The Big One

113 DME East of Vancouver VOR
FL270
Ground Speed 268 Kts

The Boeing 747 is looming large over us as we listen to Towers instructions and scoot into place on Runway 26L. Vancouver is busy this morning and ATC is trying to get traffic moving. Some quick thinking by the Tower has put us in front of a 747 that was just moving to position also on the runway. We're to depart via the Richmond 9 departure. Which calls for a climb to 500' before making a sharp 60 degree turn to the left to clear the departure path for following aircraft, which is the heavy right behind us now.

The powers are quickly up and the runway lights start to quicken there pace out my peripheral view. We're soon climbing up into the cool blue. 500 feet comes within 25 seconds after wheels off and I dip my left wing down 30 degrees for a new heading of 201 degrees. Before I even roll out on the heading I hear the 747 get their take off clearance. Funny, there was no wake turbulence caution with it... Through a 1000' feet we switch to Departure.

The next five minutes fly by in the hustle of checks, vectors and radio changes. The plane, loving the sea pressure out here blasts up through 7'000 feet of sky before I tame the ravenous 2500 foot/min climb to 1500 and settle in to the 15 minute climb up to FL270. Before we are to our cruising altitude I spot the huge Boeing racing by us out my side window. It's heading East with us, although I presume JFK will be it next destination as compared to sunny Saskatchewan. It stays in sight till about 50 miles out of Vancouver before it disappears into the far horizon with a little twinkle of sun off it's broad wings. Holding his proud head up into the cool sky, it challenges anyone to try and take it's place as King of the High Blue.

1000 Hours in the Pocket

Coming Up On The System


1438 Local
42 DME South of La Ronge
FL210

After a long morning of holding for weather a window opened up up North and so we set off into the sunny blue southern skies for a gray snowy North. Now 30 minutes later after leaving the solid earth behind, we are just coming up on the system that has taken hold of the North for the past few hours. We'll be above it until our decent. But I'm also coming up to something else. The ol' 1000 flight hours mark. After 2 1/2 years training, 3 years fuelling and 1 and a bit years working as a pilot I've finally arrived at the always distant 1000 hour mark. Funny, I don't feel as pro as I thought I guy with a 1000 hours would. I see the many pilots around me with many more hours and know that I have but just written a number in my log book that tells of a pilot still in the early learning stages of his career. Still lots to experience and learn. But hey it has been fun getting here, and I look forward to the next thousand to roll by.

But back to flying, I've gotta give one of our bases a call for the latest weather at our destination. I know it won't be great but I'm hoping it's still above the minimums to get in.

Wild Dogs

I'm sitting in a small, fairly worn ATCO trailer that is lined with well seasoned chairs on each wall facing one another. One end of the room has the check in counter with the only freshly painted thing in the room, a brightly painted sign of the airline that is in current residence of the building. While the other end of the room has two doors, one leading to a small washroom and the other a storage closet. This end of the room is also occupied with a lonely looking coffee pot and a large heater off the wall. I'm snuggled between the blasting heat and a cup of black gold, no not the Beverly Hillbillies gold. The temperature north of 59 degrees today is well south of -30 Celsius. The chills of this mornings engine tenting are finally leaving me as I take another sip of the warmth and pull back from the heater. A sign across the room on the bulletin board makes me smile. Not because I'm an dog hater, but cause it's about as straight forwardly said as possible...

"NOTICE. Any dogs running loose will be destroy starting February 1, 2007."

I sit back and ponder over my coffee of all the ways to destroy dogs, instead of just simply shooting them. My mind quickly wanders from dogs to cats... I like dogs.