Enjoying Penticton

The weathers been pretty nice since we got here on Saturday. More or less sunny with cloudy periods the whole time. The temps have been great and we've been touring around and soaking up some of the okanagon's sunshine.

A few things have helped to make this one layover more memorable than most. On our first night, the other pilot and I (once again Phil) were outside on the patio of Starbucks in downtown Penticton when we watched another one of our planes fly over top of us on their way in. Some quick emailing back and forth with my roommate gave me the identity of the crew and I immediately shot them an email which I knew they'd get right away on their blackberry. They told us they were just dropping off a couple of people and carrying onto Calgary, so they planned to take off from the airport and then keep it low over the town on their way out. So Phil and I made our way to a parking lot with a better open view towards where the airport was and we noticed a large construction tower right nearby. I emailed the crew and told them we were just beside this crane which they couldn't miss on the departure. So a couple minutes later... holy cow. I catch the lights of the plane as they came screaming overtop of us at maybe about 300 feet, which is damn low. It would be illegal if the airport wasn't so close bye. But even still, they had to keep the plane very very low after departure to accomplish what they did. It was pretty amazing to see, but certainly not normal flying techniques. :) It left a smile on our face for quite some time later.

Today after breakfast Phil and I also decided to hike up towards some of the hills around town (similar to our Vernon hike) and managed to get quite a ways up. We passed some signs that lead us to believe there was a Moose on the prowl in the area. So we were making extra noises in spots to make sure we didn't startle any large creatures. Well, we did. But thankfully not a Moose, we stumbled across a couple of deer. It was still pretty startling though as for the first few seconds they do appear to be the same shape as a Moose, so it gave us quite the initial scare!

We figure we walked about 10kms today and made it back to the hotel to relax as both of our feet were tingling numb after the 3 hour ordeal. Then Phil gets a phone call from the client we brought out here. He is inviting us out to his property in Summerland for drinks. Phil tried to be polite and say no, because we really aren't supposed to be doing stuff like that. But he was insistent we come to his house and gave us his address. After Phil and I deliberated for a few minutes we realized it would be too rude to not go. But unfortunately because we were still on call and still so close to home base we couldn't have any wine with him and his wife. So we walked over to a gas station, bought some coke and called a cab! A $40 cab ride later we arrived at his amazing waterfront property which is nice and secluded in Summerland. Just amazing. We chatted with them for an hour and a bit on their patio and just enjoyed the great scenery and sliced fruit :) Another $40 cab ride and we were back at our hotel... we've decided the company will be reimbursing us for the cab fare as we were keeping up client relations and stuff like that!

Tomorrow we head back to Calgary and our day is done. Wednesday I get to take a trip out all the way to Denver with Air Canada commercially to get my fingerprints taken by US security. It's a large process that is required prior to being able to go on any flight training courses in the states now after 9/11. It's quite a waste though, because I'll fly all the way there and then spend 10 minutes getting the finger prints taken and then fly right back. Especially considering the fact that it is the exact same process I've already gone through with Canadian security in Calgary with the exact same machines, it's just that Calgary isn't a US recognized screening center (no Canadian place is).

I then go on much needed days off this weekend. I will take some time to restock the fridge, relax and hopefully replace my much cracked and smashed windshield in the WRX!

Flying my ass off

Well I guess things are balancing out after that one stint from a few months ago when I didn't fly for 19 days in a row. Now it's the exact opposite. I've been flying every day pretty much for the past 19 except for scheduled days off. And those are barely enough to take care of relaxing, errands and getting out and about.

I'm currently in Thunder Bay Ontario and we leave to go back to Calgary today. Previously this week I've been hopping all over the place to the coast, the interior, up to Grande Prairie and Red Deer. After I get back from this trip I'll be off to the interior again for a 2 night layover in Penticton. But of course this is all subject to change.

Weather in Calgary is rainy and miserable, but out here in Ontario it's actually quite nice. Our clients have moved up their departure time which is good, as before we were set to arrive in Calgary at 12:30am. Now we'll be getting in closer to 10pm.

I've got lots of paperwork that's starting to pile up, so I hope to have some time to myself in Penticton (or wherever) so that I can get some of it done! Hopefully I can scam a wireless signal wherever I end up. I need to update all of my flying logs and also need to finish off a lot more paperwork prior to going on my jet training course in July.

Time to start packing to go home, the story of my life lately!

I can finally relax for a couple of days

With a lot of our pilots away on training, it has been a very very busy set of days on for me. Not really giving me much time to do anything but fly, sleep and eat, and barely at that.

Since Montana I've been to Edmonton, Victoria and Brandon for layovers. And have also done many long day flights as well. I have totaled up that out of the past 30 days I've spent 16 of them in hotels and fully away from home. This translates into a lot of eating out and even had me not eating many meals at home when I was in Calgary, just for the pure fact that I couldn't go grocery shopping. It took its toll on me that's for sure. I finally got the opportunity to stock up the fridge yesterday.

Some highlights from these past few days... hmmm. Well, first off, Brandon Manitoba (where I spent 2 nights) was actually where my Mom went to University. She grew up in Virden Manitoba which is an hour drive west of Brandon. I have visited the area before many times in my childhood visiting the grand parents there. So I had to go and find the University, which was actually just down the road from the hotel. Too bad it was locked up on the weekend, I really wanted to get in and find the grad class picture with my Mom in it!

I did have to snap a picture though for my Mom to show her I was there. Here I am just in front of the main building. Without my sunglasses and squinting quite noticeably!









Then we came across this road sign, so I had to snap a picture in front of it as well to show how close I got to my Mom's hometown.

If only I had a rental car and was not required to be within 30 mins of the airplane at all times (the perks of being on call), then I would have rented a car and drove out to see where my Grand Parents used to live.









I also snapped this shot as we were walking around town.. it had a very nostalgic look to it, so I used photoshop to change it into black and white. I'm getting very tempted to upgrade to a nice digital SLR camera. I've been looking around quite a bit and the Olympus Evolt E-500 dual lens kit has caught my eye for value and performance. As soon as my raise kicks in for going on the jet I'll seriously start looking. :)



Speaking of the jet. I just today finally wrote the exam that is required to even start the training. It was a very tricky and greasy exam. The only questions I got wrong were on topics that I'm well versed on, but Transport Canada gets very playful with describing scenarios and situations. Grrr, it irks me so! It's also very frustrating that they continue to test on very old and outdated methods of computing flight planning information. Stuff that in today's day, I'll never once use as we have very sophisticated programs to do all our planning for us. Perhaps they'll catch up sometime in the next decade, it is the government though, so I guess I can't be too surprised.

I've also been given definitive dates for my training for the jet down in Dallas Texas. I'll be going down for July 11th to 24th. The training facility is called Simuflite and they have a very nice facility there. My roommate Mike just returned from his training and was quite impressed.

After 9/11 there are some very strict regulations that must be followed in order to even receive this type of training in the states for foreign residents. So I have to go down to Denver to get finger printed and submit a bunch of security paperwork and then I'll be approved to go down for the course in July.

Well, that's the jist of what's been going on lately. We've been having some great weather here. Very warm! We hit 31 degrees the other day and have been hovering in the high 20's all week. I just came home from a walk to the local starbucks (20 min walk) and wished I hadn't worn a black shirt! Very toasty!

Hopefully my upcoming week is a little less hectic. I could use a little less crazyness.

Flashback to memory lane

Just getting ready to leave this great freaking hotel here in Whitefish Montana. I don't want to leave!!

Anyways, I was just recalling back on the long day of flying I was doing before this trip. We went to Abbotsford, Oliver (in the okanagon by Osoyoos) and Sechelt (just north east of Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast). Coming into Abbotsford I was flying and we were in and out of the clouds as we were being directed by the air traffic controllers to get lined up for the appraoch in the airport. But this means that you bypass the airport and fly up around Richmond, then by White Rock and then into the approach landing eastbound in Abbotsford. Well, anytime you can break off the approach it's going to save you lots of time. So we started to get some ground contact and eventually we could clearly see the ground and around us. So we got permission to proceed on our own and scoot under the clouds and head on in. Well, in doing this we got nice and low right over Highway #1. As I was lining us up for landing I couldn't help but chuckle how much it reminded me of my Traffic Watch flights I used to fly doing low level over the highways.

Then later that day we were enroute to Sechelt from Calgary and we were being routed over the North Shore mountains and then over the Second Narrows bridge and then to fly up the coast eastbound towards Sechelt. Well once again, we were over Highway #1 and the other pilot and I had a good laugh as we had been doing it all day.

Ahhh memories. :) It's very methodical to take-off go up to altitude then descent down and land. It adds a lot to the flight when we get to alter that up especially when the weather is nicer and we can fly more scenic routes on quick short hops. That's going to be something I'll miss once getting onto the Jet fleet, as they can't operate into any of the smaller airports that I currently go into on a near daily basis. But, there are also other tradeoffs that I'm looking forward to. Such as getting to Palm Springs just shy of 3hrs instead of the just over 5hrs it takes in the PC-12 aircraft I fly now.

Well, time to get dressed and go flying! The next few days look very busy for me as we are short staffed with other pilots off on training. Should be interestingly busy!

A place better than Vegas!?

And who would have thought it would be found in Whitefish Montana?

That's where I'm typing this blog entry from. A little mountain town just south of Calgary and across the border. We took a group out here for a couple of days of golfing. It appears as though we'll get to stay the whole time.

So what's so special about this place? Well it's kind of like a Whistler town, but it's inbetween seasons and not very busy. We've been put up in a brand new freaking amazing resort lodge. This is by far the best place I've ever stayed in. Barely a couple of months old, this hotel room is HUGE, bigger than some condo's I've looked into. I have a nice desk area, 2 sofa chairs, kitchen unit, wooden patio, fireplace, huge bathroom with large tub, nice shower, a king sized bed and just really well finished.

The place is called the Whitefish Lake Lodge. I didn't bring my camera which I'm regretting now as it's quite amazing. The best I can do is link to the webpage. LINK HERE

The weather's not that great, but it's still better than Vegas. Simple fact is I need to be studying, and this has got to be the best study environment I can think of. Sit back, relax, view out onto the lake landscape, with the fireplace on in the background and a bunch of textbooks scattered around.

This will be a nice couple of nights in the normally $300/nt accomodations! Thankfully we get a crew rate and it's offseason, otherwise the company would never have put us up here.

Vegas no more

Well I spoke way too soon about that Vegas trip, as I of anyone should know that things aren't final until I'm pushing the power levers up on the take-off roll!

The trip got switched over onto a jet and so I'm no longer off for a nice mini-vacation down in Nevada. I then saw that I was crewed on another flight however and all of today I had read it as going to Napa Valley, CA. However, I just realized that is not the case. The airport identifier for Napa Valley (KAPC) is very similar to my actual destination of Kallispell, MT (KFCA). So... instead I'll be spending a couple of nights just south of the border in a ski town instead of a wine town. Oh well.

I also have a bunch of hops planned on Sunday going to Abbotsford, Oliver and Sechelt... should be a nice day of interesting flying.

Of course, all these flights are not for a couple of days yet, and of course are still subject to change. So is the life of a corporate pilot.

Vegas bound

Off to Vegas for what appears to be a 4 night layover starting Sunday. Sounds great right? Well.. yes and no. It's a nice place to go to every once and a while but it's also a pricey place to go! Unless one can make it worth while. But I've also got some exams that I need to write soon in order to go on the Jet course, and if there's anyplace that's not going to be a good study environment.. it's Vegas!

The chances we'll be staying there the whole time is unlikely, but stranger things have happened. We appear to be pretty busy around that time and I imagine the schedule will just end up filling up more and more as the trip approaches.

I will of course have to hit up some poker tables when I'm down there if we do end up staying. :)

Fairly active set of days on call

For some odd reason I was only on call for 9 days this past set. Perhaps they're trying to revamp the schedule, or they just totally screwed something up and neglected to put me on for my normal 12. I don't mind, because I'm back on days off right now and they're quite well needed. I was going pretty strong during this set of 9.

The first day I didn't fly but was called and informed that I'd be going to a first aid course the next day. Part of the requirements for our operations is that at least one crew member needs to have current first aid training. Well, we don't quite have that anymore, so everyone is getting the opportunity within the next couple of months to go to a one day first aid course held by Saint John's. I went and met up with a couple other pilots who were also doing it that day as well. It was a good course and am glad I got the opportunity to revamp my skills, as the last time I took any official training was back in the days of boy scouts.

Then the flying began. First I had the glorious honor to drive up early in the morning to Edmonton to exchange with another crew member and continue on the flying. So at 7am I was on the road driving up. All of this just so I could make the 40 minute flight right back to Calgary! Oh well. Then we ended up holding in Calgary for a few minutes and took another client to Saskatoon. Then the schedule got all sorts of changed as they were trying to figure out more efficient ways to use planes and crew. So instead of continuing on to Grande Prairie we were told we were going to hold in Saskatoon for 3 nights and then go to Regina.

That plan lasted all of 1 day as the next morning as I was just waking up I got a message that essentially said "get your asses back to Calgary, we need a plane here soon!" Ok, so we hustled out of the hotel and back to the plane and screamed back over to Calgary. Where I was informed that I'd be continuing on with another Captain to Vernon for a 3 night layover. Hmmm... Ok. I had actually only packed for 2 nights as that was my original schedule, but of course things change a mile a minute. I guess there were going to be re-runs on this trip. We head into Vernon where the weather is decent but nothing spectacular... it did get better throughout the afternoon. The first night we walked all around town and pretty much saw everything there was to see right then and there.

The next day was gorgeous! Was to get up to 25 degrees and lots of sun. We decide to head out to one of the hills surrounding town and decide to hike up it. No real paths anywhere we just started going up and up and up. We made it to a first clearing and looked back over town and the valley. Quite a view we had. We were about a third of the way up the hill. Then it got super steep. We were slipping trying to find good footing. It was hot out, we were getting pretty dirty trying to navigate up this terrain and the whole time I'm looking back down and wondering... how the hell are we going to get back down aside from sliding on our asses all the way!?

We make it to the next clearing and take another look around. Wow, what a day and what a view. But then another view appears and that's the last little bit to the top of this hill, which I'm not at this point going to refer to a mountain! We slowly manage to negotiate the slippery and steep terrain and end up splitting our paths towards the last vertical 200 feet. I'm sliding around barely maintaining my balance when my blackberry is buzzing away. It's the other pilot (Phil again, same as from Scottsdale trip last week) and he's made it to the top. A few more minutes and I crest the top. It was quite the hike up and we were rewarded with a nice 360 degree view of the valleys, town and Lake Okanagon. Then we saw something that was even more beautiful - a construction road that went down the other side of the hill!

So we start to head down this hill via this construction back road and keep hearing all these weird sounds. We see an area of shrubs and trees off the side of the dirt road and it appears to be birds or something. We walk a little further and come across a sign that points in that direction with the warning of "MAD DUCKS!" Eeek! Glad we didn't get too close to investigate, we might have been attacked!

As we traveled further down this road we began to realize it was an active construction site and we wouldn't be able to continue down the road without walking right through the middle of a bunch of active machinery. So we look around and see a large open field off the side of the road that appears to go down into another area of town. We opt for this route but run into a barbed wire fence. We managed to just barely sneak underneath this fence and now there's no question about it, we're trespassing on somebody's property. We scurry down the hill and find ourselves in the middle of a vineyard! No grapes however, otherwise I would have tried one just to say I had. :) We then follow this down further and come across somebody's driveway that leads out onto a main road. We squeeze between some fence posts and manage to make our way back into civilization via this road. It was quite the journey and we promptly found a place and had a couple of nice refreshing ice teas.

It was at dinner that night, as I was nursing yet another sunburn, that we found out about another trip we'd be doing the next day. It was going to be a quick hop back to Calgary and then right back into the BC Interior to Salmon Arm which is just a few miles up from Vernon. Then we would position back into Vernon for another night and finish the original trip as planned.

The next day was also gorgeous and we departed Vernon in style, screaming up the valley and pulling some tight turns before aiming back for Calgary. Another uneventful flight into Salmon Arm and then it was back in the plane for a very fun ride. These are always the best, when we're empty and making these quick little positioning legs in good weather. We leveled off about 1000' above the valley floor and went screaming as fast as the plane would go towards Vernon. Of course on the way we did some turns and had some fun. We circled over town and landed back, for a total flight time of 13 mins. Good times.

The next day the weather was not as good. A cold front had just started to pass on through and was causing a lot of instability in the area. So we had to climb up around some building thunderstorms in the area before we could set course for Calgary. We then also experienced some malfunctions with the autopilot which is not dangerous but very annoying. We managed to get most of the system back operating but just to be sure, Phil hand flew the entire way back which was only another 40 minutes.

It was when back in Calgary that I was told I'd be flying yet again the next day, and by no means was this going to a short day. It was a 9am departure to go to Palm Springs to pick up a couple of people and come straight back to Calgary. Oy, my ass hurt just thinking of it. 5 hrs each way is the usual time involved. The flight down was pretty good, leaving a miserable 2 degrees and windy and rainy in Calgary we got to Palm Springs where it was sunny and 35 degrees! Toasty! On the way down we passed some time by watching "Old School" on the other pilots laptop in the cockpit. The way back we couldn't do that, but I had my ipod that I listened to and some time was spent navigating our way around some thunderstorms that had built up in the south eastern areas of Nevada. It's that time of the year again, fun fun.

So then yesterday thankfully I didn't have flights and now today I'm on days off for the next 4. Some time to finally relax and get some errands done. I need to start studying up for some exams that I'll be needing to take before going on course for the Jet in the summer. Well, that was a novel I just wrote there so I'm going to stop now and go and have a beer while I contemplate what to make for dinner!