Hello all!
I haven't been on this blog for quite some time, and now I feel compelled to write a post on my summer travels. What a busy time of year...
First off, since my last post there hasn't been too many exciting flights.. Every flight is exciting in it's own way (at least for me), but there were none that come to mind that were unusual or strange. I like it that way though. The less "exciting" the flight, the more I enjoy it! Excitement can be a bad thing, or if it's not a bad thing, it's usually weather related and that makes me work harder! Call me lazy, but I like being able to look out the window while I'm flying instead of being face deep in an approach plate or in a very rare event, the QRH if something VERY exciting happens. For those who don't know what QRH means, it stands for Quick Reference Handbook. We use the QRH in abnormal or emergency situations to help us fix a problem, and also to make sure we did all the correct memory items that come with certain emergencies.
Anyway, this summer was busy like I said before. I was lucky enough to get three weeks off between the end of July and the middle of August, so my wife and I planned a trip home to Ottawa and to Newfoundland for family stuff. It was AWESOME. I also was able to attend Oshkosh 2013, and I'll talk about that part of my trip (since this is an aviation blog)!
We started our trip to Oshkosh in Arnprior, ON, where I did all of my time building to get the job that I have now... I love being back. When I worked as a jump pilot, I had so many awesome times there! My father, his friend Dave, and one of my best buddies Ernie came on the trip with me. With a borrowed Seneca 2 that I flew a couple years before, we departed (with me in the left seat for a change) for customs clearance Saginaw, Michigan.
After about an hour of waiting for our IFR slot for Oshkosh, we took off for the greatest air show in the world. I must say, flying in a light twin at low altitudes and slow speeds made me wish I was back in the King Air, but I couldn't be happier to be flying with my dad again. The best thing would be if he or I could win the lottery.. Then maybe we could zip around in a King Air together! Never the less, the Seneca did that job just fine, and I remembered how to fly it!
Once we arrived at the air show we parked the plane and went in search of beer.. I love watching the air show and walking around the planes with my buddies, then going to find a beer somewhere and talking more airplanes! It's heaven for an airplane geek like me. Endless airplanes, endless airplane talk. I can't really get tired of it, and neither can my buddy Ernie, so we always have a wicked time at Airventure.
It was a short trip, only three days, but there were a bunch of highlights. We saw some cool new airplanes, talked to the Beechcraft sales people and dreamed of buying a King Air, watched a private Harrier do a full show (COOL!!!), and saw so many P-51's fly that it would make any airplane lover's head spin!
Departure from Oshkosh is an experience that can't be duplicated anywhere that I know of. Being in a place with thousands of people and several hundred (if not thousands) of airplane is cool, but departing with a bunch of them at the same time is even better! The big sky theory really works there. You might take off with three airplanes on the same runway, and as soon as everybody is off the ground and turning on their own course, they disappear.. It's awesome.
With all of that excitement out of the way, I returned back to Saskatoon and then left for Wichita. I did my recurrent simulator training early this year because we'll be moving into our new house around the time that I was supposed to go. FlightSafety was fun, as usual, and now that I'm back in town, things are back to normal. I'm flying a bunch, off a whole lot, and building all sorts of stuff for the new place in my free time..
Life is good, and I have nothing left for this post!
See you in a month, maybe!
About Me
- Pilot Mark
- Flying has been in my blood since birth. I have yet to find anything that compares to leaving the surface of the earth and exploring the sky!
Monday 23 September 2013
Monday 3 June 2013
Soaring Spring.
As I sit here in the flight planning room with the air conditioning keeping me cool, I look back on the winter and feel happy that it's over! This was my first winter in the prairies, and I can say it was vastly different than the winters that I am accustom to.
It isn't so much the weather out here, it's the way the city handles it. Saskatoon's city management, in their infinite wisdom, decided that plowing the roads after any snowfall wasn't necessary. As you drive down the roads you have to make sure that you stay in the ruts from other cars... They get so deep after a few snowy days that the car can bottom out and you'll get stuck. It made me crazy driving here.
Now we're rounding the corner from spring to summer, and it's a beautiful thing. The airframe icing conditions that we have to deal with during the winter months have given way to thunderstorms and turbulence. I enjoy the fluffy cumulus clouds and finding ways to dodge the bumps. It reminds me of the jump flying I did for so long. Every day I flew jumpers was about finding an efficient way up between the clouds, and locating an open spot for the jumpers to get out. I miss that job!
As far as stories from winter flying goes.... I don't have many. It was a fairly uneventful winter. The one super cool memory I have was landing one night in Saskatoon. I was on the way back from somewhere up north and we were picking up the ATIS in preparation for landing. We heard the RVR reported as 1200 feet, which isn't good. Our operation needs 1600RVR to land from an ILS, so it looked like we were going to need to head to our alternate. Before we made the decision to do that, we called Saskatoon Radio to get his impression of the conditions and if he thought it was clearing. He reported that the RVR for runway 09 was variable between 1100 and 1600. No good. But, the visibility to the east was unlimited, and runway 27 had no RVR, so it was game on!
The winds were calm, and my captain was setting up the FMS for the GNSS overlay NDB on 27. I could see where the airport was, and I could make out the first third of the runway. Turning final it became clear to us that the majority of the runway was completely obscured by fog, and the first few hundred feet of 27 was completely clear. Perfect! I planned on touching down in the clear and rolling into the fog. My plan worked out perfectly and I touched down about 200-300 feet down 27, and rolled into the soup. It was so cool! To go from super clear VFR to the worst IFR ground conditions I have experienced so far, blew my mind. The way the runway lights cut through the fog when they're at strength 6 is wicked. I was pretty pumped after that and I wanted to go do it again. The airport went to zero zero about five minutes after we landed, so we got very lucky.
That's about my only story from the winter. I can think of a few more cool things that happened, but that was by far the best. I'm looking forward to a nice summer season of flying, hopefully to some cool places. Next up, summer vacation! Ottawa, Oshkosh, and Newfoundland.
Blue skies!!
It isn't so much the weather out here, it's the way the city handles it. Saskatoon's city management, in their infinite wisdom, decided that plowing the roads after any snowfall wasn't necessary. As you drive down the roads you have to make sure that you stay in the ruts from other cars... They get so deep after a few snowy days that the car can bottom out and you'll get stuck. It made me crazy driving here.
Now we're rounding the corner from spring to summer, and it's a beautiful thing. The airframe icing conditions that we have to deal with during the winter months have given way to thunderstorms and turbulence. I enjoy the fluffy cumulus clouds and finding ways to dodge the bumps. It reminds me of the jump flying I did for so long. Every day I flew jumpers was about finding an efficient way up between the clouds, and locating an open spot for the jumpers to get out. I miss that job!
As far as stories from winter flying goes.... I don't have many. It was a fairly uneventful winter. The one super cool memory I have was landing one night in Saskatoon. I was on the way back from somewhere up north and we were picking up the ATIS in preparation for landing. We heard the RVR reported as 1200 feet, which isn't good. Our operation needs 1600RVR to land from an ILS, so it looked like we were going to need to head to our alternate. Before we made the decision to do that, we called Saskatoon Radio to get his impression of the conditions and if he thought it was clearing. He reported that the RVR for runway 09 was variable between 1100 and 1600. No good. But, the visibility to the east was unlimited, and runway 27 had no RVR, so it was game on!
The winds were calm, and my captain was setting up the FMS for the GNSS overlay NDB on 27. I could see where the airport was, and I could make out the first third of the runway. Turning final it became clear to us that the majority of the runway was completely obscured by fog, and the first few hundred feet of 27 was completely clear. Perfect! I planned on touching down in the clear and rolling into the fog. My plan worked out perfectly and I touched down about 200-300 feet down 27, and rolled into the soup. It was so cool! To go from super clear VFR to the worst IFR ground conditions I have experienced so far, blew my mind. The way the runway lights cut through the fog when they're at strength 6 is wicked. I was pretty pumped after that and I wanted to go do it again. The airport went to zero zero about five minutes after we landed, so we got very lucky.
That's about my only story from the winter. I can think of a few more cool things that happened, but that was by far the best. I'm looking forward to a nice summer season of flying, hopefully to some cool places. Next up, summer vacation! Ottawa, Oshkosh, and Newfoundland.
Blue skies!!
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