If you attended, taught, or worked at Sharon Public School (Ontario Canada) in the 1970s or 1980s, you are invited to a reunion on May 5, 2007 in Newmarket. Please contact Susan Dicks (Hoell) at 905-895-9309 or susandicks@rogers.com.
Although it’s great fun to take a passenger (usually a co-worker) along, it’s also nice to just fly by myself sometimes. There’s nothing like a peaceful (I have an ANR headset) cross country flight to leave the worries of the world behind on the ground. One of the items in the self-assessment checklist before every flight is “stress”. Although I’ve never arrived at the airport very stressed, I’ve found that any stress I felt just melts away when I start the aircraft pre-flight. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry pretty much summed it up:
I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things; it gives me a sense of wider horizons.
The actual flight consisted of a straight out-and-back to Orangeville, where I overflew CPV2, a private grass strip. Rather than relying on the GPS, I used the VOR to maintain my track and stay out of Toronto Pearson’s (CYYZ) airspace. I also took the opportunity to calculate the winds aloft based on compass heading, ground track, air speed, and ground speed. It was pretty close to what was forecast (off by 2 knots and 20 degrees).
Date: 2007-Apr-24
Aircraft: C-FPME, DA20-A1
Passenger: none
Route: CYKF - CPV2 - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.0h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
Today I had the pleasure of introducing someone to aviation. Michael, my passenger, had never flown before, not even in an airliner. This is only the second time that I’ve taken someone on their very first flight. When he finally goes for an airline flight, I’m afraid he’ll be disappointed.
On the way to the airport, we were discussing a bit of aviation history, and I remarked that airplanes initially were not equipped with seat belts. Needless to say, this resulted in the loss of some early aviators. Michael suggested that this was really only a problem if the plane were to become inverted. I replied that even inverted, you wouldn’t necessarily fall out if you flew a maneuver that never subjected you to negative Gs. Furthermore, I told him you could encounter a negative G situation while upright, although this had never happened to me.
Our flight was after work on a day that had plenty of wind and puffy clouds, although both were starting to dissipate by the time we took off. The weather briefer also assured me that there were no PIREPs for turbulence, and that we’d most likely be in for a very smooth ride. She was wrong. The ride was quite bumpy at times, although on average I would have called it light turbulence.
The path of our flight took us from CYKF down to the shore of Lake Ontario, and then along the shoreline for a circuit over downtown Toronto and around the CN Tower. As we approached the shoreline southbound, things got bumpier, although I assured Michael that it would smooth out as soon as we were over the water. This time, it was me that was wrong.
Shortly after we turned towards Toronto, about 500 feet from shore, we encountered what must have been a huge downdraft. We both hit our shoulder harnesses quite firmly. Nothing like first hand experience to make a point. In an open cockpit with no harness, we would likely have fallen out.
The rest of the flight was still occasionally slightly bumpy, but otherwise uneventful. We got a great view of the city and the Toronto Island Airport (CYTZ). On our return flight, Toronto Lester B. Pearson International (CYYZ) cleared us to fly through their airspace rather than under it, so we were able to get into some smoother air.
After our return, the instructor behind the desk at the FBO (National Flyers Academy) asked Michael if he liked his flight. He said he did, and that he was no longer afraid of flying (which he hadn’t told me he was).
Date: 2007-Apr-10
Aircraft: C-GCVX, DA20-A1
Passenger: Michael S.
Route: CYKF - Oakville - CYTZ - Oakville - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.4h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
Yet Another Local Flight. Nothing too exciting this time. I took another co-worker along for this flight over Elora, my house, and northern Waterloo. We have quite a few co-op students where I work and many of them really enjoy the opportunity to go flying. Maybe some of them will catch the bug and learn to fly some day.
One thing this flight reminded me of is to brief the passenger before landing. We had to turn a rather close base, so our final approach was rather steep. Just before starting the flare, I noticed my passenger tensing up and trying to move towards the back of the plane as the ground rushed towards us. I remember from my first flights that even a normal approach seems quite steep at first. A short briefing to that effect might have obviated a tense moment for my passenger.
Date: 2007-Mar-27
Aircraft: C-FENF, DA20-A1
Passenger: James C.
Route: CYKF - Local Area - CYKF
Flight Time: 1.1h
Takeoffs and Landings: 1
Canadian aviation regulations require that a pilot take steps to maintain recency, and one of the ways to do this is to attend a Transport Canada approved seminar at least once every two years. It had been almost two years since my last seminar, so I decided to attend the one held on March 21 in Toronto. The posted topics looked interesting: Weather and Pre-flight Inspection.
I found the weather part of the seminar somewhat disappointing, since it consisted solely of a screening of AOPA’s “Weather Wise” DVD. Although this is a fine DVD, many of the regulatory details it refers to are specific to American aviators. A brief discussion of the differences would have been valuable. Some of the “incorrect” information I noticed were the flight service frequency, the interpretation of temperature gradients on weather maps (the rules of thumb given were for temperatures in Fahrenheit, which you won’t find on a Canadian weather map), and the option to climb above clouds to remain VFR.
The Pre-flight Inspection presentation was both interesting and entertaining. The presenter had taken photos of a variety of planes exhibiting conditions that would render them unairworthy. These ranged from the subtle (like loose rivets) to the blatantly obvious (such as an engine compartment full of straw). It would have been nice to have seen some issues specific to composite airframes though.
Although attending this seminar keeps me legal for another two years, I think it’s in my best interest to do more on my own as well. By their very nature, these seminars can only touch on one or two topics, so there’s still plenty of opportunity to forget other important stuff from ground school. One way I do this is by reading as much aviation material as I can get my hands on, such as EAA’s Sport Aviation, and AOPA’s Flight Training. Another way is through various projects which require some research, such as my custom checklist and aviation survival kit.
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