Yay, I'm useful!

I’ve blogged before about how easily flying can make you feel very very stupid, very very quickly. Sometimes it’s kind of nice when you feel slightly more than useless.

I was browsing the interweb the other night and noticed a strange email in my localflighteast account. Now LFE doesn’t get much in the way of email, I separate out my aviation newsletters and stuff so that they get delivered there but there isn’t very much in the way of unsolicited or surprise stuff that goes there, and touch wood, no spam so far. Obviously people have realised that WMAP has no need for Viagra, Cialis or anything else of that nature!

Once I’d established that this message (received via my YouTube account) was actually genuine I set about answering. Turns out it was from a guy coming up to visit CYTZ from Chicago and wanted some advice about the airspace and procedures. We exchanged a few messages back and forth. I answered some questions about flight plans and itineraries, passed on some advice about obtaining VTAs and a copy of the CFS. I was also able to advise him on how to request the “city tour” and how ATC tend to handle sight-seeing tours.

I started off our conversation with the huge caveat that I was a student pilot and thus my answers should be judged as such but then it occurred to me. Holy Hippo, I actually know what I’m talking about.

Yay I’m actually useful. And it is so damn cool to talk to other pilots. The interweb is a fabulous thing.