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IMG_0452.JPGDate: 04/11/2007
At: Dec 04 2008 23:00Z
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 15:58:39 ET
He said hot air balloon accidents are so rare that investigators looking at the crash are learning the basics of hot air ballooning before the investigation can really begin.- CBC News Thats right! The TSB has to start from square one, by learning how hot air balloons operate before they can continue their investigation. This is the first hot air balloon accident that I've ever heard of. It's a shame that two people died in this incident. I'm confident that the TSB will find a cause and prevent this from ever happening again. Photo Gallery: www.cbc.ca/photogallery/canada/669/ Survivor Story: www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/08/25/balloon-survivor.html Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 16:38:42 ET
Last nights flight was the most fun I've had doing circuits in a long time. I arrived at the airport at around 2030 to a mostly clear sky with a full moon. The temperature was in the mid 20s, and the windsock looked like a limp noodle. Perfect flying weather. After figuring out which is the best plane to take up (GDQG, by the way) my FI and I climbed in and headed to local north. This is the first time I've flown out of Buttonvilles control zone at night.Our destination was Simcoe Regional Airport (CNB9). The purpose of this trip was to: - Learn how the ARCAL system works I was able to spot the flashing airport beacon from pretty far away. This airport is easy to find at night as there are not a lot of city lights in the area (a contrast to where Buttonville is). I clicked the microphone PTT 5 times in a row and *ding* the runway lights came on. By clicking the PTT again, you can adjust the brightness of the lights. We were doing circuits on runway 10, which called for a right hand pattern (boo!). This runway did have a PAPI, which helps quite a bit at night. After a while of touch and gos, we headed back to Buttonville via Barrie. The challenge now was to navigate and identify the airport at night. During the day you use landmarks to determine where you are and where things are. At night, its much harder to see those landmarks. Thankfully some of the landmarks that I use during the day to determine my position also works at night. For example, coming from the north heading south to the airport, highway 404 has a bend in it, just north of Preston Lake. This was easy to spot at night. The Cathedral/Victoria Square (which is about 3-4 miles north of the airport) shows up as a huge black spot as the property is not lit like everything else. The airport beacon is weak (thanks to complaints from the residents) and is drowning in all the other city lights. It's sometimes easier to see the lack of light, than to look for a particular flashing light. I found it very helpful to use the voids of light (in a city environment) to match up with my map than the actual shape of the city. My FI was impressed with my downwind check, I have Jenn to thank for that. Final was a little high, but we landed safely. I'm still starting the flare a little too high. In some cases I have to add power to prevent the plane from stalling. I think by next lesson, I'll have it down pat. I've been tasked to plan a cross country. One that is not too easy (Ie, flying over the city) and not too hard (have some navaids around to use). I suspect we wont be able to use GPS on this x-country, but only the standard VOR/NDB type navaids. This will be the first time I will actually use it. Because I also need to get at least 5 hours of instrument time, my FI suggested that I plan a longer x-country and we can do the return trip under the hood. My wallet suggested that I do 2 hours in the Sim. It was a great flight, what everyone has been saying is true: getting your night rating is fun! Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Training
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 22:15:06 ET
If you happen to be one of the eager people to grab the new VTA that was made available this week you may have to return it. After being delayed 3 months (the original release date was supposed to be May 2007) the VTA contains an error and has been rescinded according to Nav Canada: 070923 CZYZ TORONTO FIR CZYZ TORONTO VFR TML AREA CHART AIR 1900, 34TH EDITION, JUNE 2007 RESCINDED. CURRENT AUTH TORONTO VFR TML AREA CHART AIR 1900 IS 33RD EDITION, MARCH 2006 Although the charts never technically expire and you can fly with an old one, there have been some changes to Toronto's Airspace that I know will be reflected on the new maps. Thanks to David and Mark (see comments) for clearing things up for me. Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 21:21:27 ET
The whole idea of flying to Burlington last weekend was to experience flying in Class C airspace with flight following. ATC no diced me. I ended up going under YYZs class C shelf at 1600' both ways. Aww well. The good news is that I was able to take my dad up during the flight. The weather was great with good visibility, light winds, and no bumps for the majority of the flight. My dad was able to spot the airport before me, about 4 miles away, so we entered the straight in downwind for runway 14. Quick bathroom break, then back into the airplane for the trip back. I didn't bring my logbook, so it didn't get stamped. I have a flight on Thursday booked.. just a short one. No particular destination in mind, just going to go sight seeing. Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Training
Monday, August 20, 2007 - 14:38:28 ET
I just read this story from CBC about the cause of the death of a Snowbird last May. Turns out that his seatbelt failed while he was inverted which caused him to fall out of his seat and lose control of the airplane. Something that is there to save you life, fails and kills you. What a crappy way to go. He was a young pilot who was going to get married three weeks after the accident. Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things
Friday, August 17, 2007 - 11:33:05 ET
Don't know when this happened, but looks like Toronto Airways has much needed new look to their website. It includes a new section for the Prop Shop where you can buy stuff online. Check it out at www.torontoairways.com Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 23:33:59 ET
I have yet to venture into YYZs class C airspace in the 1.5 years I've been flying out of Buttonville. There has been no need for me to, until now. I want to head over to Guelph (CNC4) via Brampton (CNC3). The quickest route takes me just north of Pearsons control zone. I highly doubt I can fly through there at 4500' and I really don't want to fly under the class C shelf at 1600'. I suspect that my only option would be to plan for something higher, like 8500'. I guess it also depends on which runways are in use at Pearson as well. So my question to you is: Ideally would like to do this with minimum headache to myself and the controllers. I'm going to speak to my FI about this as well, but I'd like to hear your opinion as well. Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Training
Monday, August 13, 2007 - 23:38:17 ET
My first lesson for my night rating was last night. It went well! I got to meet my new FI when I showed up at dispatch at 8:30, she's extremely nice. Since legal night didn't start until 8:57, I took my time doing the walk around and reviewing the necessary documents. This also gave my FI some time to have something to eat before we headed up. As we walked to the airplane, the FI quizzed me an a few things: FI: What colour are taxiway lights? There was no hesitation, I came prepared tonight. I was assigned an airplane that I haven't flown since April. It's only a handful of planes that have all the necessary items working for flying at night (nav lights, strobes, etc..). It's one of the planes that has a miles per hour airspeed indicator, with knots on the sub scale on the inside of the dial face. Annoying in the day, more annoying at night. The panel lights didn't work at all, only the VOR/ILS instrument lit up. The "dimmer" switch was broken as it only turned the lights on or off, no dimming was possible. So the only illumination available for the panel was the overhead dome light which was barely sufficient. That said, the flight progressed regardless. Flying at night is different. I suspect that it's going to get more challenging once I leave the city. Having the city lights helps when determining where the horizon is, but once they're gone I suspect I will have to use other methods for keeping straight and level (especially on moonless nights like last night). Keeping an eye on the airport in the circuit was not what I expected. The runway lighting is only visible if you are viewing them parallel to the runway. When are you looking from a downwind position you just see the taxiway and other lighting, the runways are not visible. I wonder if this was to reduce light pollution. My first landing was way too flat but by the third I pretty much knew what to look for when flaring, etc.. We did a few touch and gos on 21 (the shorter runway) and the winds where light enough to be able to switch runways. Departing 21, I was instructed to join the right downwind for 15. I was way too high on final, so the controller suggested if I wanted to try 33 instead. I said sure and she instructed me to let her know when I was on final (it's amazing what you can do when you're the only one in the circuit!). This was another first for me, doing a "circuit" for a reciprocal runway from one you departed from. Essentially what you do is just maintain runway heading after departing, give your self some room (2-3miles) then do a "tear drop". Just a 180° turn to head back to the runway. The rest of the night was done practicing landing on 33. The reason why we swapped, was to understand and practice what landing at night looks like on a longer vs. shorter runway. It got some getting used to being a student again. So what do I need in order to get my Night rating? - 5 Hours of dual time (2 of which must be cross country time) Since I already have 5 hours of dual instrument time from my PPL, I would only need to get another 5 hours for the night rating. If you want more information about what's involved, check out the Flight Instructor Guide on page 171. Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Training
Thursday, August 9, 2007 - 12:10:39 ET
Nav Canada is upgrading Buttonville's ILS system. No new functionality is being added, just installing a new localizer. In order to accommodate this two month outage, Nav Canada is producing a GNSS approach for 21. The planned outage is from August 20 to October 15th. Keep an eye out on the NOTAMs for the exact dates. More information is available on the Nav Canada website. Comments (2) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - 20:50:08 ET
My second flight as a licenced pilot took me to Stanhope/Haliburton airport (CND4) with a friend who has a cottage up there.  Departing Runway 15 We departed Buttonville at about 8:45 and headed up the 404 to Newmarket (my set heading point) direct to Haliburton. The weather was great, light winds and great visibility. The flight up was uneventful and we enjoyed the smooth ride. The winds at CND4 were coming out of the south/south west according to the Unicom guy so I planned for runway 27. This is where things got interesting. As I was on the downwind, I heard on the radio that a plane was backtracking down the runway for takeoff on 27. As I was on final, he lined up to take off. I was preparing to overshoot when on short final he saw me and decided to haul ass into the holding bay. As I was rolling down the runway after one of the worst landings ever, he apologized and explained that he had his radio volume turned down.  Just after arriving at CND4 We parked the plane and headed to my friends cottage for breakfast. His mom made some tasty eggs and back bacon. We chatted about the flight and the airport before heading out on to the water. We went for a spin in a 115hp motor boat when: *engine sputters and dies* Turns out we ran out of gas on the middle of Maple Lake. We needed to head back to the airport in about 20 minutes in order to head back to Buttonville. We fired up the 10hp trawling engine and putt-putted back to the cottage. The ride back was bumpier, even at 4500', mainly due to daytime heating as the winds were still on the calm side. We got back just before 1pm. All in all, it was a great way to spend a summer Sunday morning. You can see more photos in the gallery. Comments (4) | Permalink | Category: Training
Thursday, August 2, 2007 - 15:41:42 ET
I encourage everyone to fill out the survey that NavCanada is conducting to improve the level of service in the Windsor-Toronto-Montreal Airspace. Feel free to voice your concerns and if you have any questions about the study they can be directed to aerostudy@navcanada.ca Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Interesting Things
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - 08:06:35 ET
As requested, you can download a copy of my presentation on Porter Airlines that I did in my Personnel Management class last night. On another note, I recently went on my first flight as a licensed pilot last weekend which I will be posting about shortly. Comments (0) | Permalink | Category: Training
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Surry, BC Balloon Crash Details 
