Finally I went flying! It was two months ago when I decided to validate my FAA certificate. I was confident to do that during the week I came back from Canada. Obviously I was wrong. I will be working on it until January or so. But let’s talk about the joy of flight rather than…
Author: Florian R.
Blogging since my first flight lesson and planning to become a commercial pilot on smaller aircraft - read on to see what I fly today. :)
Augen wie ein Adler
Bild: Mein Blindenflughund Zorro ist bereit für den Einsatz im Cockpit. “Your eyes are great, tomorrow you gonna fly at the airlines!”, sagte mir der Doktor, als ich In den USA noch nicht einmal 10 Stunden Total Time hatte. Und ja, in den USA dürfte ich, aus medizinischer Sicht, auf der Linie fliegen. Der Augenuntersuch…
Halfway There
I found my way though all the paperwork. This is what ‘halfway there’ means. Every time I think I am done Switzerland has another surprise, another step for me. It is annoying since I don’t have a clue how long it takes in the end. What I wanted was a flight with a local flight…
EASA Gesetz und FAA-PPL
Ab dem 8. April 2012 gibt es ein neues Gesetz, welches uns FAA Piloten betreffen kann. Den originalen Gesetzestext kann über folgende Website heruntergeladen werden: Klick mich! Soeben habe ich mit dem BAZL telefoniert – und ich durfte aufatmen. Sofern man nur Private Pilot Privileges ausüben möchte, gibt es voraussichtlich keine Änderungen. Auf jeden Fall…
Davos – A New Life
Hey folks! I didn’t write anything during the last weeks because I had plenty to do. I flew back from Vancouver to Switzerland and moved to the mountains. I started my work at a home for people with disabilities. It’s tough, but ey… I didn’t work three months. It feels good to not spend money…
The Swiss Style / Davos
I became an American during the last months. Everything went fast. Now I’m back in Switzerland and I almost feel stuck. When I walked in at the flight school in Seattle they didn’t know about me. Their e-mails got lost. No worries – the chief instructor called Isaac and two hours later I had my…
50hrs Floatplane Course Completed! =)
Wow, I flew 50 hours on floats. I am so happy my smile goes all around my head! I spent more time on floats than on wheels. My total time is 102.2 hours and in 150 hours I’m gonna have my first job! Yay! The only problem is now my lack of money. On my…
46.5h – You Can’t Beat Circuits *video
Tons of landings again. 3.5 hours nonstop up and down. During the last four flights I did more than one hundred landings. That’s totally crazy. My landings became pretty good now but I still didn’t like most of them. Tom’s trick is to fly a perfect arc until you are on the water. In order…
43.0h SES – Beaching And Landings
Some more pictures! I’m so tired after three hours of training… My instructor started now with emergency drills and he sets me a bit more under pressure. Or maybe I set myself more under pressure. Anyways here some pictures of a sandy beach at Pitt Lake: My landings got a lot better. Only one of…
39.8h SES – Hundreds Of Landings
After seven hours intensive training I am not sure how many landings I actually did today. I wrote 60 into my logbook for the last two flights. That’s crazy. There wasn’t much more to do in this weather today. Sometimes I had to avoid clouds at 500 feet (150m). I love playing with the clouds…
30.0h SES – Shooting Landings
The airplane is repaired, I am well rested and ready to shoot hundreds of landings. Tom’s plan is to give me some basic seaplane instruction. We’re going to fly about 6 hours tomorrow. The last days were great to learn some things about aircraft maintenance. At least I know now of which parts the alternator…
29.5h SES – Alternator Failure and Hangartalk
We hopped from wave to wave and I struggled to keep the planing attitude of the airplane. “Higher, lower, make small changes, higher, too high, there we go.”, Tom was permanently talking to me until we got airborne. The wind was strong and the takeoff somewhat bumpy. I had my clearance from the tower to follow…
Slow Down!
I had a day off. I flew seven days in a row up to six hours a day. I slept in this morning and Tom had a fishing patrol at ten anyways. He came back and told me he gives me a brake now. He meant it was good I had a hard week. As…
29.2h SES – Victoria Harbour
“Victoria Harbour it’s floatplane Golf Kilo November Hotel. We’re 10 miles to the west and we’ll follow the shoreline at one thousand five hundred for Elk Lake and Shawnigan Lake.” We flew around Victoria! I love the city. I went there with my girlfriend in June. It is a city where you can walk around…
26h SES – Whistler and Chatterbox Falls
Sky clear, winds light and variable, temperature 26. But that’s Vancouver right? Yes, I chose the best two weeks of the year to fly in the area! The first flight in the morning took us to the ski resort of Vancouver. Whistler lies in a gorgeous valley. As I overflew the town a Beaver took…
19.9h SES – Martin Mars and Radio Calls
I flew to the largest flying boats on earth! 🙂 The Martin Mars are based on Vancouver Island in Sproat Lake. They have a majestic wing span of 61m and each of the four engines produce up to 3050hp. My Cessna’s got 160hp. haha 🙂 The Martin Mars were built at the end of World…
16.8 SES – Beautiful British Columbia *Video!
Fast keine Zeit um übers Fliegen zu schreiben, vor lauter fliegen! 6.1 Stunden waren es heute. Ich war fast ständig gefordert und bin jetzt sehr, sehr müde. Jetzt aber doch noch ein Blogeintrag – in den nächsten Tagen werde ich genauso müde sein! Ein ehemaliger Flugschüler hat hier dieses Video gedreht. =) Enjoy! Das ist,…
8.0h SES – 50hrs Course
I’m living in a hangar now! 🙂 I always dreamt of an airplane in the living room. But I must admit I didn’t think about the smell of fuel… Tom and Christine are running the business here and they gave me a warm welcome! 🙂 This is the place for my 50 hour course on floats….
Greyhound to Vancouver
Bye bye Seattle. I did everything I wanted to do. I am a private pilot with seaplane rating and high performance endorsement, with just as little as 52.2 flight hours. Tomorrow I take a Greyhound to Vancouver. I’m going to miss the Emerald City. I am not sad though. In the next weeks I am…
6.1h SES – Seaplane Checkride =)
Das war mein dritter Tag im Wasserflugzeug und schon habe ich das Seaplane Rating! =) Ich flog auch heute wieder zwei Mal. Der erste Flug heute war der Feinschliff für die Prüfung. Amenda, eine Beaverpilotin etwas älter als ich, war meine Fluglehrerin. Ich musste alle verschiedenen Takeoffs und Landungen üben, sowie auch Step Taxi. Es…
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