Getting called up from the minors...

Over a burger before my solo XC, my instructor Matt (AKA "I5") informed me that he landed a job and his last day would be May 27. Naturally I was extremely happy for him - while at the same time sad in a selfish way that I'd be losing "my" instructor. Turns out he will be moving up to Red Deer, Alberta (hey I just flew there yesterday) to work for an outfit that flies into clouds and "sprays" them to prevent hail. Weird job but he's pretty excited about making 3x what he makes as an instructor and getting to fly a King Air 90.

Anyhow, since I'll be in Vegas May 16-21 and I5 is booked solid the next week - it looks like my regular Thursday booking this evening May 13th will be my last with him. We flipped through my PTR (pilot training record - or for now my log book) to see how many flights we've done together. To be honest I don't remember how many - but I do know that my first flight with him was September 3, 2008. That day we did (for the first time) slips and forced approaches and he helped me overcome my "lean-a-phobia". Tonight was the 50th entry in my log book. I'm fairly certain that 40 of those flights were with I5. It will be tough to see him go but this is how things go with those instructors who are desperately looking to move up the food chain.

The good news is that before the flight he said he wanted to review "what was left" for me. He said that this evening we would focus on forced approaches, stalls, and slow flight since those have traditionally been my weaker areas. Then he said that "regardless of how I perform" he would recommend me for my "mock flight test" which identifies areas you need to improve upon - solo. After that and 1-3 flights solo to work on whatever I want I'd get a recommendation for my flight test. Guess I was closer than I thought. Although the "Syllabus" at the club says you need to go on 2 solo cross countries, transport Canada only requires you to fly 5 hours of solo cross country time which includes a flight of more than 150nm with 2 full stops at an airport other than the departure or arrival airport. I've already got that under my belt. I also meet all of the other "minimum hours" criteria with the exception of instruments which still require another 1.2 hours. I guess I was closer than I thought.

On to the flight. It was hot, sunny, and windy today. Perfect weather for crazy thermal bumps in the foothills of the Rockies (I'm convinced now that in terms of winds and bumps - Calgary is the WORST place to fly in the world, but hey! The scenery is worth it). At about 4pm some TCUs and a broken layer formed. It rained for about 30 minutes and then the clouds went from broken (ish) to scattered (ish) yet still kept the sun in check. The temps cooled back down to about 7C and the winds at the surface and aloft were light and variable - perfect conditions for a lovely evening flight.

We decided to head to the south this time because I had only been down there once and it was under the hood. He sat quietly and just let me fly, communicate, and navigate. I somehow figured out the landmarks for all of the terrain and managed to stay away from the "soaring" area that was active. We continued south - chatting, flying, navigating, and confirming our location. Before we knew it we were WAY south and then headed east. We circled a few areas to confirm our position and ended up near High River, Alberta.

At this point I5 asked "do you want to land at High River?". "yep - let's go for it". I pulled out the CFS and we made everything work. I landed on a runway that was going completely uphill (or so it seemed to a newbie like me). We went to the ramp and got out. The airport was deserted - of people. We checked out a dozen aircraft sitting on the ramp including one super cool crop duster with a massive rotary engine. It looked as if it had a tiny prop below the body. My assumption is that it worked like a Ram Air Turbine except that it provided hydraulic power for the stuff the farmer is spraying.

We ended up hanging out there so long that it was soon getting dark. I5 talked about the reciprocal route back until I mentioned "Why not just head north along the highway and go through the city. He quickly countered with "we can't do a city tour without prior authorization from terminal". Obviously he forgot that I carry by blackberry with me. I still had the number to Calgary terminal (from my last city tour).

Five minutes later we were rolling on runway 06 (headed up hill) and shortly followed Highway 2 towards Calgary. Downtown was AMAZING at dusk. In fact it was FAR easier to see landmarks in the dusk than during the day. We continued over the city and headed back for home base. Tower had to keep us up at 5500 (1500AGL) for a straight in (landing west and not his airspace) so I got to perform a great forward slip almost down to the threshold.

After taxiing back I5 told me that may have been the best flight he's had in over a year with a student. He mentioned that it reminded him why he likes to fly.

After we completed the paperwork I took I5 for a beer at a local pub and bought him a steak sandwich to boot ;)