Steven B. Halls, MD, blog

Miscellaneous topics about hobbies. Nothing about medicine.

 

 

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BC mountain flying – flight path

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I’ve made the flight from Camrose, Alberta to Hudson Island, British Columbia, a number of times now. Sometimes I file an official flight plan, and other times I use a relative as a flight itinerary contact. What I’ve learned is that changing cloud conditions can make flight plans go longer than planned, while the flight itinerary gives me much more flexibility, because I can send TXT messages from my cellphone whenever I fly over a town, to let my contact person know where I am.

To improve my own safety, I’ve made this webpage posting my route, and the choices I could make to avoid clouds. My ground contact person could then refer the search-and-rescue people to this webpage, to look for me along these routes, if I go missing. Plus, these Google Earth images tell a beautiful story, I think.

My flight begins by setting the GPS for a direct route from Camrose to Salmon Arm, BC.
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My hangar

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Here is a link to pictures of my hangar, back when it was fairly newly built. http://www.halls.md/hangar/. The plane inside was a rental cessna 172 owned by my flight instructor. That was a few years ago. Now the hangar is a lot fuller with stuff, and a bigger plane.

(And click the Continue Reading “My hangar”, to see some before-and-after pictures of my weight loss.)
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How I sound in March 2012

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When I practice piano, I try not to exert conscious control over how it sounds, so what comes out is usually reflecting my mood. Here are some recent examples, where my digital piano (Clavinova CVP-409) records what I played.
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My few Expedition problems

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Because I blog about my airplane, an Expedition E350 aircraft, from Found Aircraft Canada Inc, people who are considering buying one, often email me to ask if I’ve had any problems. I’ve had my plane less than 2 years, and it’s just past 150 hours airtime. There have been a few little problems, and below I’ll list them.

But to put this into context, one of the emails I received recently said:

“I was looking at the logs of some 206s and was suprised how so many smaller items needed to be fixed or replaced within a few years of delivery.”

My Expedition was #2 on the production line, serial number 302. My little problems have been:
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Blacksmithing

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March 6, 2012. I bought some blacksmithing gear on Kijiji. A propane forge, a Peter Wright anvil, a big leg Vise, and a few odds and ends. This will be for a future hobby. My current hobby seems to be buying stuff on Kijiji, preparing for future hobbies.

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I accidentally gave up watching television

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How it happened. I have loved recording shows on a PVR (personal video recorder) for the past 5 years. And I loved the HD stations. Ultimately, I wouldn’t want to watch anything that wasn’t HD and wasn’t on my PVR. But starting in fall 2011, my PVR has gradually deteriorated and my recordings became glitchy and noisy, and eventually unwatchable. Shows like Castle, Fringe, The Walking Dead, Once apon a time, were my favorites this fall, but by January 2012, they were unwatchable.
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A quick, eventful trip to Hudson Island

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I learned a few new things about “preparedness”, for things that can wrong, on this flying trip to Hudson Island, BC. This post has some video of take-offs, features dead batteries, getting stuck in the mud, diverting to alternate airports due to low-lying fog, etc. [Read more…]