2 Sunsets in one day

One of the coolest things happened the other day on a flight to Victoria. I'll get to that in a second.

The day started off (Friday) with me sleeping in and getting a phone call from the other pilot at the hotel in Edmonton. My alarm had gone off, I had awaken, even started to reply to an email and then... I nodded off. First time since I've started at AirSprint!! The hotel was very close to the airport but it was -25 with windchill and we had arranged for a ride to the airport. The phone call came at the exact time we were to have our ride. So, I was screwed. I told the other pilot that I'd brave the cold and run to the airport, but he managed to get our ride to come back for me 10 mins later. So I got to the plane at 7:15am for our 8am flight. Generally we need to arrive 1hr before the flight to give us enough time to get everything ready and then be ready for our clients 30 mins prior to departure. So I was hustling around and just made it as our clients arrived bang on 30 mins early. It all worked out well and we were off to a much warmer destination, Scottsdale AZ.

Too bad we didn't get to stay. We were then off to Victoria to do a pickup to take back to Calgary. BUT, that didn't quite happen. Climbing through about 36,000' we got a "master caution" warning, which is a big flashing amber light right in front of our eyes that says there is something wrong that needs attention. My eyes then scan to the announciator panel which will then tell me what is wrong. The illuminated item is "FIRE BOTL EXT LOW". Which stands for "Fire Bottle Extinguisher Low". Alright, now to the checklist to figure out what attention this item requires. The checklist goes on to tell us that 1 or both of our engine fire suppresion bottles is either low or has extinguished. The engine fire extinguishers are designed to put our engine fires by pumping various fire extinguishing gases right into the engine. Well, we know that they didn't go off because both our engines were still running fine. This is also an item that if we land, we are not allowed to take off again without having the problem resolved.

So, the other pilot went into the back of the plane and got on the flight phone and called our maintenance department back in Calgary. If we went to Victoria and landed, we wouldn't be able to leave again without having someone fix the problem. So, after a few minutes on the phone the decision was made to turn towards Calgary and have the problem looked at, and then as soon as it was fixed, fly to Victoria a little bit late for the pickup and bring the folks back to Calgary.

So over Las Vegas we made a pretty good right turn and headed northbound. It's tricky around that area because there is lots of restricted airspace we can't fly through. You may also know of this area as "Area 51" :)

So it was a bigger than normal turn to get back on course. But it had to be done. Here's a screenshot I took from a flight tracking program after we landed. I highlighted area 51 and the routing we were supposed to have taken to Victoria. As you can see it was quite the turn to get back on course.



Everything worked out well, we spent about an hour on the ground in Calgary while the mechanics opened up the back of the airplane to look at the fire bottles, and they were both fine. So it was just an indication problem and we blasted off for Victoria, and that is when it happened, one of the coolest things I've seen while flying.

I watched the sunset twice! Just as we took off the sun had set in Calgary and we got airborne and were headed west bound for Victoria. At about 30,000 ft the sun rose again over the horizon and minutes later I watched it set again. Phenominal! That is one memory that will stick with me for a long time and helps to remind me that I love my job and can still see something new and exciting day to day.

Holy Arctic Air Mass Batman!

It is COLD!

So cold that I opted not to venture outside tonight like I had planned. And I'll likely stay in the house tomorrow, unless it is neccessary!

Currently it is -41 with the windchill. That is mighty darn cold. Looks like we're going to be in this cold for a few more days at least. There is a massive arctic air mass that is hovering over much of Canada and even starting to creep down into the states. It is just bitterly cold out there.

Here's a screenshot of the weather network's forecast.

Home sweet home

Ok, I'm home. Finally! Now into 3 of my 4 days off and enjoying the non-hotel lifestyle, for a little while at least.

I came back on Thursday night on Westjet and it was actually a really good flight, the plane wasn't crowded and I watched some live TV in the headrest in front of me.

I promptly plugged in my new xbox to give it a good workout. Only to find out that the hard drive was malfunctioning, so I could play some games but not really go anywhere because I couldn't save anything. So the next day it was off to futureshop to exchange it and now we're up and running full tilt. With the package deal that I got came 2 games, Ridge Racer 6 and Gears of War. GOW is amazing! As a matter of fact, the whole damn machine is amazing. I'm happy with my purchase. I then got Tsang to use his EA discount to get me NHL07 and the latest Need For Speed game. Both are also great. NHL07 is what really got me into the whole xbox in the first place, playing it with my roommate Mike at the local futureshop.

While a lot of you west coasters are getting a bunch of snow, hell we have been too! Except we're usually a little more prepared for it out here. And our snow is not wet and heavy but usually pretty dry and light.. and especially so this week because we're having one heck of a cold snap. -24 today and dropping down to -32 in the next couple of days! Brrrrrrr. Too cold!

Last night we had the company xmas party at the Hyatt downtown here in Calgary. This was my first company xmas party out of 3 that I was actually able to attend. It was a pretty classy event with a good turnout. I was very surprised at the quality of the food, wow oh wow, it was amazing. Nice big 4 course meal, with the best piece of steak I've ever had in my life. And of course the best part, an open bar. Which of course usually means trouble too. So, I got a little tipsy last night and partied it up there til about 1:30am which is when they kicked us out, and about the same time I was finding it hard to speak and stand without swaying. There were a few of us that got pretty darn drunk, good times, good times. This morning was a pretty rough event however. Took some time before I was able to really get out of bed and be any sort of productive.

Well, time to kick back and relax for the rest of my days off here, and looks like my next flight is just over to Victoria and Edmonton on Thursday. Then a few trips down south over the next couple of days after that.

A flight!!

The plane is fixed and we get to go for a flight, albeit quick, but I'll take it!

We're off to Boston and back tomorrow. Should be a nice day there, even though we'll only be there for 30 mins.

Then it's back to the hotel life until Thursday.

On a side note, the new Bond movie "Casino Royale" is great. I really like the new Bond. And this movie was a great intro into the whole Bond franchise. I highly, highly recommend it. It's got cars, poker, girls and classic Bond action... what is there not to like?

12 days available, 12 days in Ontario

My schedule as an on call corporate pilot is 12 days available to fly and then 4 scheduled days off. We don't usually work all of those 12 days, maybe around 8. But this set, it would appear I'm working 'em all.

The best part of it all is because I had only anticipated those first 3 days. So now I'll be out east my full set of 12 days. I'll travel back to Calgary on Thursday and then go on my official days off Friday - Monday.

The only good news is that they're sending another pilot here today who will spend the remainder of the days in the same hotel. So at least now I have some human interaction.

I would however, much prefer to be at home hooking up my new Xbox!

Out East... for a while.

Well, what should have been a couple of days out East doing some flying has turned into a long stint. Which is good and bad. Good for the pocket books, as I'm making more money being away from home base, but bad because I hadn't planned on being away for any greater than 5 days.. because that's all I packed for.

So.. today is day 5. See where this is going? And I'm anticipating being here until Wednesday, which is another 5 days. So.. it's time to find me some laundry facilities.

I'm in Kitchner Ontario staying in a Best Western. Kitchner is one of our eastern bases and I'm here to fly the eastern jet. I got out east on Monday when I flew into Hamilton in preparation for some flying which started on Tuesday. I went down to Oklahoma City and back up to Kitchner. The next day we went down to Tucson via a gas stop in Wichita. We then headed back up to Oklahoma City to pick up the people we had dropped off the day prior, and took them down to Georgetown Texas. Georgetown is a little town just outside of Austin Texas. There wasn't a whole lot to do there, so nothing much to report. The next day we flew them back up to Hamilton and then did the quick hop ourselves over to Kitchner. All of a 13 minute flight, and it was only that long because the weather was bad so we had to fly full approaches through the low cloud and fog to get in.

That brings us to today, Friday. I was going to be heading down to Mexico tomorrow to spend a lovely night in Los Cabos, but that all changed when the jet broke. So no more Mexico. It is getting fixed right now and should be up and running for a flight out of here Monday to Hamilton to pick up those same folks once again and take 'em down to Little Rock Arkansas and then over to Indianapolis. We'll spend the night there and take 'em back up to Hamilton Tuesday. At that point I'm hoping I will hop on a Westjet or AirCanada flight back to Calgary to sleep in my own bed. In the past 2 weeks I've only slept there 1 night, but that first week was because I was in Vancouver on holidays.

So yah, here I sit in my little hotel room all weekend long, just waiting for that flight on Monday. Exciting. And it's only me here!

Today I did go out touring around and walked into the Futureshop to take a peak at all the latest and greatest deals on gizmos... and low and behold they've got a big sale on their XBox360's as a result of the big launch for the PS3. Well, I thought long and hard all day long, and actually succumbed!! I had my roommate Mike pick one up for me in Calgary (only GST in Alberta) as it was a one day sale only. So I am now the proud owner of a new XBox, and I won't be able to touch it until Wednesday at the earliest!!!

Back from holidays, for just a few hours

Got back in this morning to Calgary. What a great time I had in Vancouver. Even though the rain poured for the majority of my trip, it was still warm and reminded me of what Vancouver is all about. I'd move back in a heartbeat if it was available, but things are going well in Calgary now, so I'm here for a while.

I'm packing for a few days right now, so I can't write a big blog. Tomorrow morning I'm on Westjet to fly to Hamilton, ON. There I'll spend the day and then very early in the morning on Tuesday I'm off to Little Rock Arkansas, and then Oklahoma City. Back into Kitchner Ontario later that night and then the rest of my days are unknown. Perhaps they'll keep me out there for a few days, but more likely is that I'll take a cab into Toronto and then fly back to Calgary sometime Wednesday.

Was great seeing most of you guys again. I had some good fun playing poker (Casino and Poker night), watching HDTV hockey games, out to some pubs, just hanging out and relaxing, spraining the hell out of my foot (which is getting better thankfully) and everything else which I'm forgetting as I frantically type out this never ending sentence inbetween folding laundry. :)

Well, perhaps I'll post from somewhere out east when I actually know what the heck I'll be doing.

Holy RAIN Batman!

Come back for holidays and I'm swamped (quite literally) with the buckets of rain falling from the sky. Hopefully I'll get to see a bunch of you lowermainlanders and we can catch up... preferably in a warm and dry establishment!

November holidays in Vancouver

Just a heads up to all you lower mainlanders, I'll be in Vancouver on holidays November 4th-11th. A nice week off to relax and all that good stuff. I'm sure there'll be some poker action and other fun stuff.

Keep you schedules clear!

Back in Calgary.. for a few hours

Today was a lot of flying. The plane was fixed in time for us to depart Washington, DC and travel enroute to a fuel stop location in Salina Kansas, and then off to Scottsdale AZ for the pickup.

From there we brought the folks back to chilly Calgary. It was 25 degrees in Arizona when we left.. it was -5 degrees in Calgary when we arrived. Brrrr!! I walked back into the hangar only to find out I would be flying nonstop over the next couple of days as well.

So tomorrow (Wednesday) it's off to Port Hardy, BC and back to Calgary, then immediately off to Palm Springs, CA and back.

Thursday morning is another Palm Springs and back. Pretty exhausting. Then it would appear I have Friday off which I'll need, so I can prepare for my upcoming vacation back to Vancouver!

Still in Washington, DC

The plane we were in yesterday was only in Calgary for a few hours and then another crew took it bright and early to fly down to Florida to continue the trip that we were originally to do.

So.. that means I'm still here in Washington (actually Virginia.. right on the border). Not quite sure what is happening with the plane, but if it gets fixed tonight, then we're off at 7am to Scottsdale Arizona (with a fuel stop somewhere... damn westerly winds are killers) for a pickup and then back up to Calgary.

We'll see if that happens or not.. I'm giving it 50/50 at this point. One thing's for certain. We're not making lots of money by having our jets flying all of these empty legs, it is VERY pricey. That's the price of doing business though - $hit happens. :)

Oh, and we went and checked out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum which is right near the airport. It is a very cool place that costs $0! It is a must see in this area, they've got all sorts of goodies inside ranging from SR-71, to the Concorde, to the Enola Gay, to one of the Shuttles.. and it goes on and on. Check it out if you're in the area, you wont be disappointed!

Florida was nice... for 30 mins.

Then it was off to Washington DC, which is where I type this message. One of our other jets had some landing gear issues when they took off out of here on their way back to Calgary. So they had to come back and land and the plane is now at a maintenance facility getting looked at.

So we brought our jet up so they could take their passengers back to Calgary. We now sit here with a broken jet, unsure of what tomorrow has in store for us. We're supposed to be in Florida tomorrow to take some people from Orlando to Tampa, but it's all kind of depending on what happens with our jet tonight.

I'll post again tomorrow night from wherever we may be!

Toronto and Florida

I got a call yesterday while lying in bed to get to the airport and hope on an AirCanada flight out to Toronto. Now in Toronto, today I do a couple of quick hops around here (in very very windy Toronto) to pick up some people and take them down to Florida. We'll be hitting up Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Miami. Then returning to the Toronto area on the Nov 1st. After that I'm not so sure what's going to happen, likely a commercial flight back to Calgary on the 2nd.

Sunny weather and warm beaches here I come!

48,934 kms young

Took the WRX in for it's 48,000 km service today. The BIG one as it's referred to. That's because it's the most extensive and also of course, the most expensive. I was not looking forward to today in a monetary frame of mind, but glad to get this service done.

When the dust settled it was a whopping $690 expense. Ouch! But it had to be done. Now she's all refreshed with all new fluids everywhere and new filters everywhere, and a few other goodies. I was not shocked at the hourly labor rate, but still a little surprised.. it just keeps going up and up! It was $98/hr and that constituted nearly $350 worth of the service.

Well now I've got another 6,000 kms before I need worry about anything else.

Our newest jet

Here's a few pics on our newest jet. It hasn't quite arrived yet. Nor has it even finished being built. One of our pilots was down in Wichita a couple of weeks ago on a seminar and he managed to get over to the Cessna plant where they make the Citation Excel. He had the opportunity to tour the production plant and got some pictures of our new jet. It is scheduled for a December 8th delivery date. I'm optimistic that it will arrive on time, but it still looks like they've got a ways to go!

Excel being built