Just checking in...

It's been a while since I've Blogged. I've been flying regularly and enjoying every minute of it. Fall is upon us and the Xmas season so we are getting ready for multiple parties and some well deserved holidays including a 10-day golf trip to Florida in January. Looking forward to golfing again and I will be practicing on virtual golf before I leave.

Anyway, that's it for now. Salut

This is the life!

I have now discovered the great benefits of finishing a military career as a transport aircraft pilot. I fly the Dash 8 "Gonzo" in support of the Navigator training school. We typically fly 3 hour missions or longer. We get two meals and sometime the second meal is a hot meal that we heat up in the airplane's oven. If we have a long cross country flight and the crew in the back are switched on, we even get oven baked pizza and baked cookies. I can get up from the cockpit and walk back to stretch and even go to the bathroom if I need to. We carry hot coffee and the guys and gals in the back are really nice to us and usually serve us our food. They know we can make them sick I think;-7

Anyway, I just wanted to say the I am happy to be doing this right now and I think I will do this for a few years until I'm ready to golf full time.

Last simulator session this morning.

Boy am I done with this FSI training. Last sim flight this morning going from Toronto Pearson to Ottawa McDonald Cartier. Should be pretty straight forward flight but still at this point I'd rather go home early. I feel this 9th sim is a waist of time and money. I shouldn't complain cuz I could still be behind a desk.

L8TR

The Dash 8 course at FSI in Toronto

So I'm almost done the FSI course in Toronto. It's a month-long course that has two weeks of ground school/technical training and 9 simulator sessions. I'm starting session #7 in a few minutes. It's very busy two-hour sessions in one seat then a 5 min break and two more hours in the other seat. These sessions are sandwiched between a one hour brief and one hour debrief. Once I'm done here, I'll be doing a unit checkout at my squadron. It will be about 10 flights and then I'll be a qualified First Officer.

I have to go but will blog again soon.
Cheers!

My golf game is back on track.

So my golf season started again this week. I played an evening round Thursday and shot 88. First round of the season and wet and muddy conditions so I wasn't worried. I joined some friends for a Saturday round and it was slow but with an 86 I was heading in the right direction. This morning was the Sunday morning foursome (and mothers day) and it was wet. My front nine was uneventful with a 41 and I had a feeling it was going to be a round in the low to mid eighties but then the back nine turned out to be 36 for a round of 77. My best round ever after a 79 and 78 to close out last season. I hope I have many more in the 70s to come cuz it's fun to shoot well.

I'll keep you posted.

Gotta Love iPhone

I had an old Samsung flip phone for many years and I kept checking smart phones and asking about the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy in the last few weeks to see what people thought of them. I researched a few forums on both phones and I finally came to a decision yesterday. I upgraded both Nath and my phone to iPhone 4 with the 500MB data package. It seems really great and with face time and the fact that it works right out of the box with no tweaking (like Android) I was very pleased. The monthly bill will be a little higher and the price for both phones is much more than the android but I have an iMac and 3 iPod Touch in the house so the iPhone is easier to use for us.

Hope it lives up top it's reputation. So far so good but it's only been 24 hours;D

Is spring here yet?

I am sooo fed up with winter it's not even funny. I put the battery on my bike this week, I have my clubs ready for my first round and my hockey gear is put away. What's missing? Spring and summer of course. With the threat of severe flooding in Manitoba, I doubt that golf courses will be playable for at least another full month if not more. Some courses are located along the major rivers so a few of their holes will likely be under water. Others have poor drainage hence many holes have standing water on the fairways for a long period. As for the ridding, this city takes for ever to clean its streets so it is dangerous to venture out too early with all the sand that was laid this winter. All I hope is that spring finishes its installation ASAP so we can download summer and enjoy it.

Cheers!

The Multi-Engine conversion is done!

It feels like I just got handed my (pardon the expression) b...ls back after 9 years of flying a desk. Yea! I'm a pilot but when you haven't flown in 9 years, you feel like you are "not" a pilot anymore. Like something was taken away from you over those years and you kinda feel a shamed of saying you're a pilot when you don't really fly anything. Now I can say I flew the King Air and will be checked out on the De Havilland DHC-8 or (Dash-8) in June.

I can honestly say that for the last month,... "I've been stretching my wings!"

A plus tard.
Chuck

Hypothermic Half Marathon

I ran my first winter half marathon this morning. Oups! not true. I ran the New Years day Half Marathon in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2009 but it was about 15°C so it does not count as a winter one. This morning though was a doozy. With a Wind Chill of -29°C, it was a weee bit nippy out in the open. A good thing the course was through the Assiniboine forest and the trees shielded us from the wind for most of the race. When I finished, I was soaked through and the inside of my windbreaker was all iced up. I could have made a snow ball with the ice in my jacket. I used my neoprene face mask for a couple hundred meters in the open because my face was about to get frost bite. It was a fun race where there is no expectations of finishing with a great time because it's a snowy trail, you're dressed much more than a summer race and it's the first one of the year. If you're like me, you packed on a few extra pounds from the holidays and the runs have not been very long because it was too cold outside. I can't run longer than 30 mins on a treadmill so unless I can run outside, I never get runs longer than 6Km. Also, I'm on course in Portage La Prairie and they feed us 3 square meals a day with all the salad and sides you can put in your plate. It does not help in maintaining the weight when it is free and you don't have to make it yourself. I went up to 200lbs two weeks ago and I should be 185 with my muscle mass. Today I ran at probably 193lbs or more and I felt it in my legs and joints. I guess it's a sign that I have to get a grip and reduce my food intake and keep the running regular. Next race is 1 May and I will be down to 185 or less for that one.

Until then, back to the training and the flying.

Cheers!

Chuck

Ground School is done!

Two weeks of ground school and that included my first Full Flight Simulator. I was also suppose to fly my first flight today but the plane broke and there was too much delay so it will be next week.

The ground school was good but it is mostly self study via a laptop and confirmatory lessons with an instructor. They usually spend very little time confirming and we must be “on the ball” because we have to know our stuff by heart. The check list is very long and the first start with checks takes about an hour. There are so many things to check it's not even funny. There is a flow however, and I have a feeling that after a few flights, it becomes easy.

The HPMA (Human Performance in Military Aviation) is all new to me. It's essentially the crew concept and that in itself is not new to me because we used it in the Griffon helicopter all the time but this HPMA version is all about saying specific words or commands at a specific time. You can't use a different word that means the same thing. It has to be the same word for everyone so when you change pilot or co-pilot there is no confusion about the calls in the aircraft.

It will take some getting use to but I'll get it. I just need to get the first flight done so I can get a feel for this airplane. After that, it's all about the feel.

CUL8R

Chuck

Last day before I leave for flight school.

Tomorrow is my last day at CFSAS before I head out to Portage La Prairie at 3 CFFTS/Allied Wings for a two-month course on the Beech 90 King Air. I'm anxious and nervous because of the length of time since my last flight at the controls of an aircraft. I have so much to relearn that I hope it comes back to me fairly easy.

We're going out to lunch Friday to say goodbye and then I hit the road Sunday after lunch so I can set up out there in daylight. I'll be commuting on the weekends for the first few weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers!

World reactions to terrorists.

Breaking News
>
> The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist
> threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed"
> to "Peeved."
>
> Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated"
> or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since
> the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have
> been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last
> time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588,
> when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
>
> The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's
> get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the
> reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for
> the last 300 years.
>
> The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its
> terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in
> France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by
> a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively
> paralyzing the country's military capability.
>
> Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly"
> to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain:
> "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
>
> The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful
> Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also
> have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."
>
> Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only
> threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.
>
> The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to
> deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new
> Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
>
> Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries"
> to "She'll be alright, Mate." Three more escalation levels remain:
> "Crikey,!" "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and
> "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use
> of the final escalation level.

Off to Portage La Prairie for Multi Conversion training.

Voici une photo de l'appareil Beech King Air 90 de Bombardier sur laquelle je vais faire mon cours de conversion du 24 janvier au 28 mars 2011. J'ai vraiment hâte de voir comment ça se manoeuvre.

Ensuite, je vais être muté à l'escadron 402 "City of Winnipeg" ou je vais piloter le CT-142 (Dash 8) communément appelé "Gonzo". C'est l'appareil qu'on utilise pour entrainer les jeunes Air Combat Systems Operators (ACSO) anciennement appelé Navigateurs. Une job bien relax et qui va me faire voyager de temps à autres.

Je vais blogger quand je serai sur le cours à Portage.

Salut.