Happy New Year
January 2007

It’s been awhile since we have updated all of you as to what’s going on around here, but then perhaps you’ve heard some of it in the news….

In October we were all devastated at the senseless loss of GDVS (our Piper Warrior). The official ruling was that the rental Pilot (a recreational permit holder and not a student of Flight Discovery’s) had run out of gas. Going down just 10 nm west of the Okanagan Lake in Vernon , BC , neither plane nor the pilot survived.

We wish to thank all of you who have supported us through this difficult time, and assure you a replacement should be found shortly. After much discussion and consultation it has been decided that a Cessna 172 will be the most likely replacement. Though certainly if a 182 can be affordably found that would be even better!

Currently Flight Discovery is in negotiations to become an authorized Flight Training Centre for Diamond Aircraft and we are hoping along with this expansion that we will be able to trade in our DA20-A1’s for two new DA20-C1’s (the Eclipse model), so check back with us as to further developments along this line.

Additionally, we are pleased to welcome Dan Nelson back on board who is filling the CFI position while Gerald Weber is on a Leave of Absence. Many of those who have been around the Kamloops Airport are familiar with Dan’s friendly face and his extensive experience in flight training and float flying. We are happy to have Dan as a part of our team, and hope that this relationship will only continue to grow.

Gerald, who left on his leave of absence at the end of November, is in India . Gerald is exploring the south Asian market seeking out job placement opportunities for commercial pilots looking to get hired on with the airlines. Gerald’s work will be worthwhile not only in meeting his own personal goals, but it will also bring valuable information to our students who would also like to become an airline pilot. Flight training is often only the first step in a person’s flight path. Here at Flight Discovery we like to help people realize the dream that first brought them through our door, and so we hope Gerald will soon be able to realize his.

Talk to you again soon,

Tammy

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Spring Has Sprung!
(Amended June 1, 2006)

My how time flies (pun intended)! It seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were talking about plans for the spring and now spring has almost turned to summer and we are still planning????

While we may have had plans for doing some expansion, our planes had other ideas. Im sure many of you have had similar plans re-routed for maintenance considerations? Both GEML and FWAP needed new exhaust systems and GEML had about 300 hrs. left before needing a new engine. It was at this point that Rotech (Vernon, BC) approached us to borrow one of the planes for some engine testing. It seemed like a timely collaboration to save a bit of money and get the new engine fitted sooner rather then later. However, this required a re-working of the budget and our 1st delay in expansion plans.

The 2nd delay we experienced came from some previous business dealings we had in the USA with one of our affiliated companies, and unfortunately that contract has not been paid out yet, so a large portion of our funds are still on hold down in Ohio.

Finally, we arrived at spring and the warm weather. Unfortunately our first taste of summer weather had both of our Katanas (DA20-A1) starting to experience over heating problems with the oil. It seemed like the hotter it was outside the hotter the oil was running, and eventually the cylinder heads started to red line as well! Sam reported that the two planes had always run slightly warm in the hotter weather, but not to this extreme, so what had changed since last summer?

It looked like we were down to two things: the new exhaust systems (which would have to be torn apart and diagnosed from nut to bolt) or the type of coolant (of which a new airworthiness directive had been issued to change the thin almost watery oil mixture to a soupy molasses type mixture). Both planes were running on the new mixture, so a flush was undertaken on FWAP and the old oil was put in. It was at this point that it looked like we had something, because FWAP was running a little warm, but not dangerously so. However, the weather had turned cooler as well! Hmmm had we really found the solution to the problem? One more thought popped out, the new exhaust, it had not fit properly the first time around, and had to be sent back to be re-fitted. The new fit didnt leave as much space for air flow around the cylinder heads. What if we raised the bar a tad to allow greater air flow.

Travis took FWAP up for another test flight, and so far we have found that the engines are running cooler then they have in years. No significant red lining, so perhaps we have found the solution? Time will tell as we await the return of the very HOT summer weather.

Our sincere thanks goes out to everyone over at Mountainaire who have worked hard, along with our Maintenance Coordinator (Travis Eyer), over this last winter to help us keep our planes in the air and continue serving our customers. We would also like to thank our customers for their patient patronage.

If you have a similar experience with your Rotax engine wed like to hear from you. Please write and tells us about it at lessons@flightdiscovery.com.

Tammy

PS. We would also like to offer our congratulations to Gerald Weber, CFI here at light Discovery who over the winter completed his Multi-engine and Group 1 Instrument Rating.

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Years
(Amended December 9, 2005)

I am VERY happy to report that we have all our planes safely back in the home nest. One of our Katana's has been away getting fitted with a new engine, and as some of you may have seen in the paper or at least heard about, our Piper Warrior was forced to make an emergency landing last month in a farmer's field in Westwold, BC.

Gerald Weber who is returning to Flight Discovery as our new CFI (upon the sudden departure of Kathleen Poynton) along with Gary and one of our students were enroute to Vernon when a sudden snow storm crept up from behind and forced them to land. Neither plane nor personnel were damaged or hurt, but unfortunately weather and training schedules did not allow for a quick return for the Warrior. A special thank you must go out to Mr. John Benedict, who looked after the Warrior, and his son Steven who prepared the field for a safe take off by Flight Discovery's Travis Eyer. This ultimately proved, after a few practice runs and some major de-icing, to be a textbook book example of a short, soft field take off that even Sam would have been proud of!

With December fast coming to a close, and the New Year around the corner we at Flight Discovery are hard at work getting ready for what we expect to be a busy spring. Gary and I have some ideas we would like to start implementing in 2006 and we are looking forward to the quieter winter months to start getting these plans in order. We will bring you more word on these developments as progress allows.

Flight Discovery will be slowing down over the Christmas holidays, and we will be closed from day-to-day operations from 12:00pm on Dec. 23rd to 8:00am January 2nd, 2006. However, we would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you to join us for a Christmas open house on the morning of the 23rd where we can celebrate together the spirit of the season, and the close of yet another successful year. We look forward to sharing with old friends and meeting with new ones.

From all of us here at Flight Discovery.

May God bless and keep you and yours this holiday season.

Tammy

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Flight Discovery Soaring Right Along
(Amended October 17, 2005)

Gary and I are both pleased with the way the transition of ownership has been going out here at Flight Discovery. It has been a sharp learning curve, particularly for me - as I am only just starting my flying lessons, but it has been an unexpected pleasure to meet and work with so many fine people here on the Kamloops Airport field. Everyone has been very helpful and welcoming. We both thank you, and for those of you we haven't had the chance to meetwe are looking forward to it!

Of course special mention and thanks must go out to Diane and Sam Longiaru who have put 10 years of hard work and commitment to make the school as successful as it is. Gary and I are likewise committed to ensuring that the school's outstanding reputation remains in tack. We will rely on the rest of you to help keep us accountable to that!

Gary and I are originally from Ontario, and first started working together in the driver training industry. Over the last 14 years we have fine tuned that business partnership into what we believe will be a winning combination for YKA Flight Discovery Ltd. Gary's skills lie in computer programming with a passion for flying, while my skills are in business administration with a schedule that keeps me flying!

You will see other new faces over at the flight center as well. We have been very pleased to add two new people to the staff of Flight Discovery- Travis Eyer and Kathleen Poynton. Travis moved here from Clinton, BC with his wife Jillian 3 months ago, and will be one of our flight instructors as well as our Maintenance Control Officer. Kathleen moved to Kamloops at the beginning of September from Rocky Mountain House, AB and will be taking on the CFI position as we see Sam moving on to new opportunities. You may also see John Lovric and Robert Veitch working alongside the Flight Discovery team as they put together some new software programs to help make life run a little smoother for us.

All and all it has been a busy, but exhilarating time here at Flight Discovery and we are looking forward to even more positive growth in the year ahead. We hope you will stop by, visit, chat, and share ideasbecause the sky is the limit!

Tammy

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Flight Discovery to be Operated Under New Ownership
(Amended March 17, 2005)

Well, after announcing last summer that I would be retiring and closing the school in June of 2005, I was approached by several parties interested in purchasing and continuing the operation. I am pleased to announce that today, my wife Diane and I have signed a Letter of Intent with Gary Mechar and Tammy Pitkeathly for the sale of Flight Discovery. As a result, the school will continue flight training and aircraft rental operations without interruption for hopefully, many years to come. Gary and Tammy will be purchasing the two Katanas as well as the Piper Warrior for a seamless transition. Likewise, I have agreed to remain at Flight Discovery as Chief Flight Instructor for a period of time to help with the transition and to assist in the selection of a suitable replacement.

We are all excited about the change in ownership. Gary and Tammy's business philosophy appears to match my own and their plans for the future follow a well thought out and exciting path. From my perspective, it will be nice to see Flight Discovery achieve the potential that it has had for many years. From the perpective of the new owners, Gary and Tammy see a well-organized school with an enviable record of safety and quality flight training. It is a great view for both parties.

I would like to thank all of you once again for the kinds words and encouragement you have given. Many of you have made it clear to me that it was worth some effort to keep Flight Discovery alive as a contributing member of the Kamloops aviation community. I hope that with this move, it will remain so for many years.

The party is still on for June 12 for friends, students, instructors and all those who have helped us over the past decade. I will be forwarding more information by mail as we get closer to the date. It will be an open-mike event, so start practicing and bring your instruments!

Sam

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International Space Station Tracking

The best viewing times for the ISS from numerous cities around the world can be found here. The data come from NASA. As well you can find a real-time tracker that plots the position of the ISS - constantly updated. Requires a Java-enhanced browser.

Recency Requirements

With adoption of the Canadian Aviation Regulations, recency requirements were put into place that affect all pilots. The requirements, which may be found in Sections 401.05 of the Regulations and 421.05 of the Standards, state that in order to act as pilot-in-command, you must have:

• within the past five years acted as pilot-in-command of an aircraft; or
• within the past 12 months taken the PSTAR (pre-solo) written exam and undergone a flight review with a certified flight instructor.

In addition, (and this is really the new part) within the past 2 years you must have undergone some form of recurrent training. There are several ways in which you may satisfy this requirement. You may:

• complete a flight review with a flight instructor - basicly a practice flight test appropriate for the licence held; or
• attend a Transport Canada aviation safety seminar; or
• attend a recurrent training program designed to update pilot knowledge of human factors, meteorology, flight planning and navigation, and aviation regulations, rules and procedures (in other words, a groundschool); or
• complete a Pilot Proficiency Check (this part is really only applies to active commercial pilots); or
• complete the requirements for issue of a permit, licence or rating; or
• complete the written exam(s) for a permit, licence or rating; or
• complete the Self-Paced exam found in the October edition of the Aviation Safety Newsletter (see the Documents page for links to download the exam from Transport Canada).

The old requirements of 5 take-offs and landings in the past six months if carrying passengers, night recurrency and instrument recurrency still apply.

A common question we receive is "What must I do if I haven't flown in over 5 years?" The answer is fairly straightforward:

1. make arrangements for a medical exam and obtain a new aviation medical certificate. Make sure to state on the medical form that you previously held a licence and give the number. If it is an old number, currently invalid, Transport Canada will issue a new licence along with the new medical certificate;
2. obtain a Study and Reference Guide for the PSTAR exam (either from us or off the Internet - see the Documents page) and complete the PSTAR exam (administered at the school); and
3. undergo sufficient flight training to return yourself to flight test standards... there is no need for a formal flight test.
   get it all signed off in your logbook and away you go!
   

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