July 2009 Archives

Monday, July 27, 2009 - 16:56:45 ET

100 Years of Flight Cross Canada Flight Complete!

The cross Canada flight to celebrate 100 years of flight in Canada wrapped up this past weekend.

You can read John Lovelaces' blog about the flight on the CBC website.

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Monday, July 27, 2009 - 13:57:32 ET

Dispatchers License

I've been spending all morning trying to find information on getting a dispatchers license. All I could find was the Dispatcher Examination page on Transport Canadas website.

Is that's all there is to it? Just write the exams and you're done?

On another note. I'm going to be getting my logbook in order this week. Plus I have a flight booked for August 3rd. Any suggestions as to where I should go? I'm thinking Ottawa.

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 17:23:54 ET

Hope Air Flight a Success!

The flight started by having Doug pick me up at CYTZ. This was the first time I've ever been at the island airport. Few things of note:

- Build a friggen bridge already! Is the 30 second ferry ride even necessary? All of those of you who voted David Miller as mayor of Toronto should be shot.
- Porter is awesome. The FBO is so slick. One thing I do have to question though is why are the computer stations iMacs, but running windows?! odd.

The patients we needed to pick up were actually at CYKZ, so I told Doug to not bother with filing a flight plan and just head "local north to Buttonville". Gave him local pilot tips (ie, stay east of the 404 going north) and helped him out in the circuit a bit. We got the "green carpet" treatment by Millionair. Funny being marshaled in at your own airport.

Doug asked, "So is it always this busy here?". To which I replied "That? That's about a 6/10 for busyness". We were number 3 to land. I've seen it when they've had both tower frequencies going and having to deny people entering the zone. It's not the 11th busiest airport for nothing ;)

We picked up our passengers (a lady that was wheelchair bound due to surgery on both her legs) and filed IFR up to Timmins. This was the first IFR flight I've been on. I was going along as if I was actually the pilot. Writing down clearances, helping Doug with the checklists, tuning his radios, etc.. Pretty much being the typical non-pilot flying "knob twisting" bitch. It was fun.

We were able to fly through some clouds, which is what I was hoping for. So awesome! In the end this flight was the final push I needed to convince me to get my IFR rating.

We had both a Garmin 296 (for my use) and a 396 (for Dougs use) on board. The XM Weather for the 396 is totally awesome. We mostly used it for upper winds while in flight to see if it would be better to climb up higher to get more favorable tail winds. I do think they need to put in a faster CPU, as sometimes, with a lot of layers (like satellite and radar) , the unit took some time to redraw the screen.

As we were approaching Timmins, we were notified that an Air Canada Jazz flight was behind us and going to be using the opposite runway. Doug was kind enough to extend his downwind and slow 'er down a bit to let the Jazz flight in before us. Later, on the tarmac as they taxied by we got a wave from the pilots in the Dash 8. As Doug put it "It's the least we can do for the kind folks at Jazz"

We didn't stay in Timmins very long, just enough time to drop off the passengers, grab some fuel, and have a bio break.

Our approach back into Toronto was rainy with 6sm visibility.

Flying with Doug was a total pleasure and I would do it again in a heart beat! Now, lets see if I can find some loose change in my couch to help pay for this IFR rating.

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Friday, July 17, 2009 - 13:42:47 ET

Elliot Lake Airport (CYEL)

I'm planning a flight up to Elliot Lake. Going to be taking my dad up there, as that is where he grew up. I think it will be nice to fly together there and check out the town.

The Ourairports page has little commentary about the airport. Have any of you flown to the airport and can give me some local/pilot knowledge?

I'm going to be emailing the airport to ask a few specific questions today.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - 22:06:10 ET

What's Keeping Me Busy

My day job is a System Administrator at a broadcasting company. This gives me the advantage of being handy with computers.

This advantage has lead me to pair up with a buddy to work on a project that will hopefully be revealed soon. One thing I did want to show off, that i'm particularly proud of, is the mapping engine that I've been working on for this application.

One of the frustrating things is that NavCanada does not publish digital formats of their charts and CFS. This means that a website like skyvector.com cannot exist for Canadian Airspace.

A good compromise is to overlay aeronautical information on top of google (or Yahoo) maps. As you can see in the above screen shot (click to get a larger photo) there is some information available:

- NDBs
- VORs
- There is a track from CYKZ to CYOW (the blue line)

If you wanted, you can also overlay Victor airways (gets kinda messy):

Although you can't use this for navigation, it will be a good tool for planning purposes. As well, it merges the aviation world with the car world. By that I mean you can get a good idea if an airway passes over your house, or where exactly that NDB antenna is.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 22:43:21 ET

Aviation Document Booklet

Now that all of the CPL and APTL pilots have the new licence, Transport Canada is asking everyone else to apply.

In order to maintain a valid licence, holders must apply for the new booklet format before December 31, 2009 (6 months from now).

Applying is similar to a passport. You need to provide a notarized photograph. It can be signed by someone who can also sign passport photos. In addition there is a one page application form that needs to be filled out.

I'm sending mine in tomorrow. I should get the new licence in 4-6 weeks.

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