subaru Rally team after they were disbanded when they kept winning all of the Rally events and Subaru didn't see the need to keep proving themselves. So, the driver and his maintenance team decided to open up shop. If there is ANYONE I would trust to know about my car and what it is capable of... it's these folks.

So they have what's called an ECU reflash, where they take my ECU and reflash all of the programs to be more performance geared. They adjust the fuel mapping, ignition timing, boost control of the turbo etc. The end result is between 35-45 extra horse power simply from changing some settings.

So, I now await for my ECU to return so I can put it back in my car (which is now just sitting in the driveway waiting, as it's useless and undriveable right now) and go out and have one hell of a fun drive. :)

I know a few people that have done this and are very pleased with the results. It is nothing that will add anymore wear and tear to the car that it couldn't normally take. I can't wait.

First jet flight = awesome

It was a very quick flight, but damn.. she's a beaut. A nice little hop over to Kamloops in 44 minutes in great weather. It will take a few flights to get adjusted to the new cockpit, but so far so good.

Tomorrow off to Prince Rupert and then back to Calgary. Should be a quick day.

It's going to take some time to whipe the grin from my face. :)

Marathon flying, but not on the jet

Well.. after vacation and days off I check my schedule only to see that I am scheduled on the turboprop and not the jet! We're really busy right now and barely have enough crew members to handle the flights. So I have been put back on the pilatus to help cover the insanity.

And insanity it was! My one day trip turned into a 4 day trip with layovers. I ended up actually visiting all new airports on each of my days. Something that hasn't happened too often in the past! Adding to the destination tracker is Golden, BC; 108 Mile Ranch, BC; Ponoka, AB; Denver, CO; Eagle, CO and Sandspit, BC. So I have traveled quite the distance in the past few days.

It has all been a bit of a gongshow.. but the biggest was when we went to Denver on Saturday night to hold for a trip back to Calgary the next day. Well, we were waiting for the passengers when we get a phone call from the office saying that our clients were actually in Eagle Colorado instead!!!! About a 45min flight away and in some of the most challenging terrain around Colorado, it's a big resort location and requires a lot of preparation to get in and out of the airport. We actually botched the approach in and got too high and fast on our final approach and had to pull up before landing and do a circle around the airport to bleed off the speed and set our selves up properly for landing. Pretty much everyone, including our clients, saw this and all had something to say... whoops :) From the ground it probably looked like we were doing a high speed pass and showboating.. but it totally wasn't! But at the same time.. it was pretty cool.. ;)

On another note... I FINALLY have a jet flight booked for Friday. My inaugural flight will be to Prince Rupert! Haha, not so glamorous, but I'll take it! Can't wait!