Truly solo

I finally caught a break in the weather on Saturday, long enough for me to get a quick hop in. In a spate of bad timing, I wanted to take a friend up on the Friday of next week but my currency lapsed on the preceding Monday.

Not a problem, seeing as the weather decided to cooperate, mostly. It was cold and a little windy but mostly sunny and bright. So I dutifully grabbed a plane for a quick 3 times round the circuit jaunt. Just enough to persuade myself that I do indeed remember how to land.

 It was the most bizarre flight I think I’ve ever done.

For a start it was the first truly solo flight I’ve done since getting my PPL.  Every other flight I’ve had either passengers or RTH or Bob on board. Someone else in the other seat.

That combined with the fact that the apron was completely and utterly empty, left me with a really strange feeling.

I picked up the keys from the previous pilot, signed the paperwork, filled in the flight sheet and grabbed my cushions.

“I’m just going to bash out some circuits.” I inform no one in particular. No one seems remotely concerned about what I’m planning on carrying out with the plane that has just been released to me.

Dispatch are busy shuffling planes and timings and the owner is busy haranguing dispatch.

Noone is remotely concerned about the ink-barely-dry-on-her-licence pilot and her intentions.

I complete my walkround on an eerily quiet apron, leaving the engine cover on until the very last minute. There’s not even anyone around to help me wrestle the beast back into the rear baggage compartment.

Finally as I go to start the engine, I lean out the window to call “CLEAR” and realise I am the only plane on the apron.

I look around one final time and mutter to myself, “I guess I’ll just start the engine then….”

“guys?.........anyone…….?”

Why no one gets Canada

Pictures says it all

Further food for thought to all you fine people back in the UK (or in the southern hemisphere!), it is currently warmer in your freezer than it is outside my front door.

All about the numbers.

I attended a Transport Canada safety Seminar last night. My first one. These events are run monthly, usually at the TC Canada offices (where I sat my written exam, I did get momentary flashbacks of exam anxiety!)

They fulfill many purposes: general interest, safety information, TC updates and finally attending one in the previous two years negates the need for you to do a two yearly check ride for currency.

So some numbers:

The first number you need to know is 95

This is the version of windows that the computer in the seminar room runs.

Unsurprisingly, for a no-longer-supported-twenty-year-old-operating-system, it crashed about 5 minutes in.

Spectacularly

Not impressed.

The next number you need to know is 8.

This is the number of females I spotted in the audience of maybe 40 people.

While that is a little disappointing, the next one is even more alarming.

The next number is 50.

This is what I calculated roughly the average age of the attendees to be. I’m not trying to be ageist or anything but this seems to mirror the demographics of anything I attend that is flying related. It actually worries me that my generation and younger don’t seem to be involved in general aviation. I guess cost is one thing but I can’t help wonder if it just isn’t seen as something cool or worthwhile. I read of airports closing, flying schools folding and it makes me sad.

The next number is 6

This is the number of lines taken up in my log book by the huuuuuuuuuuge sticker that TC issues to prove that you attended the seminar. Seriously? Log books are of a standard size, could you not design a sticker that fitted in a reasonable space?

The final number is zero.

Unfortunately, this is the number of useful bits of information that I felt I came away with after this Seminar on “Aviation medicine”

Now I have to give some context here, I’m very aware that I’m a lot closer to my initial training than most people attending so it’s fair that most of the regulatory stuff should be very familiar to me but people who are twenty years into their PPL might benefit from a  refresher.

Still the speaker wasn’t massively engaging and while, given the demographic that I’ve outlined above, it’s understandable but irritating when he kept referring to “your wife” and constantly gave the validity of a class 3 medical as two years (it is 5 if you are under 40).

The one next month is on float plane flying, which has the potential to be a bit more interesting I hope.

Deceptive

The skies are a beautiful bright shade of blue; the day has all the hallmarks of a brilliant winter day. Except it is incredibly deceptive. Because the weather app tells me this.

Yep folks, with windchill we are looking at the business end of MINUS FORTY !!

On closer examination you can see that the light morning condensation that usually sits on our windowsill has been replaced by this.

Yes that is ice, stuck to our windows. On the inside.

Today is not a day for going outside. 

January achievements

Mostly non flying….

·         I kept my neighbours cats alive for a week while she was in Mexico. Despite one of them trying to Ninja-escape into the corridor every time I opened the front door

·         Level 1393 on 4 pics 1 word and level 409 on Candy Crush – I haven’t spent a cent on either game but I am stuck on CC at the moment.

·         First City Tour flight with a passenger – and first flight with Bob post license as well

·         I assisted in the construction of one Lego sand crawler and two Lego “creator” sets – fun but on some occasions it does highlight my lack of spatial awareness when I’m trying to “mirror” a construct RTH is doing

·         I read 4 novels that I hadn’t read before – am enjoying playing around with Overdrive on my e-reader. It’s a fine art of stacking up your holds so that they become available when you want them

·         Got hooked back into online gaming again; yes, World of Warcraft…. I’m back! Still not 100% sure if this is a good thing or not.

·         Surviving the ongoing winter onslaught

I’m going to politely disagree.

Wonderful inspirational quote in the latest e-blast from AOPA’a E-Brief

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

-- George S. Patton,

When it comes to landing though, I’m going to politely disagree !!

On a more serious note I seem to have dissuaded myself of the habit of my rather firm landings of late, thankfully! Even dispatch started to tease me about my “confident” landings as RTH calls them.

 When I denied all knowledge of what they were talking about, I also demanded to know who had been spreading such vicious lies.

The reply?

“No one needed to, we’ve seen the videos”

Damn.

I have such cool friends.

After my last flight with A, it occurred to me that I have really cool friends.

Friends who are, for a start, willing to get in a plane that I’m flying. It might sound a bit trite but it does take a certain amount of trust to get in a light aircraft piloted by someone who does this for a hobby. People have an inherent distrust of flight in general. Let’s face it, it does seem to be somewhat “unnatural” and couple that with the fact that my friends have had a pretty much blow by blow account of everything I’ve found tricky or had issues with. I’m intensely flattered that they trust me enough to fly them anywhere.

Then add in to the mixture that the weather is so unpredictable this time of year that you have maybe a 50% chance of actually getting the flight in, and an even smaller chance of going where you initially planned. My flight with K and M had to be cut short because I encountered some snow.

My flight with A didn’t look like it was going to happen at all.

On the Friday night the TAF actually looked pretty optimistic, in comparison to what the forecast had been predicting all week. In fact I was so sure that the weekend weather was going to be cruddy for the weekend and that I wasn’t going to be flying, that I hadn’t bothered to think about passengers at all.  RTH had plans in the morning, so I’d probably just go up and have a little solo wander around the sky. After a circuit check with Bob to renew my currency.

Well when I saw the TAF, I fired off a quick text to A, enquiring as to whether she had any plans for the morning. Once she realised what I had in mind, she was very quick to reply. We agreed on a time and place to meet. The next reply I got is testament to how well trained my friends are, as it was a text with her weight in pounds. See they know what I need from them!

I have an email that I send out to potential passengers, explaining what to wear, what to bring, what not to bring and emphasising the fact that we can still get to the airport and then have to cancel. This flying business is a fickle beast at the best of times.

Well sure enough, we got to the airport and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts the weather took a turn towards the sucky, and for the longest time it looked like I’d dragged her down for nothing but eventually we did get up, even if it was just for my currency check. She was quite content to sit in the back while I flung it round the obligatory 3 circuits, finishing off with a quick city tour.

The contrast between different passengers is interesting as well. K, being slightly nervous, needed me to explain everything that was going on. Both during and after the flight. Whereas A was so laid back that I actually got worried about how quiet she was.

I explained afterwards that passengers normally go silent, just before they are about to puke. She assured me this was never an issue!

I’ve already booked myself a couple of flights in February, hoping that the weather will cooperate for at least one of them and have potential passengers already lined up.

Cool friends indeed.