​CONTEST! Win a BCGA Shirt, Jacket or Avgas $$

The sunshine is finally here and flying season is upon us. Just a reminder about the FLIGHT SHARING CALENDAR. The only thing better than flying is sharing it with someone else.
www.bcaviation.ca/shareflight
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Each flight offered in the calendar is an entry for the draw. One shirt in June, July & August and in September we will draw using all the entries from the summer for either a Jacket or $100 in 100LL.

Do you have an old bicycle, unicycle, skateboard or another wheeled transportation device that you aren't using anymore? If so, the BCGA is accepting bike donations from members. These bikes will be accepted by the BCGA and distributed to some rural airfields to allow visiting pilots to have a mode of transportation to explore the local area and patronize local businesses. This type of program has made Texada Island a popular destination for pilots as the bikes allow pilots to ride into town for a coffee or just to explore the local area. 

If you have a bike that you could donate please contact us and we will arrange a location for you to drop it off. Luckily we have some avid mountain biking members that may be able to assist in doing some minor tune-ups to prepare the two wheeled steeds for the field. (David and Warwick, Eric.... cough cough) 

We sincerely hope that by offering to facilitate the strategic placement of bikes at some airports that we can motivate pilots to stretch their wings and visit some new locations. 

The deadlines for the BC General Aviation Association and BC Aviation Council Scholarships and Bursaries is approaching.The awards from both organizations will be presented at the BCAC's Silver Wings Awards Gala on October 23d at the Vancouver Convention Centre. 

​BC General Aviation Association Awards (BCGA) / Deadline June 30th
Any BCGA member is eligible and members may nominate themselves. These awards are not necessarily for those pursuing aviation as a career. They may be applied for by both student pilots and those that are and established and have a little more "life experience". The BCGA awards are also open to any member of the GA community from Pilots to AMEs. The BCGA awards are not charity, they are a means of recognizing members and promoting further training and education in General Aviation and can be used for higher licenses, recurrent training, mountain training, float training, etc...

This years BCGA scholarships open for application currently include: 

• Erissa Yong BCGA Bursary: $1000
• Sparky Imeson Memorial BCGA Bursary: $1,000
• Onkarbir Singh Toor Memorial BCGA Scholarship: $1000

BC Aviation Council Awards (BCAC) / DEADLINE May 31st
BC Aviation Council members recognize the financial pressures students face when pursuing studies in aviation and aerospace.  The Council is pleased to provide the opportunity to present a number of scholarships on an annual basis.

This years BCAC scholarships open for application currently include: 

• Harbour Air Advanced Float Plane Endorsement 
• Anderson Family Flight Training: $5,000
• Helijet Helicopter IFR Training Bursary Award: $3,500 
• Barry & Jim Aviation Maintenance Graduate Bursary: $3,000
• Conair Group Commercial Aviation Training Bursary: $3,000
• Michelle Ward Memorial Bursary: $2,000
• Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang, Ernie Alexander Memorial Bursary: $2,000
• Al Michaud Memorial Bursary: $1,000
• Anne and Rudi Bauer Memorial Bursary: $1,000
• BC Aviation Council "Career" Training Bursary: $1,000 
• BC Aviation Council Flight Instructor Training Bursary: $1,000
• BCAC Airports Committee Airport Operations Management Training Bursary: $2,000 x 2
• Mary Swain Memorial Aviation Training Bursary: $1,000
• William Templeton Airport Operations Management Training Bursary: $1,000

 

For the second year in a row that BCGA is proud to offer three scholarships / bursaries to our members. These awards are made possible thanks to generous donors such as Erissa Yong and Dr. Harshbir Toor. 

What makes the BCGA awards different from other scholarships is that they are not specifically meant for those in financial need or those that are pursuing aviation as a career. They are available to any BCGA member and are meant to allow general aviation pilots to further their training and become safer, more proficient pilots. 

BCGA members may nominate themselves or someone else and the awards are presented in October at the BC Aviation Council's Silver Wings Awards Gala. We would like to thank the BC Aviation Council for working with us to make these scholarships possible. 

The application deadline is June 30th. So get your applications in because you can't win if your don't apply. Again, any BCGA member may nominate themselves or someone else and these awards are not solely for those that intend on making aviation a career. Furthermore some of these awards are also available to Aircraft Maintenance Engineers as well.

VISIT THE BCGA SCHOLARSHIP & AWARDS PAGE

By: Ryan Van Haren
 
I consider myself a competent, current and proficient pilot. I fly close to 100hrs a year, hold an Airline Transport License and despite not flying professionally for the past 5 years maintain currency in Multi-IFR, Night, Tailwheel and off airport STOL operations. I, like many pilots am guilty at times of thinking that I know it all, and am getting a little sloppy and complacent. Then I heard about Butch. 
 
Butch Washtock is an “old-school” Bush pilot, except this old school bush pilot walks around with an iPad in a nice neoprene case. He learned the craft from his mentor Jim Voigt who was flying bush planes low and slow prior to the WW2 where he became a bomber pilot before returning to flying in the Canadian mountains and wilderness after the war. Butch made a promise to Voigt that one day he would pass on the lessons that he had learned to other pilots in an effort to instill good habits and core rudder and stick skills. In fulfilling his promise, Butch has founded Mountain Flight, a specialized training program that teaches, mountain flying, STOL flying and tailwheel flying, none of these “types” of flying require an official rating but you’d be foolish to try any of them without prior guidance or instruction . Before you go running to your phone to call him you must know that it is actually a BYOP (bring your own plane) kind of party. 
 
Wait, in that last paragraph did I type rudder and stick? Yes, you read that correctly. I recently had the opportunity to fly with Butch. I asked him to give me a tune up of sorts, show me his training regime, no ego, pre-conceptions or motives, just an honest assessment with honest feedback. Up until this flight I was definitely a stick and rudder kind of pilot but Butch took care of that real quick! In just one hour of flying with him I began to wonder why his training program was called Mountain Flight? Yes, it took place in the mountains and all the skills are useful in the mountains but the whole program really is based on one core concept and perhaps it would have also made an appropriate name for his program to be called Slow Flight.
 
Butch states that some of the leading causes of general aviation fatalities are, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and stall spin accidents on the turn from base to final, crosswind landings, balked landings, overshoots and go-arounds. Anytime the airplane inadvertently gets into slow flight regimes. 
 
Butch’s training really gets back to basics and breaks down the act of flying into its rawest form where each and every control surface is isolated, and its purpose is truly understood. This forces the student (me in this case) to make every control movement in a premeditated and intentional manner. By breaking down each movement and input and truly understanding the relationship between the forces, not just acting on the airplane as a whole but on each and every control surface individually. I for the first time in a long time felt as if I was one with the airplane. 

At most flight schools we are taught that the rudder exists in order to control, prevent or counter act yaw, almost as if the rudder’s sole purpose is to prevent something that is undesirable. Within a few minutes Butch demonstrated to me why the only true primary flight controls are rudder, power and trim and that ailerons and elevators are really secondary and just there to assist in the work of the primary three. Flying with rudder and trim in cruise was nothing new to me. In fact I usually do just that and rarely touch the stick but Butch took it one step further and had us doing 30degree bank turns both, climbing, descending and level with greater accuracy and smoothness than would otherwise be achieved with the stick. We went on to practise other maneuvers such as a canyon turn and an off-airport landing on a river gravel bar where he made some adjustments to my usual approach profile. 
 
This article could go on and on, but you should probably hear about this stuff from Butch himself. I’m an experienced pilot, current and competent but by the end of our hour-long flight Butch had a small laundry list of items that I needed to clean up. I was thankful that he was honest, and his feedback was bang on. I knew that I had been a bit lazy with my feet and that I relied a bit too much on the engine to drag me into my landing spot but somehow hearing it from someone else that had a fresh set of eyes and experience to back it up made it real and made it something that I actually want to practice and improve on. 
 
Mountain checkouts are important especially in BC and after today I can honestly say that perhaps the mountain checkout that I got 15 years ago could use some freshening up and a renewal from someone that has spent close to 50 years flying in mountainous terrain might not be a bad idea. There is no replacement for experience. In the mountains and in STOL operations book knowledge just won’t cut it, we have to get out there and practice and learn from those that know more, and there will always be people that know more.
 
I have spent a lot of time as the “teacher” lately and it really was nice to be the student again, to learn some new skills and to glean some useful knowledge from that “old school” bush pilot with an iPad that is out there teaching because he hopes that by instilling solid rudder and stick fundamentals he could save at least one life. Like Butch I hope to continue to learn and improve so that one day I too can pass on the lessons that I have learned from those that came before me in both IFR and STOL flying. ​

The fourth BCGA Survival Shakedown was held on April 28-29, 2018 in Duncan, BC. This survival training event is designed to give pilots an opportunity to get acquainted with and practice using their on board aircraft survival kit. 

The group of 18 members and 6 Instructors met at the Duncan Flying Club on Saturday morning. At the pre-briefing the group was treated to a comprehensive presentation given by Shaun Glass, a retired Canadian Forces  Search and Rescue Technician and current volunteer member of the Central Fraser Valley Search & Rescue Team.

We were also fortunate to have the support of Dave and Theresa  from CASARA as well as Dewi and Jamie from Cowichan Search & Rescue.

The weather was perfect for the exercise. It wasn't perfect for the beach but when it comes to a survival exercise we call a little rain perfect. As they say, if it ain't raining it ain't training! The course participants endured some rain as they arrived at their simulated crash sites. Luckily it let up as they were completing their shelters but it was just enough to make everything wet and add a layer of realism to the scenario.

Throughout the exercise the instructors made rounds to check on the participants' well being and to give hints and tips as to how to improve their set-up. Instructors worked in shifts throughout the night. The majority of the participants slept with little more than the clothes on their back and an emergency space blanket. The value of the Survival Shakedown is really what you make of it and we were impressed by the number of participants that held true to the minimalist approach. 

While the temperatures overnight dropped to a damp 6C and the participants were a bit chilly, they all found warmth and comfort around their fires which most kept going all night.

One thing that the participants from the Mainland learned about was the woes of having to deal with Salal, an invasive ground cover that is thick and endless on the forrest floor. It also made life interesting for the instructors who had to bush whack through knee deep Salal to check on the participants in the darkness.

This exercise was meant to introduce pilots to the contents of their survival kit and to have them put some thought into the contents of the kit. It was not an episode of survivor man where we withhold, starve and torture the attendees. It is for this reason that as the pilots emerged shortly before sunrise they gathered at the instructor camp to enjoy a snack and hot chocolate in order to warm up some chilly and weary bones. 

After a warm drink and a snack the participants were lead in a walk through, where all the attendees as a group visited each and every camp to learn and discuss what went right and what didn't for each individual pilot. 

Once the walk through was complete, the group cleaned up and returned the forest to its original state ensuring that all fires were completely extinguished and all shelters were taken down. The group then gathered for a signal fire demonstration, fire extinguisher demonsration and prizes were awarded for best camp, and most ingenuity followed by the issuing of completion certificates. 

The BCGA is very proud and grateful to have had the support of Cowichan Search & Rescue, the Duncan Flying Club and CASARA. As a small token of our appreciation, the BCGA donated $600 from the course fees the volunteer Cowichan Search and Rescue Team.

Lastly, we are very proud of our members that came to the event. Despite pushing their comfort levels not one person complained and every single participant embraced the exercise and truly brought nothing more than their typical survival kit. 

The next exercise is being planned for the Fall and will be held somewhere else in the province.

We are also toying with the idea of having an Advanced course where select participants that have already completed and excelled at their first Survival Shakedown will be invited but will be left further afield in isolation and will have only the bare necessities after having much of their kit confiscated by the instructors.