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Pilot to Pilot is the podcast for anyone who flies — or dreams about it. Host Justin Siems sits down with airline captains, bush pilots, CFIs, and everyone in between for honest conversations about the path to the cockpit, the grind of the career, and the love of flying that keeps us coming back. Whether you're a student pilot chasing your first solo or a captain with 20,000 hours, there's a seat for you here. New episodes weekly.
Episode three sixty one of the Pilot to Pilot podcast takes off now. Did you know that eleven percent of accidents happen while taxiing? A Vemco insurance company believes education and awareness make a real difference, which is why they support safety programs and reward pilots who stay sharp. Pilot Pilot Podcast listeners can save 5%. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit ofemco.com/ 4297 dash owner for aircraft owners and visit ofemco.com/ 4297 non owner for non owners today.
Speaker 1:Premium credits are subject to underwriting guidelines, including of EIMCO recognized training and memberships, and the source is a VEMCO insurance company claims data 2023. Again, thank you so much VEMCO for being a sponsor. Please help the podcast out. Give them a call. Visit the website.
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Speaker 2:My name is Mike, and I love airplanes.
Speaker 1:Aviation, what is going on? And welcome back to the Pilot to Pilot Podcast. My name is Justin Siems, and am your host. Today's episode is with Mike Andrews. Mike is currently living on Victoria Island in British Columbia, and he is doing some cool flying.
Speaker 1:Whether it's flying, Pip Strahl electrical airplane or whether it is getting ready to start flying a TBM so he can do aerial firefighting. It was awesome talking with Mike. He's got a very cool unique story. One that I don't really think we've shared on this podcast before. Started with cadet flying and a glider, and then working his way out to British Columbia to be an instructor and now aerial firefighting, which is awesome to see.
Speaker 1:So thanks, Mike, for coming on. I really appreciate it. He does share off the air that Pilot the Pilot was one of his first podcasts he ever listened to, which is just crazy to hear. One, that this podcast has been around for so long, and I am so old now. So, thanks, Mike.
Speaker 1:Appreciate that. But I appreciate you listening and and supporting the show. So thank you so much. It's awesome to see you come on the podcast and share your story, and I wish you the best in everything you do. Volume three of the magazine is in full effect.
Speaker 1:Full disclosure, there was a little burnout after volume two and then a sick kid now and some other stuff that's going on that has delayed it just a little bit, but it will come out. And I will keep you updated on that. We are in the process of finishing all the recordings for the podcast, converting them to articles, and getting them set up and ready to go. So thank you so much for the support of the magazine. If you haven't checked it out yet, go to pilotthepilothq.com/mag.
Speaker 1:It is the greatest magazine. You can't see it maybe here, but behind me both of them, I have the new copy, volume two, and the old one, volume one. We still have some volume ones left. If you're interested, you can go and get those as well. But, aviation, I hope you're having a great day.
Speaker 1:Without any further ado, here's Mike. Mike, what's going on, man? Welcome to the Pilot to Pilot podcast.
Speaker 2:You very much, Justin. I'm, really excited to
Speaker 1:be here. Yeah. I'm excited to have you on. I joked with you before we started recording. This is one of the first podcasts that I've ever had set up by someone else.
Speaker 1:Right? Like, there's a lot of pressure on Luke. I don't know if you know Luke personally or not,
Speaker 2:but I do. Yeah. This interview.
Speaker 1:There's a lot riding on it for Luke, you know. He can be fired day one. Not day one, be like day 13. But after interview one, you know, might call him afterwards like, dude, you're done. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:No. I think I think he's probably doing well. I gave him a list of a of a few other people too that I think he should reach out to that would be a really special guest for you.
Speaker 1:Cool, man. Oh, I appreciate that. But I'm excited to dig in your story. You know, America, Canada, you know, we share a lot of similarities, but there are some differences too. Right?
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So I think it's gonna be fun to do that. I've also I mean, I just followed you on Instagram and I've also, like, the Vancouver, British Columbia area has such a cool kind of aviation culture there that I think is really cool to share and talk about. I've interviewed one person in that area, I think it was Sam Adams, which I saw him that he follows you. I just saw that he liked one your photos, I got them Yeah.
Speaker 1:Each other too. It's Yeah. It's one that's really interesting. That's a part of the world and a part of North America that I have only flown into once. I've flown into Vancouver one time on my last job that I had, and I was only there for like forty five minutes.
Speaker 1:So I just got to look around, you know, do the approach, I got to land, I was like, was cool. I'd like to stay And then had to bounce off and go away. So I'm excited to learn more about about you, and I'm excited more to learn more about the community that is in the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian side.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You're right. It's such a unique place to be, and it really is kind of paradise, I think, to most of us who get to to call it home.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's, it's pretty fascinating. I mean, you see beavers flying still, you see twin otters, there's so many float planes that are used for specific missions, not just for getting your float plane rating and going flying. It's just it's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You're right. There's a lot of, small operators that are really specific to the the coastal environment. Right? Like, obviously, I live on Vancouver Island, which is a an isolated island.
Speaker 2:The only way to get here is either by boat or, or by plane. So we have, like, helicopter services, float plane services, small airlines, you know, all the above that are all kinda local around here that do, that connect the the coast.
Speaker 1:So how'd you get in aviation? What was it about flying or planes that got you interested? Was it just purely by survival that you live on an island that you have to have an airplane to get off on?
Speaker 2:So I'm actually not originally from here. I'm from, Southern Ontario originally. How I got into aviation, it's a bit of a long story, think. It kinda kinda goes way back. And I don't know I don't know if there was really, like, one thing about it that got me into it, but there's definitely one moment that I can I can remember?
Speaker 2:We have a program in Canada called the called the cadet program. Have you ever heard of that?
Speaker 1:I have. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's a it's actually a branch of our military, and it is a yeah. It's a youth program that, is centered around leadership development skills as well as a little bit of military. And then there's three different divisions similar to, you know, the the armed forces. And so there's the army, the air, and the sea cadets.
Speaker 2:And I heard when I was 11 years old or so that you could get a free pilot's license through the through the air cadets. And I was like, oh my gosh, sign me up. Like, that sounds awesome. Little bit more difficult than than, exactly how that sounds. But it is a scholarship opportunity for for youth, going going through the program when you turn 17 that, they do have scholarship programs for your private pilot license.
Speaker 2:And so I joined right when I was 12 and kinda worked for the next, six years or so going through the program. And there was you know, aside from the aviation, it was really special, to me for leadership development, getting to teach, like learning learning to teach, doing military drill, doing survival experiences, marksmanship, all sorts of different aspects to it, as well as the the aviation and exposure to to flying. Then when I was 16, having put in a lot of effort and time, I was rewarded the, glider pilot scholarship. Got my glider license at 16, private pilot license at 17, and that was kind of my my entry into it. I took a little while to figure out, that I wanted to do aviation as a as a career.
Speaker 2:I I almost went military route to you know, I wanted to be a be a fighter pilot, and that, kinda changed with some some different circumstances, traveled for a while, and then eventually landed on becoming a commercial pilot and and flight instructor. And that's how how my door kind of opened up.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, you know, you're getting these scholarships, you're training in a glider. You're getting access to all what aviation is. Was it what you thought it was gonna be when you first started? Was it like the same or was it even more fun or better or enjoyable than you thought it could be?
Speaker 2:I think the longer that I spend in aviation, the more I realize how many different, like, facets there are to it and how much fun they can all be. So, yeah, I think, you know, once you kind of open that door, once you get your, you know, your your certificate or your private pilot license or even, you know, just just start flying lessons, you'll start to realize how many different, yeah, types of flying there are. And I'm fortunate, like, to me, I think variety is kind of the spice of life, or that's that's that's kinda how I get my thrills in aviation. And so I love to get to do, you know, as much of different different types of flying as I as I possibly can. And that is one aspect that I've come to learn kind of being in aviation that it's it's almost endless.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, it's one of the reasons why I started the podcast is because there's so many different ways that you can do this. Right? Like you can be a CFI for your whole career if you want to and figure out a way to make money and have a good life.
Speaker 1:You can be a free pilot. You can fly a seven forty seven. You can fly for the airlines. You could do whatever you wanna do. Right?
Speaker 1:You can fly beaver in the Pacific Northwest and go land on islands and do cool stuff like that. It's really interesting and I think one of the most important things that I have learned in this podcast and what I had to learn when I was doing my own training too is just the ability to we always talk about the ability to say no, but also the ability to say yes. Be like, oh, well, that's super out of the ordinary. It might take me off of my track of becoming an airline pilot in five years, but it might also lead me to moving to Vancouver Island and doing some cool stuff out there, and then doing the airlines later, you know. Like, you don't know where those are gonna take you, who you're gonna meet, and the connections and the flying and the experiences that you'll see.
Speaker 2:Yeah. A 100%. It's, it's kinda funny. One of the things that I I thought I would speak about a little bit, with you today too is I'm I'm actually just getting ready to start or just just I'm about to start a new chapter in my my aviation career, and that's, you know, like you're saying of the different different avenues. I'm, I've just gotten into aerial wildfire fighting.
Speaker 2:Oh, cool.
Speaker 1:So I'm
Speaker 2:a brand new, bird dog pilot, and I get to I leave in, like, six days or so to go go start fighting fires. Dang. Which is something that, again, you know, going back to this point, I don't think I ever even, like, thought about as a possibility as a as a career. But, so far going through the training, it is so much fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Well, good. We'll we'll touch on that a little bit more in in a little bit. But I wanna talk about what was your training like for the glider rating with the scholarship? You mentioned it is a little bit of like a military. So was it, you know, was it a little bit more fast paced?
Speaker 1:It was like, you either do it or you can't, like you're gonna Yes.
Speaker 2:I don't
Speaker 1:wanna just talk yeah. Talk a little bit about your experience with that.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Yeah. So this is going back now to 2014. So, yeah, twelve years ago. So we'll see see how it goes.
Speaker 2:It is yeah. Structured very similar to the military. I I mean, it's hard to compare it against against the actual military. Right? But, it was a summer program, so it was six weeks long, and, you do, ground school concurrently with the the flight training.
Speaker 2:It's very structured and and kind of regimented in how the program, you know, goes and the milestones that you have to make, like, you have to solo before. I know I know for the powered license, it's you have a maximum of fourteen hours, you know, and at that point, if you if you hadn't sold by fourteen or fifteen hours, sometimes there'd be a little bit of leeway, but, you know, people would get set to home if, if they weren't making the the correct progression because they just weren't gonna finish on time. It was meant to be, you know, exactly six six or seven weeks, something like that. As far as the gliding license goes through the kits, it was primarily focused on just the the flight training aspects in the hands and feet. You know, do your slow flight, do your stalls, do your landing, and then get ready for the next the next lesson.
Speaker 2:There wasn't much, like, don't know if you've ever gotten into soaring or gliding before, but I did a little bit actually after getting my license and kind of learning the sport of soaring, which is something in and of itself, which is like, you know, once you already know how to fly the glider and and land it and manage your energy and all that kind of stuff and not not land off field, learning to challenge yourself against the environment to stay airborne as long as possible is it it's so much fun, and it's it's a really unique and special challenge. That's, you know, kind of a sportier way of flying. Right? Because it's you against the environment, basically.
Speaker 1:Wasn't there so I mean, someone recently just did something crazy in a glider. Right? Like, I can't remember what it was, but I I remember someone either live streaming, they're flying a glider around or it was them flying an exordinate amount of miles or whatever. I don't remember
Speaker 2:They'll get up they'll get up into the, like, 30,000 flight level, like, flight level three three zero zero. Right?
Speaker 1:Dude, it's too cold.
Speaker 2:It gets wild.
Speaker 1:To be
Speaker 2:a 30,000
Speaker 1:glider. What do you do? I mean, kudos to you. I'm glad you wanna do that, but I don't. Like, there's this one guy, he took his I think he took a Super Cub or maybe a Carbon Cub, but he took it up to like two seven zero.
Speaker 1:I'm like, what
Speaker 2:are we doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's like, for what? To be the first like, cool. I mean I mean, I'm basically guessing he loved it. So I'm happy for him and people seem to to have liked it and it did well content wise, but it's like Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't wanna take it.
Speaker 2:Just gotta hope your heater works really well. Right?
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Wear a lot of layers.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Hope you don't run out of oxygen. Jeez, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Those lighting records are insane. Oh, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:Mountain wave type type flying. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Especially when you go out in the Rockies. Right? And you're just like hitting those thermals. It's like, dude, we can stay for hours.
Speaker 1:It's like Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't
Speaker 1:wanna stay for hours, but I'm happy to do. I went in a glider one time, I flew in a glider in Ohio. It was a lot of fun. It was cool. We got towed up, you know.
Speaker 1:We got well, you break the cable or whatever it is, you start flying around. It it was cool. And it was very interesting. Like, I think it's very I think it's very valuable if you take that those lessons before you get into a one eighty two or one no, not a one eighty. A one seventy two, one fifty two.
Speaker 1:Whatever Whatever you're getting to. Same thing with getting your tail wheel. Like, if you can, it's probably best for you to do a tail wheel then a glider and then, you know, go into a one seventy two. But not everyone does that. I went one seventy two, just didn't make sense.
Speaker 1:But it really prepares you and teaches you to be a pilot.
Speaker 2:And I don't think you even realize necessarily how it how it does or at least I don't think I did at the time or or going into my private license the next year. How well it really prepared me, but like energy management. Right? You you have to be good at it. You just have to.
Speaker 2:Otherwise, you're you're not gonna be successful. And then the other thing, I actually didn't really realize this until somebody pointed it out to me recently, is when you are and you would have experienced this on your, on your glider flight behind the tow plane. You have to be in a certain position behind the tow plane. They call it I remember it being called the box. Right?
Speaker 2:You have to be in a certain certain area. You don't wanna get too high because then you'll be in the slipstream. You don't wanna get too far because then you'll cut inside turns or, you know, yeah, you don't wanna get too far one's one way or the other because then you'll cut inside or outside the turns. So formation flying. That's basically what it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah. As a brand new pilot, I never really thought about it that way. But that was actually one of the one of the hard parts to to learn and to master was was the actual tow up to altitude. Because it is, yeah, formation flying.
Speaker 1:Well, then in some countries. I mean, I would guess they have in The States and Canada too. It's like you get catapulted up there.
Speaker 2:It's like that wild.
Speaker 1:It's like, jeez. I can't imagine. That's probably a fun little ride to get up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That would be pretty wild. The island's like such an aggressive climb up. Yeah. Did you when you did your soaring, did you do any of the the thermaling, like trying to find the the rising air and
Speaker 1:We so my buddy who he flies commercially. He was just doing it for fun. He got his ratings. I gotta take some of you guys up and he was just like flying us. I think we each got like ten or fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1:We didn't get a lot of time up there. He was like, alright, let me get you up, now I'm gonna get you up, now we get you up. Yeah. I mean we did find a couple thermals and and do that and had fun and I had a selfie stick and took a picture out and all that kind
Speaker 2:of stuff.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah. I probably need to do it again to get the full experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. Like I said, the when you get into that aspect of challenging yourself against, you know, again, the rising air, the environments, it's a it becomes, you know, that level of energy management of altitude versus distance to your landing field and and trying to find those pockets of rising air is Yeah. Becomes really sporty.
Speaker 1:So talk about going from, you know, doing the glider to going to powered aircraft. What was that transition like for you? Was it difficult? Or did you think it was just very, very valuable to have all that knowledge?
Speaker 2:So, yes, I think it was very valuable to have that that flight time and and, you know, the hands and feet skills to it. That that part definitely translates really well over to the powered flying. The the scholarship again, when I was when I was 17 to go through the Power Pilot's scholarship was, again, really intensive. So there's, you know, pretty pretty much relearning everything and then also, you know, all engine management and all that kind of stuff. So, yes, I think it was it was valuable, you know, having the glider experience going into the the private pilot license.
Speaker 2:However, it's still very intensive.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. I bet. So you also mentioned how, like, you didn't know what you really wanted to do and the the path you wanted to go down. What was it that helped you determine and figure out the path you wanted to go down with your next training?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. So I mentioned, you know, I wanted to go to the military route. And I think I was kinda primed for that maybe a little bit going through the air cadets. You know, I was in there for for six years or so and seeing a lot of people who had kinda made that progression. And, I mean, you know, as a kid, you know, classic kind of watching Top Gun and, you know, thinking about f eighteens and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:I started going down the path to to go into the Canadian Armed Forces as a as a pilot, and I was I was very close actually to to making it. So I went through the whole application process. There's a thing called aircrew selection. I'm not I'm not sure how similar it is to the in The US, but when I went through it, yeah, about ten years just over ten years ago, aircrew selection was I'll I'll never forget it. It was, really really interesting.
Speaker 2:It was two days where we spent four hours basically sitting at a computer, and it was computer games that are designed to test your your cognitive skills and ability and and knowledge. And so, you know, it's similar to how I'm sitting right now with the set of headphones on. And I remember one game in particular was it was a joystick. And on the screen, you are basically controlling this ball flying through a tunnel. You know, with your joystick, you got you got the headphones on, and then there's a keyboard with with certain buttons and stuff.
Speaker 2:And you're getting, auditorium instructions of, like, you know, you're you're flying through the tunnel, and then there'd be, like, certain shapes. So it'd be, like, fly through the the next green circle. Don't fly through the next red triangle. And then it was, like, remember this, you know, five digit code for forty seconds from now. And then, you know, the timer would go off and you have to put in the five digit code that you heard, you know, forty minute forty seconds ago.
Speaker 2:And then what they'd start to and, you know, gradually gets gets more and more complicated to the point where they wanna see where you get overloaded. I I think is what what is going on. Because it started playing like a background conversation in the, in the headphones too. Somebody was talking about flower pots and it was very static. It was very distracting, you know, but you're getting all these instructions and you're having to, you know, not hit anything as you're flying down this tunnel.
Speaker 2:And, anyways, that was the one that I I remember most vividly. But there's a series of of other types of games to to test your your cognitive abilities, your multitasking overload, mental math. You know, there are some things where you're having to do math equations as you're doing something else. And, yeah, it was it was really interesting. And there was a group of, I wanna say, probably about 20 people who were doing it all at the same time.
Speaker 2:And I heard that, you know, this was the most difficult part for for people to pass, you know, as they're getting going into aircrew selection. And so that's like pilots and navigators and I think onboard weapons officers, basically. And I think there were only two or three of us that that ended up being successful. And, I mean, you don't you don't really know till the end, you know, who's successful and who's not. It doesn't give you a grade or even tell you what they're looking for.
Speaker 2:So it's pretty surprising, think, as, like, a 17 year old kid that, you know, I'm with this this room full of there are maybe a couple other young people, but there's people other people in their twenties and thirties and and maybe even older. And, you know, only two or three of us came out of it. So that was really fascinating to go through. And then they do a, medical examination. You know, really, really thorough, you know, more more so than your standard aviation medical.
Speaker 2:And, basically, I just they found a heart murmur, and so I had to go to a a cardiologist for further further examination. And it ended up not being an an issue at all. It you know, there's a small little bit of blood leakage that that that's going on, but it's you know, they wanted to make sure that it was gonna be okay under, you know, nine g's or whatever in a in a fighter jet. Right. So I went and did all these cardiologist tests, you know, while I was still in high school.
Speaker 2:And then, by the time I had all the results and submitted, they're like, thank you very much. Everything looks good, but, you missed the deadline by three days. And so, like, in next year and and all of your, you know, all of your results will still count and you'll probably get in. But, sorry, you won't make it this year. And yeah.
Speaker 2:So total total bummer. Right? Yeah. So I decided to take, you know, like a little bit of a gap year and go traveling. And so I went backpack to New Zealand, which was phenomenal.
Speaker 2:And then after that, I kinda decided that that I didn't didn't wanna go the military route anymore, you know, for a couple of different reasons. One, I kinda realized that maybe there's maybe there's a little more to life, a little more more to see. It was also going to be like an eleven year commitment to go through the military. Like, you have to go and you do a bachelor's degree for four years, then you go to flight school for two years, and then you owe five years of service or something like that. So I figured out I'd actually just be ending my, like, if I did go through the military, right around now is when I'd just be ending my, you know, kind of mandatory service.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, I just I kind of floated for a little while, you know, trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life, tried a few different pursuits, worked, you know, especially when I was traveling, you know, kinda worked in hospitality, through bartending and serving and kitchens and that kind of thing. And, what really got me to the point of like, okay, I gotta do something with my life. Truthfully, I think it was rock bottom. Yeah. Was it was a low point.
Speaker 2:It was a, to be completely blunt, a really bad relationship, you know, kinda kinda toxic, you know, not really not really going anywhere in life. And like, I knew flying was my passion, of course. And I had gotten to do little bits of flying, you know, kind of over over that time of, like like I say, kind of wandering. But it was yeah. I've gotten to a point where I'm like, I gotta do something, and and flying is I know I know I love it, so I just gotta go for it.
Speaker 2:And it was at a time too where I think the conversation around the pilot shortage was was really starting to ramp up. And so I was like, okay, this is an opportune time. And I think that's it's been successful so far.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, there comes a point in your life like sometimes you gotta you gotta do it or you don't. Right? It's now or never.
Speaker 1:Right? Like you you whether you've loved it, whether you've talked about it for forever. I mean, even like this is different than hitting rock bottom, but like being a pilot going places, everyone's like, oh dude, you're a pilot. Like, let's talk about this talk about even like my wife's a doctor, all the other doctors, all I do is talk about pilots. And they're like, I have always wanted to fly planes, like, well, go do it, like Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean You've gotten to that
Speaker 2:a lot. Right? When people ask you what you do, you're like, oh, I'm a professional pilot. I go, I've always thought about like I had that at the dentist the other day. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And they're always like, I've always wanted to do it. Like, I mean, this industry seems like it's really hard to break into and it is very expensive. Don't get me wrong. But if you wanna go fly a plane, it's as easy as calling your local airport and being like, hey, I would love to have an intro flight.
Speaker 1:They're like, alright, cool. It's like $200. Here's forty five minutes of flying. You know, it's like, you can go fly, which I think is a lot of people don't really understand.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Yeah. And that there's, you know, a lot of creative ways into the, into the industry too. Right? Like the people who who realize that they wanna do it and, you know, decide, okay, I'm gonna buy a plane and do all my ratings in the plane.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Mhmm. When so when you make this decision, you're finally like, alright, cool. I'm gonna go fly. And you mentioned the pilot shortage.
Speaker 1:Is the or I guess, was the goal then to eventually become an airline pilot to take it as far as you can?
Speaker 2:You know, I think at that point, I was just thinking, like, I need to be working in a job that I love or I need to be doing something that I love and get paid for it. And that was that was it for a long time. That was the only goal. Right? And I think that's something that we all kind of experience in aviation is maybe like this kind of like short sightedness of like, okay, I just need to get my commercial license.
Speaker 2:Okay. I just need to get my instrument rating or okay. I just need to land that first job or okay. Just need to get to the regionals or whatever that is. Right?
Speaker 2:You know, potentially in the pursuit of a of a longer goal. To me, the airlines, it's always been a it's always been a consideration, but it's not really a major goal for me. I've been, you know, kinda pushed for for many years that I should go into the airlines and, get that seniority number. And, yeah. So the the airlines have always kinda been been in the background as a as a possibility, but I've never felt the the drive to to really go for it.
Speaker 2:Like I was kinda saying earlier, I think, like, variety really is kinda how I get my kicks in aviation, I think. And so I've gotten to do so many different types of types of flying in in commercial pursuits. And, you know, I mentioned starting a starting a new one here just just next week. So when I first started my training, no, I think the goal was just to get just to get paid to fly. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That was that was it. Was kinda more shortsighted.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's a healthy way to look at it too. Because a lot of people, they come into to their training, they're like, alright, I need to get to the airlines as fast possible so I can go ahead and get my seniority number. And then they lose out on the enjoyment of flying small planes, on the enjoyment of essentially the grind. Because the truth be told is once you get into those big airplanes, you don't really ever come back.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's some airline pilots that do, but a lot of airline pilots, you know, I mean, myself included currently, it's like I'm not flying smaller g aircraft. I haven't flown it in in forever ever since Yeah. I didn't need to anymore for my job, you know. So it's a tough thing to get back into. So it's important to try to enjoy it as much as you can while you're there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. And I always think too, you know, going going to the airlines isn't a, you know, temporary move. It's kind of like a almost like a a lifelong career move. Right?
Speaker 2:You don't you don't go start at a major airline for a couple of years. Most people do it because they know they wanna be here for be there for the twenty years or so.
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2:When I think about, do I wanna be doing the same thing, you know, for the next twenty years? Yeah. No. We'll find out. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ask me in ten years if I still wanna do
Speaker 2:this. Yeah. Exactly. There's something else that nope. Sorry.
Speaker 2:Go ahead.
Speaker 1:No. So we're doing our training. I don't think in Canada, do you do private commercial than instrument? Or am I making that up?
Speaker 2:It's, totally depends. I think it it's more cost effective to do your instrument first because you can count some of those hours towards your commercial. I did not. I just did my my commercial license. Didn't do an instrument rating or a multi or anything like that.
Speaker 2:I think one of the differences that we have when it comes to the instrument and the multi engine stuff, I believe though, is you do your instrument on a single engine, and then that counts towards, you know, and and then you typically do your multi engine after your commercial. We have different types of instrument ratings, whether it's single engine or multi engine. So typically, you do your multi first, then you do your instrument, because it's a technically a different different qualification for the multi, instrument versus single.
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Speaker 1:That's allworthfinancial.com/justin. I didn't know that. Okay. That's interesting. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Know. Yeah. Private instrument in a single and then carries over to any other plane you fly. Like, alright. You can fly the small plane at slow speeds.
Speaker 1:Can fly any plane in the instrument now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. So our instrument ratings are I hope I don't butcher this. Class one is all multiengine and single engine aircraft. Class two is sorry.
Speaker 2:Not class. It's group. Group one. Group two is multiengine central line thrust. You know, think of the Cessna Skymaster.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And then group three is all single engine stuff. So it's kind of interesting how it's differentiated like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when you're and when you're doing your training and you're making these decisions, was it just kinda like, oh, see where it goes, see how far I do this? Were you gonna get flying jobs professionally? Was it like get my commercial as soon as possible so I try to fly to make a living and enjoy my my actual job?
Speaker 2:That's that's what I had hoped. Yeah. So and and part of it definitely was was money too. Right? Being able to being able to fund it, and that was a that was a big challenge for me as I was going through my commercial.
Speaker 2:And then, thankfully, once I finished, you know, I tried applying for a few different, pipeline survey or scenic, scenic tour type jobs and not gotten anywhere with that. And so I decided to go for, my instructor rating. And, I was eligible at that time for student loans, which was, really good. So I decided to do my commercial training in Alberta, which is the only province in Canada that I'm aware of that is actually well equipped for student loans for for aviation, where they'll actually go and say, okay. Here's here's the projected cost of a of a certain rating or license, and then we'll give you that whole sum, you know, initially because, obviously, in aviation, you go through that those funds quite quite quick.
Speaker 2:Like, you know, my instructor rating was done in in six or seven weeks or something like that. Whereas most other provinces, you know, they treat it like a a university or a college where you get a certain amount per semester. And then, you know, you're not gonna you're not gonna get as much money as you need as as fast as you want it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, I knew that there were lots of instructing jobs around. I also knew that I always wanted to kinda end up back on, Vancouver Island. I had been here previously for a few months, and, I tried really hard. Yeah. So got the instructor rating.
Speaker 2:Tried really hard to get a job in, Victoria, which is the, capital city of BC and kind of the bigger city on on Vancouver Island. With with no luck, I think the chief pilot was kinda changing over at that time. But what I did see was on the job boards posted was a was a flight instructor position here on kinda Northern Vancouver Island in a city called Campbell River. And it was from what I remember, it wasn't even very much of an interview. Was just, you know, I applied.
Speaker 2:We had a phone call, and she was kinda telling me about about what the job was gonna be like. And then, at the end was like, so so do you want it? Can you be here in a few weeks? And I was like, yeah. Definitely.
Speaker 2:I'll I'll see you in a few weeks. Kind of the rest is history from there. That's, that first job was really special too because it was actually teaching the air cadet scholarship to new teenagers. So it's kinda like full circle. Exactly.
Speaker 2:So seven weeks of, you know, really intensive, teaching and and like teaching those types of of, you know, teenagers too. They're primed so well because they've gone through years of practicing aviation and ground school. A lot of them had glider licenses already, and so they're probably some of the easiest students.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:However, it is a really intensive seven weeks, and, you know, they have to make certain milestones and stuff. I think I had I think one of my students was not successful in meeting that kinda solo requirement, right, of, like, fifteen hours or so, and I think she she ended up getting sent home. But the the rest were successful.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah? When you're in your training in Canada, I mean, this is similar to I did some most of my training in Columbus, Ohio. It's very gray. The weather's not great, especially in the wintertime.
Speaker 1:Is there an urge to, you know, like go to Florida, go to Arizona, where the weather is just so much more conducive to fly around or to knock it out in a short period of time? And I don't know how that works out with your loans. I'm guessing Alberta's probably, like, you know, we want you to support like a a flight school in our country or in our province. Right? But do do you see a lot of people go to flight schools out of the country?
Speaker 1:Do they go down to Florida? They go down to Arizona? Are they usually, you know, staying in Canada and flying out there?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I'm not sure I can answer that super well. I know there's differences, like if you're going to The States to to study, right, there's like visa stuff that's involved and you'd be doing an FAA license as opposed to a Canadian. I have seen somebody who, yeah, came out of the Florida program and then converted to Canadian licenses and and worked here. So I think it all kind of depends on, you know, nationality and and visas and and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, did you have ever had the urge to do that? You know, was it like winter time and you're like, man, I just can't fly because of the freezing levels, so I can't fly because of the clouds or anything like that?
Speaker 2:No. The prairies are actually the the weather and the the winter can actually be quite nice, like when it's when it's not snowing, and super cloudy, the skies will actually be quite quite clear through the winter. So as long as the runway is plowed, it can actually be quite and as long as your cockpit heater works pretty well, it can be quite enjoyable to fly through the winter.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I do. I had a I had a checkride where the Peter failed. So that was a very, very cold checkride.
Speaker 2:He's like, ask
Speaker 1:me a question. I'm like, I can't. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's a part of human factors or something. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Out where I live now, I think it's a bit of a different story though, because we're lucky to have really mild winters here. Like, I don't think it even snowed on the ground once this year. So our winters average probably about four or five degrees Celsius outside temperature here, But it does produce a lot of rain and, or it comes along with a lot of rain and a lot of cloud and stuff where where we live. So a little bit different where where I am now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. I mean, I don't go to the the Canadian side, but, you know, go to Pacific Northwest and you're going to Seattle and it's just
Speaker 2:like Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's raining all the time. I mean, it's still cool, but like and then you finally get there on a nice day, like, dang. If it was only if it was only sunny That's right.
Speaker 2:Oh my god. It's kinda like it's kinda like the price to pay, like, when it's beautiful and it mean, it's blue skies outside right now. It is so beautiful. And right now is kind of my favorite time too, because the mountains are still kinda snow capped, but you get these beautiful beautiful days. But, yeah, the price is, you know, kinda long rainy winters.
Speaker 1:Yep. I mean, hey, you gotta pay for it. Right? Gotta pay for it. It makes you enjoy a little bit more too.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you're continuing to do this. You did CFI. What came next up for CFI?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that first job, teaching the Aircat scholarship in in Campbell River for for seven weeks. And, something I should explain too that's different in Canada versus The US is we have different, classes or levels of instructors. And so when you get your, you know, your initial CFI, we don't call it CFI either. It's a it's called a class four instructor rating.
Speaker 2:And so Okay. When you have that, you have to be supervised by a more experienced instructor. You have to be working within a flight training unit or like a flight school, which I think is a little bit different than in The US. Like, you can't go right into doing freelance and structure or anything like that. So it's it's a little bit more yeah.
Speaker 2:Just to provide that kind of guidance and supervision while you're while you're a new instructor. And then, once you get three first solo students and three flight test students, then you can upgrade to your class three. So, yeah, it starts out at four and goes to one, each with, you know, kind of different requirements based off of your level experience of instructing and, you know, success rate, basically, with with students. And then, each one comes with different different permissions. And so, gradually, over the years, I worked up to being a a class one now.
Speaker 2:And so I can teach new instructors, which I've gotten to do a couple of times, which is fun. And, you know, can be the chief chief pilot of a flying school and can supervise new instructors and and that kind of stuff. But what came directly next, you know, I got my class three, and then the flight school that I was working for, they have it's really neat. They have their headquarters in Campbell River and then sub bases or satellite schools, sub sub schools in various other communities. And they were opening up a new one in the the the town that I now live called, Qualcomm Beach, and they asked me to do it.
Speaker 2:And so they sent me down there with an airplane, and, we we I set up shop out out of the the local flying club and gradually started building this sub base of a of a flight school. And, you know, by the time that I left, it was, we had three airplanes and three full time instructors and, you know, dozens of students and in an office space. And, you know, it was really fun to build my experience as a flight instructor around the around Vancouver Island and also, you know, help develop this kind of the business aspect behind it, which was just a lot of fun in the in the community as well.
Speaker 1:So they just sent you down with an airplane or like, hey, go build this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, was there was there was always the support. I mean, it's only Yeah. It's only a forty five minute flight away from the from the main headquarters.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But, yeah, that that's pretty much it. And it was it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:So how'd you go and get students? Was it just something like, hey, we're a new flight school, like, come out here or you're like, hey, you wanna be a pilot? You ever thought about being a pilot? Come on. You're like down at the corner, who wants to fly?
Speaker 2:Did there well, there's definitely a lot of that. Yeah. I I got a a jacket made and printed up on the back with large letters asking me about flying. We'll walk around and, you know, putting up signs, and we had some students that were already commuting to another base to to fly, so they moved over. And, word-of-mouth really, I think.
Speaker 2:And it just it just grew. Like, I had a waiting list. Yeah. I was really fortunate that, you know, and this was just before COVID too. Like, I got into commercial aviation in summer of twenty nineteen, and then, you know, the world started shutting down early twenty twenty.
Speaker 2:And, I'm very grateful that I I don't felt like I really, you know, suffered aviation, and and training was considered an essential service. And so we had to wear gloves and masks and sanitize everything like like everything else, but we were able to keep keep flying. There was there was maybe a month or two where we were totally shut down, but otherwise, you know, it was a an essential service. And, that's when, you know, I was I was really kinda growing, think, as a pilot, as an instructor Yeah. Growing the business.
Speaker 1:That's yeah. That's a wild time to be be down there trying to grow a business like that. Hey. Come be with them. We're not supposed to be with them to succeed each other, but hey.
Speaker 1:Come share this very confined space. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah. What a yeah.
Speaker 1:What a time. I mean, seeing that though, so like you you got the before where everything was looking good. Right? Like everyone's hiring, every everything looked great. And then you saw this big slowdown or big stop.
Speaker 1:And now we've seen another kind of hiring run-in aviation. So you've kind of seen the full cycle of aviation. And now we're seeing airlines shut down in the state, Spirit and Yeah. Just aren't doing well. But so you're seeing everything right now.
Speaker 1:And as someone that, you know, could potentially one day enter that industry if you wanted to, does that deter you even more away from the airlines? Or does that deter you even more away from from a job like that? Or is it just kinda like, you know, I love flying planes, I'm gonna keep going?
Speaker 2:I don't think it deters me at all. No. I've pretty much what you said said afterwards, love airplanes, gonna keep Yeah. Gonna keep going. And I I am a strong believer that we kinda create our own opportunities and our own our own, you know, realities to to a degree.
Speaker 2:And I think, you know, I've benefited from that that hugely in the in the people and the connections and the communities that they've gotten to be a part of and gotten to make, Where all of the things that I've gotten to do this far in my career has just been from, you know, showing up with a good attitude
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think, and and looking to to make connections with people.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And as someone who likes to to kind of sounds like, you know, someone's up to you like, hey, you wanna fly my pitch? You're probably gonna be like, yeah. Hey, you wanna fly, you know, an electric airplane? You're probably gonna be like, yeah, sign me up.
Speaker 1:Is that like do you look for stuff like that? Are you always looking for something new and cool that you can fly?
Speaker 2:Yes and no. Like, I'm not always looking to necessarily change gears, like having dedication and commitment is is really important to me and and sticking with the, yeah, the things that I've committed to. But also, yeah, always looking to grow and see what other kind of opportunities can can come my way def definitely. Yeah. So yes and no.
Speaker 1:And with that, Luke was telling me you are involved with electric aircraft. Right? You are doing some cool stuff electric aircraft or the Piper Stroll. I can't remember the full name of it, but talk a little about that. I have you flown one before?
Speaker 1:Is this like yeah. A
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm I'm pretty deeply involved. It's the same flight school. It's called Sea Land Flight and Alright. We are the first flight school in all of Canada that was authorized to start using an electric aircraft for for primary flight training.
Speaker 2:So it is the Pilotrol Velis Electro, which is from yeah. Pilotrol is an Italian Slovenian company that started out as a glider manufacturer and gradually put, you know, electric motors into gliders, then eventually came out with electric electric airplanes. And this one was, you know, specifically designed to be a primary flight trainer. And in a lot of Europe where, you know, the airspace is really condensed and congested and noise is a big big issue, it's really solved, think, a lot of problems over there related to, you know, airport closures and and noise and all that kind of stuff. And so Yep.
Speaker 2:Canada was, you know, a few years behind in in adopting this idea. And we were part of a trial program for a year, two years or so to start, you know, having students train on it, which has been quite successful and quite quite interesting. The one part that's been limited for us is that we are we're only allowed to do up to the first solo, basically, on the electric airplane. So it's, you know, just focusing on the primary skills of hands and feet, slow flight stalls, landings, all that kind of stuff, which is really what it is best at and and most most designed for. You know, the the question that always comes up with electric aircraft as well.
Speaker 2:How long can it fly for? Yeah. And the realistic answer, like, I'm I'm a very practical guy. Right? The realistic answer is that it's not gonna replace your your Cessna one fifty or Cessna one seventy two at this time.
Speaker 2:Like, you're you're not gonna go for a four hour cross country. And so where it really excels and is best at is that that, you know, just getting to the solo stage because there's so much less going on. There's no magnetos. There's no carburetor heat or fuel injection or mixture or propeller control or anything like that. It's it's four switches to turn it on.
Speaker 2:There's a there's a master, an avionics master, a batteries enable, and a motor enable, and, and then the power lever. And that's that's about it. So it allows students to focus just on the the hands and feet aspect of it, which is really cool.
Speaker 1:So you you hit start. Is it just like a Tesla? Like, just like just starts and it's really quiet? I mean, obviously, you're gonna have some noise in the prop. Right?
Speaker 1:But like, what what's the start process like in that? Or I guess the better question is, what is it like the very first time you're sitting in this, start the engine, and go fly? Are you just like, is this really gonna work? Or is it like, dude, this is so cool. I'm so glad I'm doing this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Probably a mix of of both. I'm fortunate to we get we get a lot of interest of pilots, you know, already licensed pilots who wanna just come out come and check out the novelty of this, or who wanna do kind of like we call it transition training to an alternate power plant. And, yeah, I think it kind of shocks shocks a lot of people. It's it's very lightweight, like it's all carbon fiber, and it's, you know, quite small and aerodynamic, and so the cockpit is, you know, similar to that of a one fifty with no baggage area.
Speaker 2:So you're you're kinda squeezed in there, and then, yeah, the start process, like I said, is kinda just flicking on four switches. And then nothing really happens because when there's no no thrust being asked for by the pilot, there's no there's no movement of the propeller or the motor or anything like that. But as soon as you go and push the the power lever up, it'll start to to whir. And there's no like, the only noise is the propeller noise. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Basically. Right? Like, hear the slipstream, and that's about it. And then when you're holding short, you know, waiting for takeoff clearance, you bring the power lever to zero and the prop stops. And, and then you're sitting there waiting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's really neat. And And you
Speaker 1:and stuff and, like, you're doing a power off stall, you pull it all the way back, the prop just stops?
Speaker 2:No. So not in flight because there's enough airflow to keep it windmilling. So it's only on the ground that it that it fully stops.
Speaker 1:I was like, woah. That would be freaking
Speaker 2:It would be Yeah. It is really quiet. And what's what's really neat is, you know, it takes a lot of power to get up to a alternate altitude and then, you reduce the power for for cruise. Right? Or for maneuvers that you're doing and you can see it's constantly calculating how much how much endurance it has left based off of the battery state.
Speaker 2:So And you'll see the endurance increase as you go to level off. And then by the time that you decide to come back and land, typically, you're bringing the power to idle, or or all the way to zero. Yeah. Zero. And now you're no longer going through any power at all, which is really neat.
Speaker 1:It is interesting. So it's kinda like, you know, it's another tool to try to manage your your energy. Right? Like, alright. Well, if we don't really need it here now, we're just descending.
Speaker 1:Let's bring it out. And then you can That's right. Maybe you can get another minute or two, which would probably be very, very critical and very crucial.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, you know, the standard questions that I get asked a lot obviously are, like, how long can it fly for and, how long does it take to recharge and that kind of stuff. And so, we can safely fly for forty five minutes, and we've been mandated to have, you know in VFR, you typically have a thirty minute fuel reserve. With the battery, we've been, been mandated 30% battery reserve, which, you know, based off of how much power you're pulling can really vary how long that's gonna last you. So, yeah, about forty five minute flight time with a 30% battery reserve, and then at maximum, electrical capacity, it's recharging in about an hour or so.
Speaker 1:Like fully recharged?
Speaker 2:That's right. Yeah. From that 30% to a 100%.
Speaker 1:And then cold weather, I'm guessing just like every other big battery doesn't do as well and you probably get less by the time?
Speaker 2:Yeah. A little bit. We preheat the batteries because there's an optimal temperature for it to to charge at and for it to be flying at is about 21 degrees Celsius. And so we can preheat it and help them a little bit. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What kind of, like I mean, obviously, with newer technology, something else, like, yes. It eliminates some dangers of flying, but there's also new dangers of flying. Right? Like, is it more like a a thermal runaway? Is it like a battery runaway overheating?
Speaker 1:Just range in general, like, yeah, forty five minutes. Don't go too far because, you know, you gotta land somewhere. But talk about any other threats that come with with something like an electric aircraft.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So definitely definitely, you know, with like any aircraft, there are emergency procedures that a pilot has to pilot has to know. And so that's, you know, some of that kind of differences training that we do with with licensed pilots who wanna come check out as we go through, k, what are the the the failure modes of this? And I think that's true, yeah, for any any complex system, right, is to understand what the failure modes are. Like a lot of things in aviation, there's a lot of redundancy built into it.
Speaker 2:So for instance, like, batteries are liquid cooled and there's two coolant pumps. So even if a coolant pump fails, you still have a second one, you know, just like just like most things in in engines.
Speaker 1:Yes. It does range mostly and then coming up with coolant pumps and and, nothing else that's really too too dangerous, I would say about them other than that?
Speaker 2:Not really. No. I don't think there's been any, documented cases of of these aircraft
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Having many emergencies. There's several 100 of them flying around the world now, and this is actually Pipistrol's third electric airplane that they've they've produced. Your aspect or your point about the the range, though, is definitely a a consideration to be aware of. And, you know, in Europe, they are doing point to point flights. And, my understanding is that when when you do that, you have to start calculating point of no return.
Speaker 2:Right? Like you would on oceanic crossings and stuff like that, where, like, you get to a certain point and you're not gonna be able to make it back to your to your, your departure aerodrome anymore. And so you have to continue on to the destination. So, like, that is a consideration, because you're limited on your your range. Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Whereas a normal a a internal combustion engine aircraft, you typically have have more range. Right?
Speaker 1:So someone who's flown electric aircraft, are you a believer? Is this kinda like someone flying driving a a Tesla for the first time, like, ten, fifteen years ago? It's like, wow, that's so cool. Like, this is the future? Or is this in your mind kinda like just a tool for for flight training?
Speaker 1:Not sure unsure still if it can be adapted to for kind of not necessarily long haul travel, but even like regional flights or the smaller flights or, the eVTOL space.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Great great question. I think it does have a lot of practical practicality, and especially as we move towards greater energy density. Like this aircraft, the battery technology is from 2016, basically. 2016, 2017.
Speaker 2:So I think already, you know, we're we're ten years ahead now that if we put more modern batteries into it, it'd probably do do a lot better. It does suit the flight training realm pretty well, and our laws have actually been adapted to be able to include electric aircraft, at any flight school in Canada now, which is really cool. And I think that in certain applications, yeah, electric aviation is gonna make a lot of sense, know, like that whole EV toll realm. You know, Beta and, Joby and several other large manufacturers are starting to to showcase that. We have commercial operators even here in Canada that have committed to to buying these aircraft when they're certified.
Speaker 2:We have other, operators. You know, we were talking about the seaplanes here around in, around Vancouver Island in Vancouver. There's, Harbor Air is one of those large operators, and they're they're they've been working on an electric beaver conversion, actually, which is which is really cool. Yeah. That is.
Speaker 2:In fact, one of my recommendations for another interviewee is, is one of the guys involved with that. Oh, cool. So yes. I think I think the other thing that I wanted to say too is when you think of, like, electric vehicles, you know, you brought up the Tesla. Electric vehicles have been around since, like, 2012, I think, so when they first started coming out.
Speaker 2:But they they would barely go anywhere. Right? Their their range, their their practicality was was very, very low. That's kinda where we are with electric air or electric aviation at this point. Right?
Speaker 2:Is, they can exist and they can do some things, and they can do those those things really well. Like, that's what we've seen with the the flight training is students are able to go solo in less than ten hours now because, you know, there there's so much less that they have to focus on. And then, yeah, the the small kind of commuter airlines, I think, you know, like the like the float plane and, like, small commuter, helicopter services and, EV tool type type services are gonna do really, really well. The long haul, you know, we're we're obviously a long way away from Yeah. Being able to to do that.
Speaker 1:Yep. But it's cool. I mean, new technology is awesome. Right? Like, I mean, there's been a lot of stagnant tech in aviation.
Speaker 1:I mean, and for good reason because we built something else very reliable in that work. Right? Why are we changing it if we can count on it? But it's it's always encouraging to see, you know, new manufacturers come in, try to stir the pot a little bit and try to make aviation better, whether it's going from gas to battery or whether it's just Garmin pushing the envelope with their with their awesome avionics they have or
Speaker 2:I was just gonna mention that, you know, it's like going to glass glass technology. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then you add auto land and emergency return and all the other stuff that they have. It's just like, it's awesome to see kind of the technology catch up because we all know. I mean, the joke is in the in The States, I'm just guessing it's pretty similar in Canada too. It's like, yeah, new technology.
Speaker 1:There's new technology, but FAA is not gonna adapt it for another twenty or thirty years. Right? Yeah. Yeah. We won't see that for a while because we gotta make sure it's tested.
Speaker 1:We gotta make sure it works all the time because if it failed, big deal. Right? That's a really really big deal. So but it's always cool to see people push the limit and try new things, especially beta. Like, what they're doing is so cool.
Speaker 1:Like, I every time we put an Instagram video, feel like I'm like the first one. Like, I'm always, like, watching
Speaker 2:a lot.
Speaker 1:Wow. It's so cool. I wanna do
Speaker 2:That's interesting what you mentioned about the, you know, the new advanced features going into aircraft and stuff. And so, you know, I mentioned I'm going into aerial firefighting and, lucky to be put on to, their brand new platform, which is a TBM nine sixty as a as a bird dog. And like like brand new out of the factory, got to fly one that's, I think I put landing number 16 onto it or something. And, my goodness, the technology in that aircraft is just like it's got the the home safe and got the auto throttle and, all these protections. So, you know, going to sim and learning about I went down to Orlando for for a little bit of sim training and learning about some of the safe, protection features that are built on that.
Speaker 2:Like, the one that that always cracks me up is that if the pilot does nothing to the avionics for thirty minutes, it starts asking you if you're okay. Like, you can't ghost your airplane because it'll start getting annoyed. Right? I'll start like texting you like, you there? Yeah.
Speaker 1:If you like, you there, bro?
Speaker 2:Blink Exactly. Yeah. And then and then after thirty six minutes, if you still don't do anything, and obviously, you know, it's it's to help if a pilot, you know, has a stroke or something like that. Yeah. But after thirty six minutes, if the pilot doesn't do anything, it will go into emergency home safe mode all on its own.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Which is just wild. Right? Yeah. Anyways.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, it's there for a reason. Right? There's been some accidents, been some incidents that have happened with Yeah. People becoming incapacitated and it haven't getting that plane back on the ground.
Speaker 1:So, I mean, there's only so much you can do about the pilot at that point, but the plane dead is also full of fuel and could do something else. So you wanna make sure that can land safely as well. It's crazy. And talking about that real firefighting, that's I have a decent relationship with Cal Fire. They're actually in you can't remember if you see with this magazine right behind me.
Speaker 1:Got a nice little story about them in there. What they do is so cool and they're so passionate about it. It really seems like such a cool way to I don't wanna say make a living, but like give back to the community. Because I feel like more you're like a public service when you're
Speaker 2:doing this.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like it's not necessarily about, you know, flying yeah. You're public service too. Right? You're making people go point a to point b for the airlines, but like, you can really see how you're helping, you know.
Speaker 1:Like Yeah. I helped put out that fire. I helped here or like, man, we should have done better here. Like it's just like, it's such an interesting way to to have a career.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Agreed. And that was kind of what I was looking for as I make this next career move was kind of, medevac or, or aerial firefighting, which, you know, hadn't really up to the point where I started to apply, hadn't really been a been a thought of mine. And I honestly went into it knowing knowing very, very little. And, you know, I've gone through all the training so far.
Speaker 2:I've got my line and doc starting next week, but the amount that I've learned and seen and and the amount of experience, like, the people who get into this type of flying are there for, like, twenty years or so. Like, they seem to be a a pretty big career move. And there's there's so much to it, which is which is just, you know, awesome. The the amount of coordination and, communication and awareness and yeah. It's just it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I was talking to the guys in the CAL FIRE, it's just it's hard to take the the emotion out of it too. It's like, alright. Well, we're running low on fuel. This fire is still going.
Speaker 1:We still have enough run. Like, we can maybe do one more run. It's like, alright. How do we safely Yes. Say no to keep flying because we gotta keep the plane up so we can continue to put the fire up.
Speaker 1:But it's like, maybe if we just do this one, it can make a big difference, you know. It's like, it's such a a difficult kinda like macho or like crazy decision ego mentality you gotta go into there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of balancing, Like, obviously, yeah, a lot of balancing risk. Right? Because Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You're low level. Out where I live, we're gonna like, I'm gonna be flying in BC quite a lot, and there's a lot of pointy things that stick out of the ground. Just a little bit. Yeah. Just a little bit.
Speaker 2:And then you've got smoke, you've got other weather, you've got, you know, lots of lots of aircraft and stuff. And, you know, I'm kinda speaking ahead of myself here a little bit because I haven't actually done it yet. We've done some practicing. But, there's a lot of balancing that that goes into it. Think a lot of awareness, and it's it's really neat, you know, the company that I've joined to see the amount of safety culture and promotion and, like, you know, anybody can call off anything basically if it doesn't feel right.
Speaker 2:And so they they, you know, support their pilots a 100%, which is really, really cool. And it's and it's such a team team effort too. That's I think what I'm really looking forward to is that it's not just, you know, one flight crew. It's it's multiple in multiple airplanes at at, you know, one at one time. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, there's lots of briefing, lots of debriefing. The training aspect was was phenomenal. They have, I think it's six or seven simulators that are all linked together, and, they're the exact aircraft that that the company flies, and it's all recorded. There's cameras inside these, simulator cockpits, and then it records the the full simulation from exterior positions and everything too. And you go and you fight, you know, fake fake fires in the simulator, and everything is recorded.
Speaker 2:And we look back at, you know, every single load that was dropped and the communication that happened and kinda see where things were effective, where things weren't effective. And, like, it kinda blew me away when I was first getting into it because you have these you know, I'm I'm relatively young, think, in the in the company, and I'm I'm looking at these these people who have been doing this for twenty years or so. And they're like, oh, yeah. That's where I messed up and and I could have said that better or, you know, just seeing, yeah, the amount of like, what's the word I'm looking for? Like humble humbleness.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was really Okay. Really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I know. I mean, I got the same vibe talking to the CAL FIRE people. So I think that's just how it works in that community. Right?
Speaker 1:It's like you look out for each other. You wanna make sure everyone goes home at the end of day, and you wanna help everyone as much as you can. But the most important thing is we gotta get the plane down safely. We gotta get everyone back safely, so we can go fight another full day of fires. Right?
Speaker 1:Like that extra one run probably isn't gonna gonna do anything that you think it might do, but fighting for another day will help out a
Speaker 2:lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the other the other thing that I'm really looking forward to is just the the unique combination of skills that this is. Like, it's, you know, it's low level. It's, you know, aggressive maneuvering, specifically in the bird dog who's, you know, doing the scouting, doing the observations for each of the drops. And it's kind of a it's kind of a unique combination of things that I like to do just for fun, you know, like aerobatics, getting into low level aerobatics, you know, valley flying, all this kind of stuff. And now it's a a profession that I can utilize all those kind of same skills and and traits of of flying, for, like you say, a a public service, which is Yeah.
Speaker 2:Which is really unique. So it's it's kinda closer to what I've said before is it's kinda closer to the type of flying that I like to do for fun as opposed to any other, career position that I've had. You know, I've done, corporate, flying all across, North America and small airline stuff and bunch of fairing and all that kind of stuff. But it's it's more like the low level and and aerobatic realm.
Speaker 1:Well, I look forward to interviewing you again in like five or ten years and be like, so what's it like, man? What's like Sure. Yeah, aerial firefighters? Everything you thought it'd be, you know? We'll do this conversation again.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Well, Mike, I appreciate your time, man. It's been a lot of fun talking with you. Likewise.
Speaker 1:Great insight on just what it's like being a pilot in Canada, know, going out to Vancouver Island, now flying aerial firefighting, which is really, really cool. So I wish you the best of luck. Good luck in training.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it's gonna be a lot, but you can do it. You got it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Appreciate that. I appreciate you. I hope you're having a great day.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I appreciate it too, Justin.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap on today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. Shout out to all the sponsors. I really, really appreciate you all. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Could not do this without you. Literally cannot do it without you. So thank you so much, everyone. I appreciate you. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1:Thank you for reading the magazine, and I hope you're having a great day. And as always, happy flying. The Pilot to Pilot podcast is brought to you by Ground School from the finer points, the indispensable training app for new and experienced pilots. Visit learnthefinerpoints.com backslash Justin to save 10% off your first year.