On to the next chapter..

Well I should know by now that the aviation industry is a strange one, that throws curve balls at you from time to time! Now I find myself writing this from Saskatoon in my apartment with just an air mattress. I'm waiting for the moving truck to arrive with all of my worldly possessions. What caused this move across the country?

I was on a tour of the War Museum in Ottawa with my Fiancee (who arrives here on April 4th) and a friend when my phone rang. On the other end was a gentlemen from the Saskatchewan Air Ambulance Service. This came as a surprise to me as I had sent my resume in for consideration more than two months earlier. Usually if you hear nothing for two months, it's safe to say that you didn't get the job... Needless to say this was not the case. They invited me out to Saskatoon for an interview the next week. Fast forward...

The night before the interview was painful. I studied for 3 weeks leading up to this moment. When I woke up the next morning it was go time. The interview process involved a written test and about one hour of questions asked by two operations managers. I was nervous as hell right up until I flipped the test over and noticed that the studying had paid off right from the start! The rest of the process was smooth sailing, although it still had my nerves on edge.

A few weeks later the job offer came through and I accepted.. I'm now employed as a King Air 200 First Officer here in Saskatoon and I've been here for a month. With my face buried in books preparing for the PPC and such, it gets busy.. The first week was all about company paperwork and procedures, and now we're digging into the aircraft systems and SOP's. What a great experience so far! Very educational.

So stay tuned for updates as I get checked out on the 200 and learn all about the health care system here in Saskatchewan.

This will be exciting...!

Time flies..

Summer 2011 sure flew by! It feels like just yesterday I was getting ready for a new season of jumping. Now that October has arrived, the jumping season is coming to an end.. Sad because it's so much fun! I can't think of anything that comes close to flying a plane that people are jumping out of. Everybody is always happy, you meet new people every day, it's really quite rewarding, not to mention fun to watch!

As we approach winter, the flying that I do gets more diverse. Ski flying season is coming! That's a whole new ball game. Landing pretty much wherever you want is total freedom. I love it. It's like the entire planet is your playground... As long as it's frozen! Winter also brings on earlier sunsets (more night PIC time...), known icing, challenging IFR conditions, and of course, COLD air. Even though it gets very cold here in Ottawa, I still think winter is my favorite season. Planes fly much nicer in the cold air.

I still have a few more weekends of jump flying left, as long as the temperature stays relatively warm!

Good times...!

A new season begins..

Well it's that time of year again. The trees are starting to show signs of life and the grass is getting green! This is the signal that my flying season is beginning. I fly all year long, but I only get paid to fly during the summer. The winter is filled with ski flying and some trips to far away places with my dad, but the long days and long hours in the air start in May. As the check pilot at Mile High, my jump flying starts slightly earlier than the others, since I have to get recurrent on the Cessna 205 by doing my 3 touch & go's and dropping a few jumpers before I can check anyone out.

The checkout here is quite simple... All that's required is one hour of flight time and a quick ground quiz on emergency procedures, then the pilots are good to go for another year. It's my first year as the check pilot here, so it's been quite a fun time!

Now that everyone is checked out here at Mile High, we can begin our regular operations and I can start to rapidly build my time up to that "magic" 1000 hour mark. I hope the next few weeks are good to me!

So I hope for blue sky on the weekend, and IFR flying during the week... The perfect balance!

Pilot Mark...!

Welcome!

Welcome to Mark My Words...!

I set up this blog as an easy way for you to access my flying life and my stories!

Enjoy!

Pilot Mark