Flying Upwards

The Bag Run

2008-03-24T21:21:00.004-06:00

Above the Weather, Early Morning.

My cup of Earl Grey tea is slightly on the strong side as I sit and sip in Melfort's quite clubhouse. My King Air 200 manual is open in front of me, but my eye's are constantly wandering to the windows. Outside an early spring snow fall has obscured the visibility down to less than a mile, casting the early morning world (well my world anyways) into a pleasantly gloomy state. The flakes are big and getting blown into a fast dance, it's a little memorizing.

The NDB approach brought me within sight of the field just thirty minutes ago, after a short and enjoyable flight from Saskatoon. My fears of heavy icing due to the 0º temps and a forecast for a mix of rain and snow were gratefully unnecessary. The flight was completely ice free.

The landing was made amid soft two inch drifts that weren't even felt through the Cessna 402's gear and peddles. The cargo was soon unloaded and the flight plan closed. Now I start to run through my daily routine of sitting in Melfort, which is not my normal run but lately I have been filling in quite a bit.

The routine consists of a cup of tea and a nap or some reading while hanging out at the little clubhouse/terminal at the airfield. Then it's down to the bakery where I get the most fabulous cinnamon bun and a cup of coffee and do some more reading. After my fingers are sticky and I'm starting to buzz from the caffeine, I head to the apartment for some more sleep, reading and maybe some television. Usually there is a short walk somewhere in the day and possibly some window shopping. Around 5 PM I head back out to the airport to again load up about 500lbs of bags. Soon the power comes up, followed shortly by the landing gear. Then I'm riding air back home.

7000

2008-02-21T10:13:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm back in the right seat. Making radio calls and flipping switches. However this time it's in the Cessna 402. No, I didn't get a demotion, I'm doing line-in-dock with a new hire who's going to be another captain on the C402.

He's a fine pilot and is doing a very good job. He's actually flown on 705 machines (airline category planes), been a chief pilot and has over 7000 hours. I feel a slight bit funny showing this guy the ropes with my 1500 hours of experience. But I also feel lucky that he isn't anything difficult to fly with and isn't making a bunch of mistakes, because we are filed under my license number today. He has 50 hours of line-in-dock to do, just as I had 7 months ago. I will be flying the majority with him for those hours. That'll be alright, it's always nice to have some company on those long days in the middle of no where.

Just Too Cold

2008-02-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

Watching the -37ºC sunrise as I drive back home to bed.

The past week was one of getting up sometime between 0400 and 0500 every morning. Going through the usual hygienic routine, then it's a bagel, boots and outside...

And that's where things began to change, Monday morning was a blizzard, the drive to work was harrowing to say the least. Once I was there though I was lucky enough to have my plane in the hanger where I got to do a warm walk around. But soon after had to cancel my flight anyways, due to low vis and 30 to 40 mph direct crosswinds at my destination, which was a 3100' strip with patches of ice. Not really inviting.

By Tuesday morning the blizzard had died down, leaving behind frigid -35ºC temps. As I drove into work that morning (in my wifes vehicle since mine wouldn't start) I knew that I'd be canceling the flight because we don't fly any of the companies piston planes at or below -35ºC. Unfortunately I was still required to show up at work, make the decision and tell the passengers.

Wednesday warmed up to -34, unfortunately my destination was sitting at -38. Same thing therefore, canceled.

Thursday I finally got to sit in the plane. The normally soft and comfy seat felt like I was sitting back in my high school plastic chair twas so hard, thanks to a couple of days of sitting outside. The engines fired up nicely though, thanks to the Tanis heaters and tents that go synonymously with winter and I proceeded to taxi the plane to a secure spot to do my run-up. Bare of any seats in the back of my plane to do a cargo run, I worked down my after starts and taxi check list. About half way through the list, the cold weather started to show it's dislike for mechanics and as I set my heading indicator. The push-to-set button stuck in and I was left without my HI which was also coupled to the autopilot.

Lord Almighty, I said.

And walk-in to get maintenance, which tell me it'd take a while to fix. My fourth cancellation in a week. Makes ya feel a little useless.

Friday morning comes along, I'm sleeping in bed. My cell phone is quiet. I am happy.

Quiet Morning

2008-01-14T15:10:00.000-06:00

I'm in the North, at least 60 miles from the nearest civilization. Level at 8000 feet and flying even further northward. It's early morning, still dark. The radios are eerily quite, I'm thinking I'm the only one up here this morning so far. The air is so quiet broken only by the noise of the twin 325 horse powered Continentals, droning on and on till you don't really hear them anymore. I'm hearing a faint howling scream every now and then. I don't know if it's in my mind or the wind rushing 195 mph past the cabin. But it defiantly sets even a lonelier feeling to the already empty plane. I'm flying single pilot today and my lone passenger is snoozing in the back, all light are out except for the warm glow of my instruments. It's almost spooky. My comfort is the warm blast of heat off the forward heater, blowing on my legs from under the dash, along with my lite up instrument panel. 160 NM to go.

Frozen Digits

2007-11-27T17:29:00.000-06:00

It's a beautiful winter morning as I traverse the skies at 6000'. It's -24ºC up here and colder down on the ground. The earth is peacefully frozen down below me, covered in a white glow from the full moon's shine across the white landscape. The early mornings offer this calm quietness, well, once you're airborne and have a warm blast of heat blowing across your toes. My fingers are now thawed out and my back is relaxed after tensing it, to ward off the cold. Another hour of this goodness until I'm landing on a snow covered runway and freezing my digits all over again tenting and plugging the airplane in for a cold day's wait in La Loche.

Smooth Air

2007-10-04T16:58:00.000-06:00

Looking for a Clear Path in the C402

I'm up at 16'000 feet, just finished enjoying a cup of coffee and a cookie. The sun is beating through the window and the scattered layer of clouds 10'000 feet below offer glimpses of a beautiful Autumn afternoon down on earth. It's relaxing.

I've forgotten how relaxing it can be when you get up high above the bumps and weather. I got checked out on the Cessna 402 about 3 months ago and that has been the only thing I've flown in the past two weeks. Although I really enjoy the plane and the challenges of single pilot IFR, getting a break from flying in the weather down at 6'000 feet is nice. The low rumble of the turbines and smooth upper atmosphere are great for putting a guy in a mentally and physically
relaxed state. Unlike what I was trudging through just yesterday with the C402 that provide a little to rough for a few of my passengers and I ended up with a collection of used sick bags in the back. Not to mention a queer smell for the rest of the trip!

Anyways, time to start thinking about the final descent of the day, it's only a few minutes ahead...

And The Sun Stood Still

2007-08-12T11:39:00.000-06:00

The sun is below the horizon as we lift off the treated gravel of Points North Landing on our home bound leg. As we climb through 9500 feet the sun reappears as a bright orange ball. It sits on the earth's far line for the rest of the climb not moving an inch. But within two minutes after leveling off at FL240 (24,ooo') time catches up with us and the sun drops away out of sight. Now the sky will take the slow shift to the nights darkness, but not without a spectacular show of fading colours chasing the sun over the Western horizon. I guess it's good morning China.

Never Scared (Old Archives)

2007-08-02T17:20:00.000-06:00

The one hour left mark has just slid by as we reach 209 miles North of Saskatoon. Blue skies and warm weather we leave behind as we get closer to the rain and snow that is pelting our destination. The weather this morning in Saskatoon made for a beautiful spring morning, but obviously changed as the day rolled on.

I know that at least one of our seven passengers in the back are concerned about flying into the weather at Toon Town. Before we left the ground he had asked me if we could fly in the foul weather awaiting us. I told him it wouldn't be a problem. He replied with, "Good, that's what I like to hear, even if it's not the truth." It reminded me of an old pilot saying, "You can scare yourself as much as like in the cockpit, but once in front of the passengers everything is just peachy"

The Alleyway

2007-07-26T16:37:00.000-06:00

Runway 09, YXE

After some dodging and diving we flew clear of the thunderstorms that had us flying off course for the past 100 miles. Now in the final decent we could see our destination clearly. Sitting at the end of an alleyway walled between a dark layer of more thunderstorms spouting rain and a gray line of smoke coming off the many forest fires in progress. Looking down out my window I can see spots of orange were the fires rage. The smoke from the fires is less then 3 miles to the East of the airport and the winds are coming from the West. Which means we're going to have to pass through some of the smoke onto final. If it gets any tighter we'll have to reconsider coming into the other runway with more than 10 knots of wind on our tail.

Luckily as we draw closer to the strip the thunderstorms are looking further away than first thought. This gives us the option of circling to the West for the upwind runway. The smell of smoke starts to tickle our senses as we join the base leg for R21. By the time we get to final our visibility has dropped considerably but luckily the runway is still within view. The smoke is stronger now as we drop the gear and go through Landing checks. Lined up on final we all of a suddenly break out of the smoke cloud about 2 miles back.

After we land and begin to unboard the passengers I'm surprised at the lack of smoke in the air. You can just smell the tiniest tinge of burning jack, enough to remind me of a camping trip just a couple weeks ago. A drop of rain lands on my face, the alleyway is getting thinner.

Old Archives (Feb'07)

2007-07-20T13:08:00.000-06:00

We just leveled off at FL210 after 21 minutes of climbing, so an average of 1000 feet per minute. The airport we took off of had a field elevation of 805 feet above sea level. We'd just spent the night in Stoney Rapids and used up the day drinking coffee and taking a neat hike along the river by the open rapids. The 4K hike through snow burned a lot of carbs and now, sitting in my soft seat I can feel the missing energy.

A layer of redish clouds are below us as I watch the sky transition from day to night. Besides a little light chop we're passing though right now things are peaceful on deck tonight. I'm enjoying the ride. 53 more minutes before we grace the asphalt in PA.

A New Airplane on the Horizon

2007-05-02T13:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I've slacked. First I suppose I'd blame it on being really busy, coming home every night after a 10 - 14 hour day, too tired and preferring to spend time with my sweetheart than with a cold piece of plastic. Then a slow season hits. I start flying about once a week and have no stories to tell, along with getting in lazy mode and just enjoying other blogs with out stretching my mind to write my own.

Today however, after flying only about 30 - 35 hours last month and this month starting out just as slow, I decide to spend some time with the ol' keyboard.

Last month, although not flying much I got to participate in a three day ground school after my Chief Pilot walked up to me at work one day and asked if I had gotten a manual yet. Slightly confused, I replied back "no I don't think so, what manual would that be?"
"O, the Beech 1900 one. I'm gonna train some of you higher time King Air F/O's on it." And then took me to his office and handed over an inch and a half thick black binder that contained everything a B1900 pilot need to know about the aircraft.

So now that the ground school is done, I am looking forward to saddling up in a new machine to do some training. Which I think is still a few weeks if not months away. But till then, I'll do my best to use my slow times to learn all that I can about operating this machine efficiently and safely.

As the front of my training binder says "the best safety device in any aircraft is a well trained pilot..."

The Big One

2007-03-20T23:17:00.000-06:00

113 DME East of Vancouver VOR
FL270
Ground Speed 268 Kts

The Boeing 747 is looming large over us as we listen to Towers instructions and scoot into place on Runway 26L. Vancouver is busy this morning and ATC is trying to get traffic moving. Some quick thinking by the Tower has put us in front of a 747 that was just moving to position also on the runway. We're to depart via the Richmond 9 departure. Which calls for a climb to 500' before making a sharp 60 degree turn to the left to clear the departure path for following aircraft, which is the heavy right behind us now.

The powers are quickly up and the runway lights start to quicken there pace out my peripheral view. We're soon climbing up into the cool blue. 500 feet comes within 25 seconds after wheels off and I dip my left wing down 30 degrees for a new heading of 201 degrees. Before I even roll out on the heading I hear the 747 get their take off clearance. Funny, there was no wake turbulence caution with it... Through a 1000' feet we switch to Departure.

The next five minutes fly by in the hustle of checks, vectors and radio changes. The plane, loving the sea pressure out here blasts up through 7'000 feet of sky before I tame the ravenous 2500 foot/min climb to 1500 and settle in to the 15 minute climb up to FL270. Before we are to our cruising altitude I spot the huge Boeing racing by us out my side window. It's heading East with us, although I presume JFK will be it next destination as compared to sunny Saskatchewan. It stays in sight till about 50 miles out of Vancouver before it disappears into the far horizon with a little twinkle of sun off it's broad wings. Holding his proud head up into the cool sky, it challenges anyone to try and take it's place as King of the High Blue.

1000 Hours in the Pocket

2007-03-18T14:59:00.000-06:00

Coming Up On The System

1438 Local
42 DME South of La Ronge
FL210

After a long morning of holding for weather a window opened up up North and so we set off into the sunny blue southern skies for a gray snowy North. Now 30 minutes later after leaving the solid earth behind, we are just coming up on the system that has taken hold of the North for the past few hours. We'll be above it until our decent. But I'm also coming up to something else. The ol' 1000 flight hours mark. After 2 1/2 years training, 3 years fuelling and 1 and a bit years working as a pilot I've finally arrived at the always distant 1000 hour mark. Funny, I don't feel as pro as I thought I guy with a 1000 hours would. I see the many pilots around me with many more hours and know that I have but just written a number in my log book that tells of a pilot still in the early learning stages of his career. Still lots to experience and learn. But hey it has been fun getting here, and I look forward to the next thousand to roll by.

But back to flying, I've gotta give one of our bases a call for the latest weather at our destination. I know it won't be great but I'm hoping it's still above the minimums to get in.

Wild Dogs

2007-03-11T20:04:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting in a small, fairly worn ATCO trailer that is lined with well seasoned chairs on each wall facing one another. One end of the room has the check in counter with the only freshly painted thing in the room, a brightly painted sign of the airline that is in current residence of the building. While the other end of the room has two doors, one leading to a small washroom and the other a storage closet. This end of the room is also occupied with a lonely looking coffee pot and a large heater off the wall. I'm snuggled between the blasting heat and a cup of black gold, no not the Beverly Hillbillies gold. The temperature north of 59 degrees today is well south of -30 Celsius. The chills of this mornings engine tenting are finally leaving me as I take another sip of the warmth and pull back from the heater. A sign across the room on the bulletin board makes me smile. Not because I'm an dog hater, but cause it's about as straight forwardly said as possible...

"NOTICE. Any dogs running loose will be destroy starting February 1, 2007."

I sit back and ponder over my coffee of all the ways to destroy dogs, instead of just simply shooting them. My mind quickly wanders from dogs to cats... I like dogs.

Windy Morning

2007-02-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

Don't let the passengers see now...

The wind is howling at 25 gusting 30 knots as we hold short of the runway waiting on our clearance from Saskatoon radio. It's dark outside still at 0625 and the ground is hardly visible from the blowing snow. Our clearance is given to us with a cancellation time of 1231, that gives us about 3 minutes to be airborne which won't be a problem. As we take position on the runway and pause to run through the take off checks, we are given the illusion of rolling forward from the layer of snow moving steadily down the runway. A quick glance at the motionless runway lights and a little more pressure on the brakes is our only confirmation that we aren't on the move. As we push the power up for take off the strong winds quickly bring out air speed up to 100 knots. We leap off the runway and climb quickly above the blowing snow. The bright lights of the airport and city are below us now. The vis hazard from the windy conditions does not look so bad at this angle.

We are now 150 miles from our destination where we'll be sitting for 8 hours as our customers tend to their duties. We've got a room and bed booked for the day, I'm looking forward to it after the early morning.

Warmth and Dumbo

2007-02-15T20:54:00.000-06:00

15 minutes ago on the ground in Saskatoon we had picked up the ATIS (automated terminal information system) to get the latest weather for the airport. One of the things that came off the monotone male voice was the temperature, a balmy -10 degrees Celsius. What a nice break from the cold -30 degree snap that been punishing us for the last two weeks. I'm wanting to pull out the ol' BBQ and sandals it feels so good.

Now though the OAT (outside air temp) is back down to -25 as we soar upwards through 15'000 feet for our cruising altitude of FL190 (19,000 ft). Our rate of climb is already down to 600' feet/minute, thanks to the full load of 8 passengers and 160 pounds of cargo. The sky is starting to brighten in the East as we climb above the last layer of broken clouds. I can see a brightly lit town through a hole, it passes by slowly, looking sleepy and quiet. This reminds me of the old movie Dumbo the Flying Elephant when he is being carried across the night sky in a blanket by the kind pelican. Now that's an old memory...

A Bright Star

2007-02-06T22:24:00.000-06:00

9.8 Million Miles Away

We're level at 17'000 feet above a platform of brilliant white clouds. The Earth's closest star is shining brightly though the 1/2 thick windshield. The visor is down, sunglasses on, but still it's bright enough to warrant a couple of maps to be hung in the windows.

Using a formula I read about just the other day in an aviation weather book I attempt to figure out the sun's angle (e) above the earth from my location. The formula is e = 90 - (L - Lp) where Lp is the latitude where the sun is directly over head at noon, ei: Summer time the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer or 23.5 degree latitude North. L is the latitude of where you are.

I figure since we are roughly 47 days passed the winter equinox and there is about 91 days in between each equinox, the sun would be pretty near right in between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator or about 11.5 (Lp) degrees South. ( When using south latitudes I use a negative number.) And right now I'm flying over the 54.5 (L) degree latitude North. Put the numbers together and I get a sun angle of...

e = 90 - (54.5 - (-11.5))

e = 90 - (54.5 + 11.5)

e = 90 - 66

e = 23 degrees, huh, the sun looks a lot higher to me than that, but then I am nearly 3 miles above the earth. Anyways, back to flying...

Calgary is now 250 NM in front of us, the weather there is going to let me shoot an approach down to about 600'. That's good, cause after a week off from flying, my hands and feet can get a little rusty...

Eyes

2007-01-30T08:54:00.000-06:00

Tucked Away for the Cold Day's Wait

207 NM North Of Saskatoon

FL200

215 Knots Ground Speed

The Northern lights are circling the plane. They are alive and dancing tonight. The stars are bright, showing the paths to the far galaxies. It's smooth and peaceful, the soft glow of the beacon on our wings and the short blue flames off the exhaust is easy on the eyes. Something a pilot has to be careful about. I need to bring my eyes back into the plane, keeping a watchful eye on the instruments, making sure they stay in their monotone state. Not moving. Nothing much is moving in the cockpit, just two sets of eyes and the distance on the GPS, it keeps slowing counting down to our destination.

Waypoints

2007-01-26T12:09:00.000-06:00

Looking for a Waypoint

We're slogging away at 16'000 ft enroute to Cowtown. Strong winds aloft are beating us up with over 45 knots on the nose, our ground speed is down to 180ish knots, making the trip from Regina over two hours long. Which is alright now, it gives me time to think and write a little.

Coming out of Regina we were given an intersection waypoint to fly over on our route. Intersection Waypoints are decision to be used with RNAV or GPS equipment, which usually provide waypoints that are more on our route or they can be easy designed because it's just a matter of deciding where you want a waypoint and then just giving the co-ordinates a name. Now the name is what sometimes causes a problem. Generally these waypoints are given a five letter name. I think they pick the five letters out of a hat and then randomly arrange those letters to come up with a name. And yes, that does make for some weird names. Example: MOOSE, DELBR, ONOET, ODGOV, XOXOM, XUKMI... and so on, try and pronounce those?

So usually the first thing a pilot does after hearing the waypoint from ATC (Air Traffic Controller) is try to take a stab at just spelling it out in the GPS. When that doesn't work he/she quickly grabs for the map and starts trying to find a waypoint that sounds about the same, since you sure don't no how to spell it. And then once that doesn't pan out and your hoping you are some how on course still, you finally ask ATC what the waypoint was again and maybe even how to spell it. The smart pilot will ask this question right after he gets the original request. As you got to wonder what ATC is thinking when after five minutes of receiving the request we (us pilots who are trying hard to be smart) have to ask the name of it again. ATC must be thinking, where have they been going for the last five minutes?

Well today we went through that process twice! And on the same waypoint! By the time we got the correct spelling of the correct waypoint we were five miles beyond it and already onto our next waypoint. Luckily our intial vectors from ATC had us heading right for it and we stayed on route the whole time. But still, it made me feel like a pretty poor preformer. But don't worry folks who trust pilots, this won't happen to this old cowboy again. I don't like trying to guess, I like have the facts. And we could have if we would have just asked ATC from the beggenning, and that's what I'll be doing. Sometimes us pilots are a little worried about what ATC will think of us or if we'll annoy them when we have to ask questions, but I know they don't, it's just in our heads.

Anyways, the ground speed has picked up to a 194 knots, that's a little better. We're now estimating the big city in 43 minutes.

The sky is smooth at our present altitude. A high layer of cloud is sheilding us from the bright rays of sun, no need for sunglasses right now.

Riggers

2007-01-09T21:47:00.000-06:00

Calgary City Center

1413 Local
105 NM Northwest of Edmonton
FL190
GS 226KTS

It's a gloomy gray all around us, we're in the soup at 19,000 feet. The sun is a dull white ball above and in front of us. 40 miles to the west of us are the mighty Rocky mountains, the broad prairies spread out to the East. But neither are visible as we bump in and out of pockets of turbulance that is being pushed out from the mountains. There are seven strong men behind us, all are sleeping. Finally able to relax after a couple of weeks out on the oil rigs. They are always happier than the guys we bring in, wonder why...

Loading the riggers and all their gear was a fine art of balance... The whole way up to Peace River from Calgary I worked on our fancy little C of G whiz wheel (A nicely designed wheel calculater that lets you easily figure out your airplanes Center of Gravity) to figure out how we could load up all these riggers and their gear. I came out with only one solution. Because of all the gear stored in the rear of the plane, we wouldn't be able to use our rear most seat. Instead, two of the guys had to share the small bench seat at the front of the plane. At least for take off and landing, I let them move around while in cruise, where we weren't faced with any slow speeds. They cooperated real well and didn't seem to be thinking that I was some real weight and balance freak. I appreciate them for making my job easy. The rest of the flight went smooth, well besides the odd pocket of potholes in the airways.

Long Day

2007-01-07T19:41:00.000-06:00

The Wind Blowing Hard Across a Hard to See Taxiway

We've just slipped through the gray clouds that are covering nearly all of Saskatchewan today. The sun is near it's setting stages and casting a pinkish speckled glow across the huge sea of stratus cloud. It reminds me of a tropical beach...interesting to say since Northern Saskatchewan is about as far from a tropical beach as you can get, but it makes me feel warm for a moment just thinking it.

We're homeward bound after a long day of many legs, nine to be exact, and one new airport to add to the list. The homeward leg for me is always a relaxing one. We settle into our cruising altitude of 16'000 feet and pull the props back to 1750 RPM. The torque sits at 1500 ft'lbs a side and fuel flow is resting at 300 lbs/hour per engine. Things quiet down and the sheep skin starts to feel overly comfy. It's only a 50 minute leg from La' Ronge to Saskatoon but the early morning and long day has time to catch up with me. The sun is bright on the horizon, the airplanes vibrations are relaxing, the bleed air off the engines is warm and blowing. Not a good combination! I reach back for my last coffee of the day, it's from this morning still, so it should have some kick...

From Cattle to Classroom

2007-01-03T18:48:00.000-06:00

The Early Morning Sun Spashing Across the Avionics Switches

It seems like only yesterday that I was running through the fresh snow trying to avoid the large lumps of brown stuff that weren't yet frozen. Waving the remains of an old hockey stick and hooten' and whistling at the slow to move cows. Pushing them into progressively smaller corrals until they're single file down a shoot waiting to get their hides pricked by a big fat needle.

Wait, that was just yesterday! Wow, how quickly your environment changes. The classroom I'm sitting in isn't really one at all. It's a small office that is already near it's maximum pay load just holding a book shelf, a large desk and an even larger flight simulator. Two other pilots are sitting with me on three chairs that are in a semi circle around the front of the instructors desk. The Instructor is sitting forward in his chair trying to see the front of his computer monitor that he has turned towards us, flipping through the pages of his King Air 100's power point.

My mind is working nearly as hard as my body the previous day. My long Christmas holidays have softened my mental powers, not to mention my physical not-so-powers. I've been through this class a few times already, but still my mind is grinding over things forgotten and other things freshly learnt. It's me yearly ground school, soon to be followed by flight training, that I'm hacking away at. It's been a year since I've started flying for a living. Hard to think that after many years of toiling on the ground, I've just completed my first year in the air. The 800 hours that are penned into my log book would have been an amazing feat just two years ago. Now though, sitting next to a ten thousander I feel inexperienced and young. Lot's of more growing to do. That's good though, I'm still flying upwards.

New Dimensions

2006-12-17T12:04:00.000-06:00

Flying Parallel With Company ATR42 on Decent into a Different Northern Mine

The big droplets of moisture on our wings from the recent de-ice start to roll towards the trailing edge as we push the throttles forward. The airspeed indicator quickly comes alive as we start to enter warp speed, well so it seems as the heavy snow snow fall outside starts to turn into a tunnel of passing stars. He hit warp one and start to pull back on the control column, four seconds later we enter into the 3rd dimension. The gear retract and lights go out, no more flying through a tunnel, it's completely black as we enter into the low layer of cloud. The black hole. The speed continues to increase, the pressure starts to decrease as we go farther into the unknown. Soon a faint light is starting to appear ahead. Wisps of light red clouds start to fly by at incredible speeds. There's no sound to be heard as we push through the layer, squeeze through a few thin passage ways of a ragged top and blast into new heavens. It's soft and light up here, an atmosphere full of gentle blushes of reds, yellows, pinks and purples. Outlined in deep black and traced with light blue. The air is heavy with tranquility, calmness, peace and wonder. Energy runs through my veins. God is good.

An Early Morning De-ice

Smooth Skies

2006-12-10T17:03:00.000-06:00

On approach to La Loche

The sky is soft, clear and blue today as we are homeward bound level at 15'000 feet. The whole day has been a joy to fly, with smooth air and warm temps on the ground, well only -5C, which is a peach at this time of year up here. The sun is gentle mix of colours as it slowly drops below the far horizon. The sun setting in the North during the winter takes nearly 15 minutes longer to set than in the South, another neat thing about up here. I'm in the KingAir 100 today and it was been treating me good, it's smooth and easy to handle.

We're now 71 miles to the North West of P.A. and you can see a distinct line on the ground where the bush and prairies meet. It's pretty much black and white. Neat.

I had a cool video of landing the plane, but I never figured out how to get it onto the blog, I'll keep trying though. The picture above is the first image of the video.

10 minutes after landing in La Loche, it's much darker on the ground. And it's already past 9:30 am local.

Blast to the Past

2006-12-04T15:26:00.000-06:00

Looking Out My Old Office Window

A charter this morning brought me back to my ol' stomping grounds in Regina where I used to be a fueller before I got hired on to fly. It was nice to be back and say hi to everyone I used to work with. While sitting in my old chair in the fuel office looking out at the view I seen everyday for 3 years I couldn't help but remember all the good times I had had here. Here is a funny story that came to mind...

It was an early winter evening and I had just returned from fuelling a jet at the main terminal. I was covered in snow and fairly chilled throughout the body as it was ugly outside. As I stepped into the fuel office my partner that I was working with that night was just finishing bundling up and told me he was going to do some snow removal on the apron with our old Bobcat. I said sure, shed the last of my outer layers, grabbed a coffee and sat down to finish up some paper work. I was soon finished the paper stuff and was relaxing in my chair looking out at the blizzard in progress, dimming the lights in the office so I could see through the darkness that had already settle on the airport. I could see the Bobcat working back and forth on the apron moving mounds of snow and cutting a ray of orange light through the heavy snow fall from it's bright beacon on the roof. I noticed all of a suddenly that that was the only bright light out there, all the taxi and apron edge lights where out on the airport, strange, normally Regina doesn't try and conserve power between it's flights or they'd be flicking the lights on and off every ten to twenty minutes.

While I was pondering this strange event, the door to the office opened up, sending a cold breeze past me. Brrr. My partner comes walking in with a funny look on his face and a three foot length of black cord hanging out of his hand.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Umm," he starts, a little worried sounding, "I pulled it up with the Bobcat just near that last apron light, I hope it's nothing important."

"Huh, that's not so good. I noticed all the apron lights are off, is that normal?" I pointed out.

"Crap. I hope that has nothing to do with this, I'd better call airport maintnaince and let them know." He says while quickly reaching for the phone and punching in seven digits. After a brief explanation and a few uh, huh, uh, huhs he puts the receiver back in his cradle and plops into a chair. "Crap."

"Not good?" I question.

"Ahh, looks like it cut off the power supply to the entire fields taxi and apron light. But looks like the runway lights are still working though. Maintenance says they should be able to get the back up power to work."

After sitting and watching for the lights to come back on for about ten minutes, we hear a plane call up Ground on the radio for his taxi. Ground gives him the taxi clearance and ends it with a "But be careful as there isn't any taxiway lights." And he doesn't stop there."It looks like a fueller took out a line for all the power to the lights and maintenance can't get the back up system to work with it out either." I look over at the big guy sitting next to me, his face is starting to turn a shade darker.

"Geez, they could have left that last part out." He says with a red face, "that's kinda embarrassing."

I just start to laugh in my chair and pretty much for the rest of the shift. For every time a plane went to taxi for the next two hours, ground control had to tell the story of why the lights weren't on, and he always ended it with, "a fueller did it." My partner got over the red face pretty quick and started to laugh with me. And that was just one of the funny story's to tell...