| My Career As A Pilot |
| When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. |
| Leonardo da Vinci |
| Becoming a pilot has always been a dream of mine, with every flight that I went on triggering the urge more and more to get my licence. After working for a year after finishing highschool, I eventually got my Private Pilot Licence (PPL) in the summer of 1999. My goal was to become a commercial pilot, and as such I needed to achieve my PPL first. I decided to head down to Kelowna, British Columbia and attend a nine week summercamp, finishing just in time for the beginning of the two-year program to get my Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL). The weather was excellent almost all of the time during my stay in Kelowna, giving me the chance to go up for one to three flights in a day. Before I knew it, the time came for me to go up on my first solo flight, which I still remember as if it just took place. It was a late afternoon, with the sun just skimming the mountaintops and casting a beautiful deep orange light over the city of Kelowna and Okanagan Lake. The runway lights had already been turned on...I never quite figured out if the controller just turned them on to keep me from getting lost??...., which just added a nice touch to the whole scene. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that afternoon, because I was a little busy trying to fly that aircraft! Anyways, the controller thanked me for not crashing the plane as I touched down and taxied back to meet my instructor, Barry. A few more weeks of training and I had successfully completed my PPL. |
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| Barry and I During My Private Training |
| Once I had completed my training in Kelowna, it was time to pack my things and leave for Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia. Selkirk College has been a flight training school for over 30 years now, and their two-year program consists of flight and simulator training, aviation related classroom instruction as well as various other courses such as Physics, Calculus, and English. The college's flightline is made up of five single-engine Cessna 172's and two twin-engine Beechcraft 95's. We also had access to two piston simulators and one turbine simulator seven days a week free of charge as part of the program is sponsored by the government. Being one of the only 17 students which were accepted for that year was enough to make me feel happy. Unfortunately, four of our classmates dropped out and only 13 of us finished after the two years. Those of us that made it through, had an awesome experience at Selkirk with many good memories. |
| The flight training consisted of many dual rides with an instructor as well as solo and mutual flights, where two students would go up together to practice. The mountainous terrain around Castlegar was absolutely superb for flying as it gave you a good glimpse of what flying in the mountains can be all about. It was always interesting to note how quickly the weather could deteriorate in the valley passes. The summer would usually provide us with gorgeous sunny days, however, the winter was a different story as we had many days of low lying clouds in the valley which kept us from being able to fly at all. |
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| Castlegar Airport |
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| One Of The Three Simulators |
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| Some Mountains Around Castlegar |
| Part of the program consisted of a three day winter survival trip, simulating an aircraft crash scenario. Being in groups of three or four, we had to find a suitable spot to put up an emergency shelter and try hard not to get on each other's nerves. During our stay out there, the instructors showed us how to get the attention of a searching aircraft using a signal fire, how to make small torches out of "candlewood", how to set snares and various other useful things. Food was limited, of course, and we were all more than happy to be served a huge plate of lasagna at the end of the trip. |
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| Our Shelter During The Survival Trip |
| Other field trips during the two years included a "Chamber Ride" at the Fairchild Air Force Base in the States, experiencing the effects of a pressure drop in the airplane at high altitudes. After the chamber's pressure had been set to the equivalent of 24,000 feet, we had to remove our oxygen masks to see what our individual symptoms would be resulting from a lack of oxygen. What an exciting feeling that was! During the second year we also went to Vancouver, where Air Canada gave us a tour on one of their A-340's as well as a free ride in a DC-10 full motion simulator. None of us ever wanted to go back into our sims at the college after we had flown this machine! What a blast. |
| Probably the most exciting times were our cross country flights to various places troughout British Columbia, Alberta and even the States as far as Portland. However, putting along in our mighty C-172's would sure ask a lot of patience from us as some trips consisted of flying for eight or nine hours. Nevertheless, there was always the awesome scenery around us to look at. The trips over the Rockies to Alberta were by far my favorite ones, flying past glaciers, rock bluffs, and then into the flatlands of Alberta. |
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| Icefields Of The Rockies |
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| Mountains As Far As The Eye Can See |
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| The Not-So-Rocky Parts Of Alberta |
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| One Of The Two BE-95's |
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| The last two months of the program were spent in Abbotsford, an hour's drive east of Vancouver, where we completed most of our instrument flight training in the twins. Most flights consisted of going between Abbotsford and various places such as Victoria or Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. If were weren't busy staring at the instruments, we could sometimes catch a glimpse of the beautiful coastline of British Columbia. |
| The Cockpit |
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| The Mountains In Cranbrook |
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| Part Of Vancouver Island |
| Finally after two years of training, I graduated from Selkirk College in June of 2001 with my Commercial Pilot Licence along with a few additional ratings and was hoping to find a job in the not too distant future. Ten months later I was offered a position as a co-pilot on a Twin Otter operated by Liard Air Ltd. The "Twotter" was used to pick up the clients from Edmonton, Alberta and take them directly to the Northern Rockies Lodge located at Muncho Lake in northern British Columbia, where the guests can enjoy anything from canoeing and hiking to fly-in fishing trips in one of the floatplanes. The flight from Edmonton took about 3.5 to 4 hours and offered the customers an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains. Needless to say, I was really excited about this opportunity and looked forward to flying a Twin Otter for the next few years. |
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| Liard Air's Twin Otter |
| The Interior |
| The Gravel Strip at Muncho Lake |
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