FIRST SOLO!

It finally happened....I busted my aviation cherry! Yesterday evening I logged .2 under the PIC column of my logbook. For those of you who do not understand what PIC is, it stands for Pilot In Command. This means that the PIC has the ultimate responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the aircraft. I was in complete control of my ship and it was my responsibility to get it back on the ground safely and with no ones help. We left my home airport CNA3 (Springwater Airpark) and headed to CNB9 (Lake Simcoe Regional) to take on fuel. We decided to stay in the circuit and practice some touch and goes, stop and goes etc. After a couple of decent ones we did one more and while turning final i was about to call out "Simcoe Traffic, Uniform Bravo Charlie is turning final for 28 touch and go, Simcoe Traffic" Mike (my instructor) told me to make it a full stop. So I made the appropriate call ("Simcoe Traffic, Uniform Bravo Charlie is turning final for 28 Full Stop, Simcoe Traffic") and landed. I personally thought I came in a bit hot but I still put her smoothly on the runway. I started backtracking 28 and asked Mike if he wanted me to taxi to position on 28 (I thought we were going to practice a short field, or a soft field take off, but instead he said something to the effect of "Actually I was thinking you should make this one solo." He asked me how I felt, and I kind of studdered something, then he assured me and said I was making all of my landing great, it was a perfect day to do it, and that if anything went wrong, if it didnt look good, what ever I could just go around....so I dropped him off at the north ramp where he gave me an enthusiastic grin and a thumbs up, and I gave him an aprehensive thumbs up back. I turned around and started to taxi to the runway when I heard on the radio that there was a Helicopter (Hydro 1 I believe) on a 1 mile-final, so I declaired my intention of taxiing to position, he gave me an advisory, I looked, told him I saw him and all was well. That may seem like the most mundane of details but it's amazing how you feel even keeping and eye out for traffic when there is no one else there to do it for you. I made my call "Simcoe Traffic, Cherokee Uniform Bravo Charlie taxiing to position on 28 for the circuit" I decided to do a short field take off, instead of a rolling take off (I was used to it as CNA3 25/07 is 2100'). I called that I was rolling and bam! I was taking off on my own! It's a very interesting thing to be doing all this with out an instructor! Funny thing is that I remembered all my checklists, at 1300' I checked guages green and pulled up my flaps, I called my crosswind and turned left at 1600' levelled off at circuit altitiude 2000' (airport elivation 968') called and turned downwind, did my downwind checks, somehow lost 150' (but whos counting?), called and turned base, then called and turned final, unfortunatly I did go through the center line a little bit but I got back on no problem. Final approach was awesome, it's weird seeing a little speck on the side of the runway and realizing that speck is your instructor, which means hes not in here, which means your the one landing the plane. Well I realise that me crashing the plane into the ground, or landing so hard the struts shot through the gas tanks would make a more interesting story, but I am happy to say it was un eventful, I gently put her on the ground, stopped, and turned around. When I got back to the end of 28 Jim (They owner of a yellow stintson from CNA3 was in the area and asked me if that was a solo flight, I replied yes and he congratulated me on the radio. I was in shock/disbelief! I did all that by my self, up till now the only time I was in my a/c by myself was cleaing, or preflighting, or just chilling out (yes I know I am an aeronerd) but this time I was moving it, flying it, and landing it. I was at a certain skill level that I could be trusted with my airplane to not kill anyone or hurt anything! IT WAS AWESOME! I taxiied(sp?) back to the north ramp to pick up Mike where I got my congrats and handshake. Unfortunatly neither of us brought a camera so the picture will be taken this afternoon. I will post it when I get it. This seems to be one of my longer posts but there really isn't enough I can say about it! This, as I understand is a major milestone in aviation, this is a moment nobody ever forgets. I know I wont. At the risk of sounding too cliché I will leave on this.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long delirious, burning blue, I've topped the wind swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew -And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untresspassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God. Pilot Officer Gillespie MageeNo 412 squadron, RCAFKilled 11 December 1941

Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

I got it! Yay! Yet another frivilous purchase! I decided for a while that I wanted a nice ultralight backpacking stove. Make no mistake I absolutly love my Optimus Nova but when I go backpacking especially when I try to go UL it is a bit too heavy and complicated to go along, especially since we are only trying to boil water usually. For those who care I should be getting a brand new Nova soon as there was a little issue with the bottom bolt shearing off and they are replacing the whole unit under warranty. I was humming and hawwing the past few weeks, and looking for good light stoves online. One kept popping up. The MSR Pocket Rocket. I looked on ebay and everything and was actually about to make a purchase, untill I realised that once I factor in the shipping and conversion rate, I could get one here in Barrie for maybe at the most $5 more, and atleast I would have one right now. So I hopped into the van and made my way to Coast Mountain Sports in the Georgian Mall. It seemed at the moment that they only had one left and it was the display model. I was going to take it as it looked to be in great condition (it was fired once but nothing more) and they were going to offer 10% off. I was ready to pay when they realised they couldnt find the case! Uh Oh. when they went through the store in an effort to find a case for my 10% off stove they found a brand new one. I was a little dissapointed that I ended up paying full price but what can you do. When I got home and opened the package I decided to snap a little pic. This is an impressive little unit, it packs into the little red triangular prism, and the legs just extend out from the main burner, very little in the way of moving parts. This sucker is extrodinarily light! 3oz. All you need is some Isobutane, a match, and some 3/4" copper pipe to braze. This thing is a blowtorch and clearly earns it's title as the Pocket Rocket! Its rated at high output for roughly 9000btu/hr. This little jet boiled a cup of water in about a minute outside on my front porch. Wowzers! I love this little thing. I can not wait to see how this puppy performes on the trail. One thing about it is unfortunatly it does only burn the isobutane cartriges, and as these are pressurised and contain fuel they are not allowed on aircraft. There are ways to get around the fuel issue when travelling (purchasing some when at destination, mailing some ahead, etc.) but it seems easier to tough out the extra weight and take the nova along empty and at the very worst case scenario fill it with gasoline or deisel. Another place my Nova tops out is in the winter, as it cools down the cartridge will loose pressure. That is why white gas stoves are the very best for cold weather use. My PR will never replace my Nova completely, that was never the purpose of its creation, but there are many times I will pick up my PR over my Nova, and there are just as many times that I will pick up my Nova over my PR. I will keep all informed once this little baby gets some trail time. Cheers.

I cant see Sh*t! You Need Plexus!

Today I went up in UBC, what a fantastic flight! Everything went great, we practiced short and soft field take offs and landings. My soft field landing was awesome! Just kissed the runway ever so gently. One problem I found that I am getting better on is that I need to remember to keep my eyes moving down the runway. Sometimes I get focused on the numbers and lose it completely. I have shown conciderable improvement and conciderable consistancy, could solo be around the corner? Maybe. Another thing that was new today was my new best friend......Plexus! If you own an aircraft you probably allready heard about it, otherwise listen up! If you have anything that uses plexi glass for windows you need this! The problem with plexi glass is you cant use standard glass cleaners on it, and it scratches easily and is a pain to see through. Plexus fills the scratches and smoothens out the windscreen. It gets completely clean and absolutly clear! It was phenominal, it gets bugs off like nobodys business! I love it, unbelivably clear! Sorry for the dissapointing post today but other than my wicked awesome flight and my Plexus purchase there is nothing else to get excited about. Ill make sure to keep you posted as tomorrow weather permitting I have a flight to Kitchener to pick up my PSTAR temp. Peace and love bro! Niss

Hiked on the Bruce Trail Today!

Today I decided to go up to the Niagara Escarpment for a nice hike on the Bruce Trail for those of you who are either, ignorant, uninformed, or un-interested here is a run down of what the Niagara Escarpment is. Now that you are familiar with what it is here are some important facts: 1) The Niagara Escarpment is awesome for Hiking! 2) The Niagara Escarpment is awesome for Climbing! 3) The Niagara Escarpment is awesome for Caving! The escarpment provides a terrific view as you can see in the pic above, its cliffs provide great climbing, and in the winter terrific skiing. Blue Mountain is a popular area people visit to ski, it may not look like much if your from BC, but we dont care....your opinion dosnt matter anyway cause your not from Ontario. Todays hike lasted 5 hours and I travelled a little bit less than 20Km. Click on the Map below to see where I went (if you ever want to go here you can print out the map, but this is a free sample, for more purchase the map guide and help keep the trail clean!) I started off at 6.4Km and went all the way down to the 1st line East at the bottom right corner The trail requires basic hiking gear (boots, appropriate clothing, water, etc) but depending on where you go I would also reccomend a hiking pole. Also do not cheap out on your boots! A good quality can make all the differance when you have to go across a rock field, and trust me the trail is full of them! I have a pair of Danner Agitator 45GTX they are great because they are light weight and tough as hell! Also the waterproof Gore-Tex liner really helps! Be careful when you are up there as there is alot of rock you can easily slip on, twisting your ankle is the best case scenario, you could slam your head off a flat rock, tear open your body on a sharp rock, or plummet to your death from a high rock, and again, there is plenty of rock! The trail is free to use but they ask you join the club and help support everyone helps maintain it (they are all volunteers). You can camp on it but only in designated areas, there is a strict code of ethics for the trail. It is imperative that it be sticked to as to protect all the inhabitants of this delicate ecosystem. It was a tiring hike but it felt good to be out there again, I carried with me my Hydration Bladder (2L) and 2 sugar free chocolate bars (Im on atkins). It has been a bit of time since I had been on the Bruce but I definatly plan on going back, actually me and my buddy were planning on trying to do a throuh hike of the Blue Mountain Section in less than 24 hours. I think it will be a difficult challenge (I am in a fair bit of pain from this hike) gut I think we can do it. Another great place to go on the trail is the Duncan Caves, I can not remember who does it but they conduct rock climbing lessons there and there are great caves to explore. If you decide to go caving please wear appropriate safety gear (especially a climbing helmet) I nailed my head against a rock once real good! What ever you decide to dothe escarpment provides a lot of beauty and hosts many flaura and fawna(sp?) that is unique to the escarpment alone. Please take the time to explore and enjoy the escarpment, I guarrantee you will not be dissapointed. *Guarantee not valid in Quebec One of the things I am dying to try out on the escarpment this winter is Ice Climbing! I think that would be awesome and if anyone has any suggestions that would be great. That about ties it up I guess, I am sorry this entry is a little bit dry but I am tired and if I decide to add more I will... If you decide to hike anywhere, please remember. "Take Only Photographs, and Leave Only Your Thanks"

Northern Symphony

This weekend Jaki and I headed up north to Algonquin Park. Our trip started from the bottom of Canoe lake and went up to Joe lake (~8km) and had an easy 290m portage. We rented the canoe from The Portage Store, packed it up and took off. The weather the first day was grim and carried fairly strong winds with a good nip to them. This was Jaki's first time doing any sort of backcountry camping, so I wanted to keep it gentle for her, unfortunatly we were also suffering from colds, so combine that with the cold air, difficult paddling conditions, and imminent rain, it was a recipe for disaster! Fortunatly things worked out for the best, but they could have easily turned out much worse. At one time, out in the middle of Canoe lake we were caught by a good wind and taken into a bay (when the broad side of the canoe catches the wind fugghetaboutit!), we had a hell of a time getting out of it but we finally did it! Go Us!!!! Once we set up the campsite, Jaki decided she must answer the "call". She didnt quite know what to expect, in the ways of "facilities" out there in the middle of nowhere. She was not impressed when I introduced her to the loo. Unfortunatly I forgot to take a picture of it so here is one I stole off another persons website :D. The first night we stayed in the tent because it was raining but we had a great time none the less. I was dissapointed that on Jakis first trip it had to be such miserable weather. But thats how Backpacking/Camping goes, and I guess thats part of the fun, you want to spend time with mother nature you play by her rules! The next day we noticed there was some dripping from the fly, its a brand new tent and I did inspect it so there is no leaking, I figured it was just condensation. We decided to stay in bed till around 9am (which is usually too late for me when I am camping) because we were rather lethargic on account of the cold :(. When we did finally get moving we decided to go get ourselves some fire wood as we couldnt have a fire the night before (all the wood by our place was wet) when we came back we tried to get a fire going with the wood but it was still too wet! We finally got one going later that night after it dried out, and using an antiqueted(sp?) meathod of starting the fire, the old flint and striker fire! My striker was forged out of an old file and is made in the way that the Hudson Bay Company made them (The O shape) which I thought was rather fitting, concidering the area we were in! See the video here. That night we were treated to an absolutly amazing sunset so I decided to snap a few pictures from that evening. Jaki was quickly able to se e why I love doing this so much, there are a few reasons and this is definately one of them. Anywhere you can see this is ok in my books! Later in the evening our firewood finally dried out so I started a fire using the meathod I mentioned above (See the video here. ). Here is a pic of me sitting next to my creation, and another with Jaki! That night Jaki went to bed earlier but I stayed up a bit to see the stars, and the moon (I took pictures but they did not come out well so no point in posting) and letting my boots dry out from an earlier accident involving me and a canoe. We awoke the next day again to the call of the loon, (this is where I decided to get my title from. The sounds you hear in the wilderness definately earn the term symphony) I was shivering viloently the night before on account of the cold weather and my cold. I stepped outside and realised how cold the air was! In fact it was cold enough to get some nice steam coming off the water, which I then took pictures of. Again feel free to use these as a background or print them off! Unfortunatly that was our last day there :( and it was time to pack up and head back. This will be our last trip to Algonquin this year I believe, unless I can convince Jaki to go in the winter with me. That would be incredible, but untill then that is it. We were quite impressed with our ability to pack up so well, all the gear fit in our packs exactly the way it was when we headed out there (a first!),we did it in a quick enough manner that we were able to get back to The Portage Store by before 12:00 noon so we didnt have to pay for the full day! We gave our canoe in (luckily they didnt notice the little crack that resulted from getting stuck on a rock and trying to wiggle off........It was a 16' ultra light Kevlar, so not only would they have kept the $50 deposit, the probably would have wanted more......alot more!) went upstairs to the restaurant and I enjoyed another round of Beer Battered Fish and Onion Rings, and Jaki had a Hotdog with Onion rings. She was famished, as she did not appreciate the haut cuisine (read: freeze dried food) we enjoyed in the bush. Infact her dissatisfaction with the food lead to her eating maybe 3 full meals over the course of the weekend, and her distrust for the water filter (I have a First Need which is certainly one of the best if not the very best water purifier on the market) lead her to drink less than 1.5L of water the whole weekend. Certainly not a healthy way to enjoy the backcountry. Glad you took the time to read this post, I apologise for it taking so long, but I have been busy....ya thats it.....busy. Untill we meet again......

Hells Yea!!! Passed the PSTAR!

Today I wrote the PSTAR and I passed. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a PSTAR is it is the permit required by Transport Canada in order for a student to solo. It is comprised of 50 multiple choice questions taken out of a possible 200 from the study guide. All the questions are exactly as written in the study guide so it isnt too difficult to study for. A 90% is required (45/50) in order to get it. I got a 94% today which actually pissed me off! The reason for that is that I got 3 wrong. Unfortunatly on the light gun signals (which I actually feel is a strength of mine) threw me off. One question asked what the STEADY Green light meant, and the other what the STEADY red light meant. Unfortunatly I read; what does the FLASHING Green and Red lights mean. Boo Urns...oh well its no biggie because I do know them and I was able to demonstrate to my instructor that I knew it and it was just a %$#@ up in my reading of the question. Another one was "In a controlled zone what is the minimum clearance from a cloud required?"(Paraphrasing) and the answer 500' Below and 1 mile horizontal. For what ever reason I wrote 1000' Below and 1 mile horizontal. Again I was able to demonstrate to my instructor afterward that I did indeed know my stuff, but I have just incorrectly placed the X. My knowledge was 100%, but I need to remember to slow down for my next test and take it easy. Click on the picture to see what the PSTAR test looks like (All Names and Signatures have been blacked out to protect the innocent), bear in mind that the questions are in a differant book. Soon I will take to the skies all by my lonsome.....C-FUBC with only one soul aboard.....mine... C U L8R AV8R!