Another pilot friend

My commercial ground school class is a great group of people. I've made some new pilot friends and have had the chance to fly with one of them. Cam is a fairly new pilot but he has about 30 hours more than me. I once commented that those extra 30 hours he has on me must have shown him a lot more than I've seen yet. He said, "Yeah, it's 30 hours more than you of being scared to fly the plane!" Clearly, we both still struggle with the newness of it all and the thought of the many things we still have to learn, some of it probably the hard way. So, it's been great to be able to fly with him. We learn from each other, give each other a sense of security, and have a lot of fun, to boot!

On Nov 10, we went for a short flight to Camrose, a small nearby city (26 NM). It wasn't the nicest of days but still safe for a VFR flight. The ceilings were low so we stayed at about 3500-4000' (1000-1500' above ground).

Heading for Camrose

I flew the leg to Camrose. I've been there several times so I know right where the airport is. It's usually pretty easy to spot the runway because it's oriented exactly in line with the heading to Camrose and you end up looking right down it as you approach the airport. But this time, I couldn't see it at all. I flew to where I knew it should be, as Cam as I searched the ground for that little strip of asphalt. Finally we spotted the airport. The taxiway was clear, which is how we found it, but the runway was covered with snow. This was a decision point; could we land? I decided to fly the approach and see what we encountered and overshoot if it didn't look good. But as I got down, I could see that the snow was shallow and packed and that there were clear patches on the runway. So I landed. It turned out to be a totally normal landing. Didn't feel any different.

Snowy runway in Camrose

Cam flew us home. He wanted to practice an instrument approach so we did a simulated RNAV approach into Cooking Lake. That was cool for me to see since I am only beginning to see some of the instrument techniques just by watching others.

This was a smooth and beautiful flight, despite the cloudy day. It was also a moment to exercise some pilot judgment and I think I did alright with that.

Then today, we flew together to Stettler, another small Alberta town, just 68 NM south of Cooking Lake. We took along our friend, Aydin, a PPL student we met in ground school. I flew the leg to Stettler. This time it was tricky to find the airport because everything was brown and the runway blended in. But find it we did. I crossed overhead and joined the downwind. It was windy in the circuit and I turned base too soon and so got pushed in a bit, making my final leg too short. I came in a little too fast and bounced a couple of little bounces but then the plane settled and all was well. It was embarrassing more than anything, with our young student friend on board, and I could have gone around.

Stettler town and airport

Cam did a perfect take-off and flew us home in the setting sun. He managed a windy approach at night and his landing was a beauty.

On the way home from Stettler

What a blast it was to fly with those two! They both have a great sense of humour and we laughed a lot.