Hired!

So, for those of you who haven't been following this whole blog, or who don't know me personally, upon completion of flight training, I did some glider instructing for the summer with the local cadet Region Gliding School. Since then I have been watching all the online job postings, and slowly working on my resume, not with much motivation cause I hadn't found anything that I was interested in applying on. Until one day, while browsing avcanada's job postings I came across a Cessna 208 FO position. So the times posted were reasonable for somebody who has never held a flying job before, and it was based out of Halifax Robert Stanfield International Airport, in my home city! So that was my motivation to finish up the cover letter, and get that sent in! I applied on the job Thursday, and Friday evening I received a phone call from the Chief Pilot and the job offer after a small change in there aircraft lineup for the winter, and I was now gonna be flying a Piper Navajo.

Training began the following Tuesday with a couple days of intensive ground school on type specific information. That was followed by a rather unusual problem, although problems themselves aren't that unusual when flying a aircraft as old as the Navajo. We went to test the hydraulic pressure in the gear system during start up, and all we got was the gear warning horn going off in out ear, so by about eight o'clock that night, the problem was fixed and we got airborne the next day. 3 flights later, and 3 days later I had successfully completed a PCC on type, and was ready to start flying the line. Training finished Sunday, and Monday morning was the first day at work.

Completion of Training

As many of you already know, I am home from Manitoba. I completed my training approximately a month ago, leaving me with my Commercial Pilots license, my Multi Engine rating (Self explanatory) and my IFR rating (Instrument Flight Rules- So I can fly in less then ideal weather). Now the most common question is "So you can fly for like Air Canada now?" or "Who do you want to fly for?" so I'm gonna explain how this works a little.

NO I can't fly for Air Canada yet! My Commercial License gives me the opportunity to fly for hire now, so I can technically work as a pilot, BUT coming straight out of flight school, I only have about 270 hrs and not alot of experience as far as most companies are concerned, which is pretty true. So the next step for me is to find a small charter operation, or a company that does remote area transportation of food, goods, etc. The key to these companies is, if your not carrying passengers, the insurance company doesn't mind them throwing a rookie in the left seat and letting them fly, which is how somebody in my position is going to get there first 1000 hrs. The first 1000 hrs as mentioned previous, is like the magic number in which companies like to see as a minimum when they hire a pilot. Quite often when you start out with a company you don't even start right in the airplane, you will start out as a rampy (Somebody working the ramp, loading, refueling, cleaning the aircraft, etc) and from there eventually earn your way up in the company which will hopefully result in a seat in the cockpit at some point. So right now I am still working on my resume which I plan to start sending out in the near future.

I am also heading back to Debert again this summer, to instruct on the Glider Pilot Scholarship that is held for those cadets who are interested in learning to fly! So that will be the majority of my summer, and immediately after my return from there I am hoping to be heading out to Calgary to compete in a competition that names the Top Amateur Pilot in the country (The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition). I find out the end of this month if I made the finals, I will keep you posted!

That is all for now, seeing as how this blog was started for my flight training, and that is over, I will keep writing whenever I get a chance, and it will end being more of my story as an entry level pilot, and all the experiences that will occur along the way!

Last Post Fixed

Previous Post Fixed!!

You should now be able to see the previous post, I lost internet when I was writing it, so I saved it into Microsoft word, and when i copied it back to hear it stayed as black text which was invisible on the black background!!

Pilots stuck on the ground, its like a fish out of water!

After returning since christmas break, it has been all out doing preparation for the flight test!! Well this past Monday, all the work payed off with a 90% percent pass on my Commercial Flight Test! It was a great feeling to have that done and out of the way, especially since we had planned on leaving Tuesday night for Calgary, then Vancouver. Seeing as how I am sitting at my computer writing this right now, its obvious we have not made it to Vancouver, and have called the trip off, due to 3 days of us not being able to make it even as far as Regina, and due to our limited booking of the aircraft, and our instructor only being able to get so much time off, this morning when the no go decision was made for today, we decided to cancel all together. The weather does not appear to be ending any time soon as we are forecasted to receive about 10 cm of snow this weekend.

After we made the no go decision and today, we went to the hangar to unpack our stuff from the airplane, and end up sitting around in the hangar/on the wing of the airplane for a while having a good conversation about options, flying, whatever pilots talk about when they are on the ground, and sad cause they can't go flying! While we were sitting around talking, we kept being teased by the mechanics as they would walk by, about certains sights, and sounds we would be hearing if we had of been having out conversation on an apron in Vancouver somewhere. " Hey guys, aren't those those some large evergreen trees, Oh look at that bald eagle". It was pretty funny, but after finding out that there are flowers blossoming in Vancouver, it was a little more heart breaking to think that thats where we should have been at that moment instead of sitting inside a big hanger which was probly colder then outside in Vancouver!

After we stopped thinking about Vancouver, and finished our conversation, we found out there was a Manitoba Moose game happening at the MTS center tonight, so we got online checked availability, and ticket prices, and proceeded to purchase tickets, and thats where our evening was spent, watching the Manitoba Moose, play the San Antonio Rampage. While at the game, we found out that winnipeg is hosting a Pre-Olympic mens hockey game, this coming Tuesday with Switzerland vs Belarus, and for $14 could not pass up the opportunity, so we will be back at the MTS center Tuesday evening for another hockey game.

As for the training side of things, I am now studying the POH (Pilot Operating Handbook) for the twin engine airplane I will be flying next, and will be starting to study for the written exam of my Instrument rating in the very near future. Upon completion of my multi engine rating and IR (Instrument Rating) it will be back home, and the job search will commence!

I think this is everything new since my last post, so I will write again soon! Keep checking in for new updates and pictures!!!

Flight Test Week

So as many of you have probly assumed by now, I haven't forgotten about my blog. After being harrassed at christmas that I hadn't posted anything in a really long time, I came back and jumped right into preparing for my Commercial Flight Test and haven't had time to write anything until now. the flight test is scheduled for Saturday, but the weather since Monday has been cloudy with snow, poor visibility etc. So I got up this early this morning hoping to actually get my Pre-Flight test done with my instructor, and as forecasted the weather was bad! So the most productive thing I can do today is spend an hour in the simulator later!

So i figured I would spend a couple minutes updating you all on here. There hasn't been to much happening since my return to Steinbach. The temperatures are much nicer now then before I came home, don't think I have seen anything colder then -11 since being back. Myself and a couple of guys have been out playing a fair amount of hockey. The local arena has an outdoor rink that they flood every morning, and admission is free, so we have spent some quality time playing some hockey with the locals, or just by ourselves!

I have attached a few pictures below of the results of fog at sub zero temperatures. We woke up Tuesday morning to seeing everything covered in frost, but it appeared so heavy that some people were speculating about freezing rain. It was actually freezing fog!!

This it what it looks like up close! This is the tip of the propeller!!