Day One – Weathered In

As you can see from the picture of St. Andrews Airport (CYAV), the weather wasn’t exactly conducive to flying today. Just Mother Nature’s gentle way of reminding VFR (visual flight rules) pilots that she always has the upper hand.

For those of you that don’t know the background to this little adventure, I first began taking flying lessons in 1998, just as I was finishing my M.Sc. in Zoology at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Flying had been a lifelong dream of mine and the timing seemed right. After just a few lessons, however, I was offered a summer job in Inuvik, NWT and then another year long stint as a wildlife biologist in La Ronge, SK. I figured it wouldn’t be long before I could get back to it. As it turns out, I was then offered a permanent position in Churchill, MB and before I knew it – another 10 years had passed! Now that my house is finished and my financial house is in order, the time seemed right to revive my goal of earning my Private Pilots Licence (PPL). I decide to return to the same flight school in St. Andrews and, with a bit of refresher instruction, pick up where I left off. I booked off six weeks of leave and headed south to Winnipeg thanks to the understanding of my board of directors and amidst the joyous celebration of my staff. I thought going away parties happened before one leaves, not after?