PFT - Primary Flight Training

This is the course you've been waiting for. It's the first time you will be learning how to fly an airplane and after few weeks into the course you will also get to do it. It's really exciting especially if you have never flown before. It's really amazing how fast students progress through it and how fast they end up flying solos. However, those that have previous flying experience (i.e. a commercial license) are bypassed and sent straight to Moose Jaw. It kind of sucks for them because it's a fun course and they will never get to fly this airplane.

I started my military service in Aug 2005 and waited until March 2007 to begin this course, so quite a wait. I wasn't complaining though. I wanted to learn French and my OJT experience was awesome.

The rest of this post are my notes from a diary I kept updating while on this phase. Enjoy :)

Tue - Apr 03, 2007

So far the stay at the Primary Flight Training school in Portage la Prairie seems like an all inclusive vacation. Meals are supplied, accommodations are equivalent of a 4 star hotel (since amenities like pool, sauna, gym are included), rooms are cleaned daily, and even my bed is made. Outside of school we entertain ourselves by playing foosball, ping-pong, xbox, pool or crud (old air force game), hit the gym or go running. The only thing missing is some palm trees and a beach, and most of all, some warm weather. Leaving Montreal from 12 deg sunny to this -7 windy and overcast rural area of endless farm fields where you can see your dog run away for 3 days is actually not that exciting ;) Here is a satellite picture of where we are:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Southport,+MB,+Canada&layer=&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=14&ll=49.910114,-98.271761&spn=0.028024,0.107975

Luckily we keep busy doing fun stuff. The first 3 weeks are ground school. We just received super heavy duty XPS Dell Laptops. Of course we only use 1% of their computing power but hey, they are COOL, the amount of lights on this thing is incredible. We use them for our online training which is very well organized. In a typical day we might have 2 instructor classes and the rest are CBTs (Computer Based Training). These are great because you can do them at your own pace and from anywhere, including your room.

Oh, did I mention cable TV with over 80 channels? That's actually a distraction from studies for some. It's good for the weekends though, since there isn't much to do around here. We are actually south of Portage in another town called Southport, where we don't even have a store or a gas station. On the other hand, drive to Winnipeg is about an hour. Some of us have cars here which helps, especially for the weekends, and apparently there is also a bus that you can take for 12 bucks one way.






Wed - Apr 04, 2007

It's a very interesting environment here because the school also holds advanced helicopter and multi-engine aircraft training. So we meet other students who are in different stages of their careers (i.e. ahead of us). Today I learnt from one of them about a recent incident in Moose Jaw (this is where we do our 2nd phase of flight training). Apparently a new student pulled an eject handle on his first flight!! This was still on the ground, totally by mistake, how, don't ask me. Some stipulate he sat on it and then tried to move it around. He did survive. As funny as it might be it's not good for the school mainly cause that's one less airplane to fly.


Wed - Apr 25, 2007

First week of flying and I'm already delayed twice. I don't mind it cause it gave me more time to prepare but at the same time I don't wanna be like that other guy who's been here since the beginning of January. His instructor was sick and he didn't fly at all for 3 weeks! First delay was due to my instructor being sick, that was yesterday. Today, all the flights got bumped by one day due to a presentation by a Colonel who came from Ottawa to talk about flight safety. Very long but interesting meeting, they have those once a year. Basically he talked about some recent aviation accidents in the air force.

Gannet is a bird that can't land quite well ;) This is gonna be our call sign during solo flights. Oh well, I hope I'm not a real Gannet when it comes to my test ;) For now I'm known as Shotgun 14 (one-four).


Thu - Apr 26, 2007

Something I find really surprising is how they trust us with the planes. They gave us the keys for the hangar so we can practice our procedures in the evenings. Now, there are about 10 Grobs (our trainers, worth 1.5 million each), 4 King Air's (multi-engine planes worth at least 10 million each) and a handful of helicopters. And all of them are at our disposition, with the keys on their dashboards lol

My first flight was awesome although not a typical start. I get my plane (Victor) and start doing the walkaround. This is a very detailed check of the condition of the plane on the outside. So I walk right behind my instructor and as we come around the right wing I notice a big blob of blood and goo. I look closer and notice traces of feathers. Instructor comes back and confirms it is a bird strike which has to be reported. 45 minutes later they decide to take the plane of the flight line as they wanted to check for damage. So now we get Oscar and I have to repeat the whole procedure again. Turns out this one also has an issue. Not enough oil. So we go searching for some oil, find a guy responsible and he comes out with a bottle of 15W-50. By the time we finished we were already delayed by 1.5 hrs. I didn't mind, the day was nice and I made some friends on the ramp ;)





The flight was awesome. I told my instructor that the last time I did this I had to pay $230 dollars at the Ottawa flying club. Very basic flight, pretty much a demo where you don't do much but observe and shadow the instructor. Level flight, basic turns, climbs and descents. Much different from civi flying though. For example, looking out is so important that you do it before every manoeuvre. And that's tail to tail meaning you really have to bend your neck, to see 360 deg around you. Pretty annoying when you have to do that every 2 minutes or so.


Mon - Apr 30, 2007

Another uneventful day at the Southport resort. No major floods this year but there are quite frequent farm fires that go out of control and burn few houses here and there. Actually it might be a bad year for forest fires they say. Anyways, my day started as usual. Woke up at 07h00, shaved, showered and headed for breakfast before our MET brief at 07h45 (everybody needs to attend these 15 minute weather briefs). So I order my eggs and since 2 is really half or sometimes one if you're lucky, I ask for my usual 3 scrambled. So the girl screams towards the kitchen "3 scrambled" what is followed by an echo "WHO IS THIS GUY" lol Some disgruntled cook lady has a problem with me ordering 3 instead of the norm 2. So I start wondering what could it be, after all I don't like causing harm ;) Maybe she has the portions measured out in 2's or maybe she just doesn't like cracking them open. I don't know, I asked the girl at the front if it would be easier to just order an even number, say 4, but she simply replied "don't worry, you can order as many as you want". See what I have to deal with here. My flight was suppose to be at 13h00 so I simply went back to bed and woke up at 11. But since weather decided to blow in some rain and clouds my flight got cancelled. Interestingly enough, whoever was scheduled in the morning or late afternoon was able to fly :( The rest of the day was spent studying with some breaks for jogging, gym and dinner. Ahhh, another hard day at work.


Wed - May 02, 2007

Today was my 3rd flight. I'm becoming more confident with the plane. The weather is really nice although the heat causes a lot of turbulance. That means that flying at the right altitude is a bit challenging. The winds are also pretty strong and that makes the landing very difficult. Tomorrow's flight is mainly in the circuit, meaning I will be flying around the runway in a rectangular pattern, practicing landings. Attached is a group photo we took at the end of ground school.




Mon - May 07, 2007

My 4th flight today and I realized that Monday is not a good day to fly, especially after going out on the weekend and not flying for the past 5 days. So I strap myself in and start the plane (for the first time my instructor let me start it without him being there) to realize that my mic is not working well. It would intermitently go on and off whenever it felt like it. Fortunately I was able to run in and get it fixed quickly enough, without loosing the plane to another student. Flight was a little bumpy due to the sun heating up the ground and causing a lot of vertical air movement. Today we were practicing approaches for landing. I could tell that my instructor wasn't 100% there either. He forgot to turn at one point and when I reminded him he panicked slightly and sharply executed the turn. But that's not all. I go back to my room, exhausted, and so start taking a nap. 30 mins into it I get a call and for some reason decide to answer. It was my instructor who says "FIRE ON THE GROUND, GO!". So I spit out my emergency procedure, he says thank you and explains that he forgot to test me on it in the plane. I then hang up the phone, and at this time fully awake, start thinking "what did just happen?". Pretty funny, but hey, it was an easy mark, afterall he can't grade me bad on this one since it was done over the phone.


Fri - May 25, 2007

So we haven't been flying in 9 days due to bad weather and there is a rule around here that if you haven't flown in 10 days (whatever the reason, bad weather, sick, family problems, etc.) you will receive a free review flight. It's not a bad deal considering you suppose to become a pilot only after 10 flights. So what do you do when the 10th day comes around and all of a sudden the weather is nice? Well, you start caughing, pretend you're not feeling well and "ground" yourself. That was the plan for some of the guys today, and few didn't show up to the weather brief saying they weren't feeling good. I decided to fly as I'm anxious to get out of here. Next thing I hear, first flight reports bad conditions in the practice area. Funny enough it's our military instructor who reports this. To make the story short, no one is flying today even though the weather is perfect ;) But all of us are getting a freebee flight next week.


Fri - Jun 01, 2007

Grounded by yet another weather phenomena, fog. It's unbelievable how many things prevented us from flying in the past 17 days. You name it: rain, thunderstorms, lightning, winds, visibility, low clouds, hail (yes, my friend had to cover up his car with blankets that day) and now fog. The only other thing that could happen now is a sand storm or maybe volcanic ash ;) Anyways, there is an air show this weekend and I volunteered to help out. Today we're assembling a glider and tomorrow I have to participate in a 20 minute ceremony. On Sunday I'll be helping with coordination of the air show events. Should be fun, weather is suppose to be perfect, sunny and not too hot. Unfortunately snow birds will not be performing due to the recent accident, but there are tons of other interesting jets and airplanes, including a guy landing on top of his RV and someone else walking on wings during a flight. I'll make sure to take good photos. Below are some pictures from my fishing expedition. Here in Manitoba you catch a goldeye first and use that as bait to catch a cat fish. We managed to catch a big one last night!




Fri - Jun 08, 2007

Not much news from here except that we are going to start flying on weekends and our daily hours have been extended (7 to 7). That should get me out of here sooner.

The air show last weekend was pretty good. Weather was awesome for both days. Got to talk with some pilots, especially the CF-18 demo pilot. Did you know, that during the show, his plane burns 1000 pounds of fuel per minute!!! Anyways, this job is a one year stint with about 30 shows to perform, so a lot of travelling around the country. Here are some pictures.








Fri - Jun 15, 2007

This week was probably one of the most exciting so far. I finally did my test on Tuesday but couldn't do a solo because it was too windy and the humidex was out of limits (36 Celcius). The test itself wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. I had a really good tester, the guy was very calm and polite. He let me repeat some procedures just to get them perfect. However, I wasn't sure if I passed because one of my landings was quite rough. So after we landed for a full stop and he's not saying anything I started wondering to myself and ask him "Sir, what's the final decision?" and he's like "oh, I guess you want to know? with a smile and lifts his hand to shake mine "congratulations". I have to tell you I never felt happier before ;)

The next milestone was 2 days later (yesterday) when I finally got to do my solo. It was unreal!!! I had to pinch myself to realize I wasn't dreaming. Just after 12 flights they were confident enough I would fly and land safely. And this is when I'm still not 100% confident about the landings myself lol. So I go up into the circuit (looping around the airport) and normally you suppose to do only 2. However, it just happened that there were 5 other aircraft doing the same thing. So on my second approach there was so much chatter on the radio that I couldn't even request my landing clearance. No worries, the procedure for that is to overshoot (i.e. go back up to 1000 feet and go around). I'm thinking "great!" one extra circuit by myself. So finally I'm coming in for landing, clearance received, and what happens? I balloon, meaning the plane started to lift off at the point of touch down. At this point I wasn't feeling it so I overshot again. I think I set the record for a solo flight, with 4 circuits and almost 30 minutes on my own ;)

The rest of the course is aerobatics training. I already finished 2 lessons this week, one where we practice landings after engine failure (so basically gliding down to the field) and another one where we did some lazy eights and stalls. I have to tell you, after having finished the first part of the course and passed the test, the rest is more enjoyable.

I should be done probably in about 2 weeks, if the weather is cooperating.


Tue - Jul 03, 2007

Hello my friends. It's time to say goodbye to free meals and daily room service. Today I have finished the last flight of PFT, Primary Flight Training. The test was long and exhausting but after 3 hours of flying I finally got that handshake I was waiting for :) Now it's time to pack and head back to Montreal. Unfortunately, now I have to return to my temporary work at the Space Agency. I'm looking forward to coming back home but can't quite say that about work. I mean, how many times can you go on a space shuttle ride ;) But jokes aside, in reality I will spend about 6 months programming and attending meetings :(

The next flight training will be starting sometime next year. Although I don't have my date yet, it's looking like January 2008. Much longer (9 months) and more demanding, but the reward is quite nice, I'll be flying an 1100 HP turbine powered aircraft with an ejection seat! It's still hard to believe, I mean, I barely have 30 hours of flying, less than any private license pilot.

My last two weekends in Winnipeg were very exciting. I visited few provincial parks and very nice beaches. We even got evicted from a campground in the middle of a night lol. Just because we were having fun! Attached are few pictures. Stay in touch.





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