Saturday Summer Flying

Got a last min call for flight today to ferry a plane to Calgary with my training captain. With no passengers to fly and very quiet bases in both YEG and YYC, it was a pretty chill day.

Captain suggested today would be a good day for me to fly the leg so having been brushing up on my briefing, I was excited and ready to go. The flight was great, a little bumpy with the thermals building some pretty big cumulonimbus clouds, but my airmanship is significantly improving with every flight and I felt quite comfortable today.

On the arrival into Calgary, we learned that we would be landing on 17L, the longest runway in Canada! What a beast it is from the air! My approach was pretty spot on and my landing was nice and smooth right on the centerline.

Logged 1.4 in the logbook but ended up on the ground taxing for 0.6 as we got the longest taxi possible in both CYEG and CYYC. Ended up being a great opportunity to work on my taxiing and speed control.

Arriving back at the YYC base, we did a quick debrief and my captain said he was very pleased with my flight and my progress since the last flight. I then picked up my flight information for my return to Edmonton – a short WestJet Encore flight in about 2 hrs.

As this would be my first adventure in an airport and on a commercial flight in my pilot uniform, it was interesting to see the looks I got from children and the smiles and extra coockies I got from the flight attendants. There really seems to be a neat comraderie in the aviation industry and it feels neat!

Settling into the mighty Q400, I am always amazing at the size of the prop and the huge engines. Hopefully one day I’ll get to fly one of these birds.

Pulled into the driveway about 8 hrs after leaving, it ended up being a great day for flying!

Photos