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Photo by Daniel Tuttle on Unsplash

The first solo

ANYONE FOLLOWING this blog will have noticed a few “first solo” announcements recently. There seems to be a seasonality about these things – none for a while then three come at once. But that got me to thinking about how you can tell a student is ready for a first solo flight. Here’s a checklist… Read more »

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First solo – Chan

Hats off to my student Chan who made his first solo this past Sunday. I started teaching Chan in October last year. We had seven lessons taking us up to the new year, then for various reasons he took a break, which was involuntarily extended until we started flying again after the COVID hiatus. Four… Read more »

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Solo – Antoine

CONGRATULATIONS to my student Antoine who made his first solo flight since 2004 today in C-FLYO. Antoine holds a French PPL, and is working to receive a Canadian Pilot Licence too. Transport Canada asked him to fly five solo takeoffs and landings, which is what he and I have been working on – to brush… Read more »

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First solo – Ken

WELL DONE to my student Ken, who today made his first solo, in FLYO at Billy Bishop. He flew a smooth circuit and made a great landing, and I have the video to prove it. Ken’s first flight at the controls of a powered airplane was in January, and today was his eleventh lesson. At… Read more »

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Photo by Hudson Hintze on Unsplash

Can I come to Canada, convert my CPL and work as a pilot?

TWO OR THREE times a week I receive an email from the holder of a foreign country’s pilot licence – usually a commercial pilot licence – who is a citizen of a country other than Canada. Countries from which these enquirers have hailed include Mexico, the Philipines, South Africa, Pakistan, India and Australia. The email… Read more »

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Carburetor Icing

YESTERDAY I was out flying with a student doing some dual simulated instrument time – “hood time”. We were flying the localizer for runway 26 at CYTZ, remaining at 2000 feet altitude (because runway 08 was in use and there was another aircraft flying circuits). All in all we spent about an hour going backwards… Read more »

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The impossible turn

This post addresses an issue that consumes a lot of discussion time among pilots, whenever they get together: the engine-failure-after-takeoff (EFATO) and the decision on whether to try to turn back to the runway, or to try to “land ahead”.