Summerized..

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!