I was able to go up tonight for my last solo flight before uncontrolled airport stuff. I got checked out (cause my currency expired) by a substitute FI. 21 was the active and I probably haven’t taken off from 21 in months. Everything was good except I started a right hand turn in the circuit until I was corrected otherwise… whoops!

A little high on the landing but flawless otherwise. My FI was satisfied so I dropped her off at dispatch and headed up to the north.

Visibility was crappy to the …

“You’ll never hear pilots announce to their passengers that they’re smoking a joint before takeoff so they can relax and enjoy the flight.” I seriously hope not.

I discovered this site through a blog I read regularly.

Pilots are not tested for drugs. At least, you dont need a drug test to get your Transport Canada certificate.

I never really thought about it until now. I think it is a smart idea for pilots to get drug tested. Then again, I don’t recall ever reading a TSB report on an airplane crash because …

My student currency expires today and I haven’t flown in two weeks due to weather. The problem? Afternoon bookings.

Trying to fly in the afternoon in Toronto in July and August is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

The forecast for the next three days all call for Thunderstorms. With that in mind.. I’ve booked some “early” morning flights (8am). Although today’s 7am flight was canceled because of weather (900′ ceilings!).

This is the first time that I’ve had my currency expire so I’m not sure what the …

Just came across an interesting video on YouTube of an airplane landing at Pearson (runway 06L). At the very start of the video you can see highway 401 and 410.

Watch Video

It’s been almost 10 days since I’ve been flying thanks to the weather. My booking today looks to be canceled too! The 172s are booked solid this entire week but I was able to squeeze in a booking for 7am on Friday. I need to get this last solo flight in before I can progress any further.

I still hope and plan on getting my license before the end of summer (Sept 23rd). I have a lot of bookings set up and I can only hope these afternoon t-storms stop popping …

All photos were taken by Joe DeCaria.

The weather forecast is not looking good for flying this weekend. My booking was canceled for today because they needed to repair the plane I booked.

Boourns!

This past lesson was the last one on diversions. We did three diversions all by my self. I took care of everything including the radios. I wish I had brought my GPS so that I could later review how well my calculations were.

My lesson yesterday was canceled because of the TAF. It was calling for winds gusting the 30KTs.

My next lesson (which may or may not be today depending on the weather) will be dealing with landing at an uncontrolled aerodrome. I need to review the procedures today sometime. I …

I spent 1.3 hours today in the training area practicing steep turns and a couple of stalls.

I can execute a steep turn flawlessly 95% of the time.

Todays flight went really well, it was quiet. I was in SMB which I know not to take the next time on these really hot days. Even though the cabin heat is turned all the way off, there still seems to be a small leak and I could feel warm air seeping in.

I have a lesson booked tomorrow with my FI at 12pm. I …

One of the legs I have on my plan is from CYKZ->YEE. I decided to mark my set heading point as “Newmarket”.

My flight plan therefore is:

DCT Newmarket DCT YEE DCT ….

(yes, I know I can omit the DCT)

I was looking through the CFS and noted that there was an official ident for “Newmarket”; it’s VCNMT (I think). Would I be able to file my plan like:

DCT VCNMT DCT YEE DCT …

Will the FSS guy know what I’m talking about if I use a VFR Reporting point ident as an item …

My navigation class last night was excellent. Last weeks class was canceled so it was nice to get back into things.

We learned how to fill out a NavCanada flight plan and went over how to make en route observations and apply them to the course correction techniques (double angle, etc..) we learned earlier.

I need to spend a few hours planning some sample trips that were given (the same ones that you can choose from for the PPL exam). I want to be able to whip up these plans without having …