Thursday, December 20, 2007

Air Nootka



A few weeks ago I was in Courtenay doing some small lake training with Mike Seib in his Cessna 182. Mike pushed my limits and taught me how to fly in tight situations. I enjoyed this type of flying. Next to Mike's hanger was a flight maintenance operator who seemed to specialize in deHavilland Beavers - my dream machine. One day there was a beautiful Beaver in the maintenance shop. I had never heard of the operator - Air Nootka. I did some research and WOW! Air Nootka does some great trips for surfers, hikers and the classic remote mail run on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island. Check out the site: www.airnootka.com

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Learning from the best

This past weekend I spent all my time at a three day seminar at the Boundary Bay Airport close to the US Border attending an excellent seminar on Instrument Flying. My instrument rating is not high on my priority for flying at the moment – getting a float job is. You don’t need an Instrument Rating to land on a lake – you need it to land at an airport with low visibility and low ceilings. So why did I spend all my time sitting in a classroom or driving 2 hours to and from the lecture for something I don’t really need. Well two reasons:

1. One of the best in the flight training business was giving the lecture.
2. It can only help my flying.

The more I learn the better I get.

One of the best ways to learn is to ask the best and listen. I was very fortunate to be able to ask two of the greatest triathletes (Paula Newby Fraser – 8 time IM champ and Mark Allen – 6 time IM champ) questions about training and racing. Each one had many great tips based on experience. They never preached – they just shared a tip based on experience. I could find out through trial and error or learn from them.

I am trying to do the same with flying: ask and learn from the best.

This week I am doing a presentation for StarCite in Florida then it will be back to flight training.

The timeline for the new job is April when I get back from the Solvang training camp with Chuckie V. A few resumes have been mailed but the real push will be April when I drive from operator to operator in Canada’s North hoping to land that first job flying floats.

So, Thanks Todd for the great tips this weekend and to Paula and Mark for helping achieve my goals in sport.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Monday, December 3, 2007

Backcountry in Squamish

Backcountry in Squamish

About Me

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Canada
Former triathlon pro to neo-pro pilot