Some pretty crazy small aircraft crowded (and extended) the apron... "a Century of Flight" celebrations were in town, and I was lucky enough to have a friend greet my flight and take me over to the "parking lot", where we spent half an hour walking amongst the planes.
My first commercial flight since passing my flight test last week took me to Charlottetown, PEI, where I'll spend the rest of this glorious summer! Some pretty crazy small aircraft crowded (and extended) the apron... "a Century of Flight" celebrations were in town, and I was lucky enough to have a friend greet my flight and take me over to the "parking lot", where we spent half an hour walking amongst the planes. Among other things, we saw a Pilatus, a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, a Flight Design GmbH CTLS and Spencer Air Care!
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Some people go out drinking after they pass their flight test, but we decided we'd go plane watching -- Hanlan's Point style... There is a beach on the Toronto Islands that borders the airport. It is "clothing optional", tee hee. Ideal conditions are when rwy 08 and 06 are in use, as you can see the heavenly bodies on approach. But winds were from the west, and strong at that, so 26 was in use, and there was not much Cessna traffic. Nevertheless, we set out to do what we intended... First, we walked in awe past the great variety on the clothing optional beach, on towards the amazing parasailing/surfing club and onwards still to the fence that divides the public island from the airport. It was pretty neat to be that close to the departing Dash 8s!!! We watched for a bit, and took some photos; then we went for the "option" (wink wink), swimming in the cool lake to get some relief from the heat. As we were plane watching, we were blessed with a Cessna. And not just any Cessna, but the 150 that had so recently carried me bravely through my PPL test. Wow! Neat!! We waved like mad, jumping up and down in the water and on the beach as GFDH did circuits, but whether the poor folks inside saw us, who knows, tee hee.
For a long time, I was "married" to GGNJ -- she was the first bird I ever flew, back in July of 2010, and I felt a special bond to her. (I remember how frustrated I was to find out I was scheduled to solo for the first time in HaZeL!!!)
But, ever since GNJ's new engine installation, her RPMs leap terrifyingly close to redline, and one almost has to come out of a climb with power first, then attitude - trim in order to avoid overspeeding the engine. So, I was quite happy to plan for and fly my PPL flight test in GFDH, despite its wonky fuel gauges. And he served me well, this winged animal, for as you can see in the photos above, I am safely landed on the ground again, after a 1.4 in the air, having successfully completed my test.
funny sign posted on the board in the briefing room at K-W Flight school
Something that really struck me on my dual cross country west recently was the stark contrast of general aviation communities at the airports enroute, as compared to the lack thereof at CYTZ. Although training at a busy, controlled airport like City has its advantages, and taking off and landing with such a stunning view each time is inspiring, I am sadly missing the type of thing I observed while flying "out west" the other day. Both Tillsonburg and Kitchener seem to have fairly active flying clubs; there are bulletin boards, cafes and loads of friendly people around. I believe this positively affects the flight training climate at the schools there; the general atmosphere was far less tense at both locations than I generally find it to be at Island Air!!! People just sort of seemed happy to be there. Interestingly, a cursory glance at the Waterloo flight centre's website indicates a disproportionately (in a good way!) high number of women involved. The influence is evident in the number of female and children's faces featured on the school's website. Women or no women, though, the general aviation community at both the airports we visited was evident. I wish we had more of that in Toronto. A goal, maybe, if I ever finish my PPL!!! Although I'm a dues-paying member of the PEI flying association, I don't get to participate all that much.
Firstly, I don't have my PPL yet (fingers crossed for July-- that's a whole other story, blog post update on Vera's never-ending flight studies coming not too soon!!!) Furthermore, I don't own a plane. Finally, I'm only on the Island about 2 months a year. So, there's not much to get involved with, really. But tomorrow morning, I will be celebrating my fellow pilots from afar, as they collaborate to introduce the young 'uns in the area to general aviation. The association will be hosting a "COPA for kids" event, which involves registration of kids as they come in, guides to get kids to various staging areas, "Ground School" and, of course, a short circuit around the area so that the kids get to actually fly in a plane. My girlfriend and I did an informal little kids' flight a few months ago for my own offspring and two other kids here at CYTZ... it was good fun, and a great way to introduce them to the joys of small aircraft flying. Too bad there's no longer a flight school on PEI... but who knows? If they build enough interest... ??!! Barry, Brian and friends... I'm praying for good weather for y'all tomorrow! See you in July! Despite the crappy weather (rain and fairly low ceilings), we decided to head out. Since our original plan to fly to Oshawa and enjoy lunch at the famed but not-yet-visited-by-us Mandarin buffet did not align with the METARs or TAF, we elected instead to fly out west a little, and show our friend our apartment from the sky. This was followed by a city tour around the CN tower and then, once on the ground, we had some very rich poutine at a local greasy spoon, followed by tea and cake at the Red Tea Box on Queen. (click photos to enlarge) This was my first time in a small plane since my last flight lesson, on Christmas Eve, so I was pretty excited, regardless of lousy WX! With an CYYG-tower-working friend visiting from PEI, it was time to avail ourselves of the Nav-Canada connection, and visit Toronto Centre at Pearson. Our new ATC friend gave us a great tour... Wow, what a cool place!!! Every area has its own specialty (for example, northern Ontario, or East/West), and the folks who work there focus specifically on traffic in that area, and become experts in that area. In the section that deals with incoming traffic to YYZ from the east, we got to see how all traffic is funneled into a sort of digital "box" on the screen, oriented depending on the runway in use, from which they are handed over to the tower for arrivals. The people who work this area area also see GA traffic in the "practice area", and the ATC guy there told us horror stories of two targets he has often watched, both well within their legal rights, converge and just barely miss one another, due to not being in communication with Toronto Centre. We got to see how radar coverage is affected by altitude, for example, how far away they can see our little Cessna 150s when we fly our cross-country easts, depending on how high or low we fly. In general, higher is better. (Though of course it takes forever for our little planes to climb to altitude!) In the nucleus of the centre we met the flow control people. They coordinate all the take off and landing times. With a plan landing on average every two minutes per runway at Pearson, this is no small job! It was interesting to get a sense of the big picture. A delay of 2-3 minutes from one airport can create chaos at the destination airport, and sometimes, not everyone follows the rules and plays nicely!
Visiting Toronto Centre was an eye-opening experience, and I feel like I have a little better understanding now, that will serve me well as a pilot. We almost got to see the tower, too, but were late for a plane booking at CYTZ, so we had to go. Next time! Got to introduce some children to general aviation today… My pilot girlfriend agreed to take the 11-year-old twins from a rather unique family I volunteer with flying today. So, she waived her fee, and I emptied out the remaining few dollars I had on account at the flight school (from when I was still taking lessons) , and each boy got to go up in the front seat of a 150. In between kids, Mel (the owner of the flight school) helped marshal the plane in, and we kept the engine running while he and I safely got one kid out and the next one in. Sadly, there wasn't any time to squeeze in a flight for me (I haven't been in the cockpit since my last lesson, on Christmas Eve 2012!), but it was still a pretty neat adventure to be a part of.
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Welcome to Vera's Flight Brain...Here I will attempt -- hopefully not in vain -- to share my connections to previous knowledge. Or I might share a few random thoughts loosely connected to flying, too, as well as any useful resources I may stumble across in my studies.
AuthorVera C. Teschow is a certified teacher and mother of twin boys Alex and Simon. In addition to documenting her flying lessons, she also blogs about babies, teaching and life in general. Categories
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September 2013
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