Looking to Build time
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Looking to Build time
Hi there,
I am looking to build hours and fly different types of aircrafts. I am living in the Southern Ontario area, and am willing travel within an hour or two. Not seeking a job, but more looking to go flying with someone who has a plane and doesn't flying alone/wants some company or whatever the case may be. Please contact me if you know anyone I could fly with, or if you are interested and I will give you more information about myself.
Safaritours90@outlook.com
I am looking to build hours and fly different types of aircrafts. I am living in the Southern Ontario area, and am willing travel within an hour or two. Not seeking a job, but more looking to go flying with someone who has a plane and doesn't flying alone/wants some company or whatever the case may be. Please contact me if you know anyone I could fly with, or if you are interested and I will give you more information about myself.
Safaritours90@outlook.com
Re: Looking to Build time
I could get in on this action.
Meatservo wrote:I just slap 'em in there. I don't even make sure they are lined up properly.
Re: Looking to Build time
Ditto..I have a plane, and always looking for a new experience flying.
"Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk." -Wilbur Wright
Re: Looking to Build time
This is an interesting post. Where is everybody located in Southern Ontario?
Re: Looking to Build time
West of Toronto, happy to meet anywhere from Brampton to London. I'm flying a PA28-140, and would glady exchange time with someone for anything other than a 172. Even a 150, lets go do some spins 

Last edited by JasonE on Sat Feb 06, 2016 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk." -Wilbur Wright
Re: Looking to Build time
Might be stage of life, but I now enjoy my "alone" time when I fly, as so often I have pax to look after. Went today, alone, went absolutely nowhere, loved every minute.
But more power to this ---
But more power to this ---
Re: Looking to Build time
Posting here for new experiences is fine, but I also recommend the "old" way of doing it - hang out at the airport, and chat up the pilots you see flying the type of plane that comes to your mind. When I learned to fly at Brampton in the '70's, the place was teeming with wannabe pilots like me, eager to ride in anything. I made the most of it, chatted up many pilots, and received many interesting rides, and made some friends.
Last fall, I flew my other plane down there, and hung around for lunch. The place was pretty quiet (and it was a really nice day). I guess many were home posting on AvCanada. But, I went to BFC with the intention of taking someone for a fly in a plane which is odd, and one of only six flying in the world. No interest. The one pilot who did chat me up in the restaurant, remembered me from an earlier meeting, when I landed a helicopter [well away from] a Caravan he'd just flown in for maintenance to an AMO. He liked helicopters. We had a good chat, I like Caravans!
As Rookie says, sometimes, you just like to go for a solo tour, and enjoy the solitude. I certainly do. Other times, I'll take a new person along, so eager new pilots, consider being physically where the ride might be....
Last fall, I flew my other plane down there, and hung around for lunch. The place was pretty quiet (and it was a really nice day). I guess many were home posting on AvCanada. But, I went to BFC with the intention of taking someone for a fly in a plane which is odd, and one of only six flying in the world. No interest. The one pilot who did chat me up in the restaurant, remembered me from an earlier meeting, when I landed a helicopter [well away from] a Caravan he'd just flown in for maintenance to an AMO. He liked helicopters. We had a good chat, I like Caravans!
As Rookie says, sometimes, you just like to go for a solo tour, and enjoy the solitude. I certainly do. Other times, I'll take a new person along, so eager new pilots, consider being physically where the ride might be....
Re: Looking to Build time
Today I went for a ride to few different airports with my son. Showed up at my local airport, and was quite surprised to find not a single footprint in the fresh snow on the ramp. Did I get the weather wrong? Double checked, nope - nice day to fly. Plugged her in and went to get breakfast while she warmed. A few souls around when I returned, one for a lesson. A few "old boys" hanging out in the lounge with coffee, none of which I have ever seen fly. Said Hello, not much going on. Off we go...
2nd airport I spent an hour talking to mechanics, no pilots to be found to talk to. Lot's of planes around, restaurant was full of people who drove in. Didn't find any friendly pilots to chat with inside. Not even the guy at the desk said Hello. I opened the register, not a single person used it in 2 weeks. The current page went back to early December. I signed my name/reg. Used the washroom and left.
3rd airport was a complete wasteland, not another soul in sight despite the large size of it. Most of the birds on site looked very derelict. I didn't even shut down and flew back home.
I really enjoyed flying with my son, was a good day. He even did slow flight today for the first time! He's 15 and will likely start flight training this spring. I just didn't find any pilots to connect with. I will try again tomorrow weather permitting!
GA seems to be slowly dying in Canada. I'd like to fly in somewhere with lots of friendly people to chat with. Where did you say that helicopter or rare aircraft was parked??
2nd airport I spent an hour talking to mechanics, no pilots to be found to talk to. Lot's of planes around, restaurant was full of people who drove in. Didn't find any friendly pilots to chat with inside. Not even the guy at the desk said Hello. I opened the register, not a single person used it in 2 weeks. The current page went back to early December. I signed my name/reg. Used the washroom and left.
3rd airport was a complete wasteland, not another soul in sight despite the large size of it. Most of the birds on site looked very derelict. I didn't even shut down and flew back home.
I really enjoyed flying with my son, was a good day. He even did slow flight today for the first time! He's 15 and will likely start flight training this spring. I just didn't find any pilots to connect with. I will try again tomorrow weather permitting!
GA seems to be slowly dying in Canada. I'd like to fly in somewhere with lots of friendly people to chat with. Where did you say that helicopter or rare aircraft was parked??
"Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk." -Wilbur Wright
Re: Looking to Build time
Yeah Jason, it's getting tough... Brampton and Lindsay used to be meccas. I recall flying to Lindsay in the late '70's, and there were so many fly in planes, there was no where to park. I recall Brampton being so busy, that the club actually closed the airport to non members! But no so any more...
The helicopter lives hidden away at another airport, I just fortunate enough to be flying it that day. My flying boat lives at home here - just my family, and I, and three planes. I rarely take to airports, but rather numerous pleasing water destinations. You'd be welcomed here, but your Cherokee would rebel upon landing into my runway...
The helicopter lives hidden away at another airport, I just fortunate enough to be flying it that day. My flying boat lives at home here - just my family, and I, and three planes. I rarely take to airports, but rather numerous pleasing water destinations. You'd be welcomed here, but your Cherokee would rebel upon landing into my runway...
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Re: Looking to Build time
Really sad to hear these experiences about GA flying in Canada. Makes me wonder whether there will be anything left in 20 or 30 years from now.
“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.”
-President Ronald Reagan
-President Ronald Reagan
Re: Looking to Build time
Jason,JasonE wrote:Today I went for a ride to few different airports with my son. Showed up at my local airport, and was quite surprised to find not a single footprint in the fresh snow on the ramp. Did I get the weather wrong? Double checked, nope - nice day to fly. Plugged her in and went to get breakfast while she warmed. A few souls around when I returned, one for a lesson. A few "old boys" hanging out in the lounge with coffee, none of which I have ever seen fly. Said Hello, not much going on. Off we go...
2nd airport I spent an hour talking to mechanics, no pilots to be found to talk to. Lot's of planes around, restaurant was full of people who drove in. Didn't find any friendly pilots to chat with inside. Not even the guy at the desk said Hello. I opened the register, not a single person used it in 2 weeks. The current page went back to early December. I signed my name/reg. Used the washroom and left.
3rd airport was a complete wasteland, not another soul in sight despite the large size of it. Most of the birds on site looked very derelict. I didn't even shut down and flew back home.
I really enjoyed flying with my son, was a good day. He even did slow flight today for the first time! He's 15 and will likely start flight training this spring. I just didn't find any pilots to connect with. I will try again tomorrow weather permitting!
GA seems to be slowly dying in Canada. I'd like to fly in somewhere with lots of friendly people to chat with. Where did you say that helicopter or rare aircraft was parked??
Which airports? I was in Brantford yesterday. Couple other pilots / planes around. I was late though, early PM.
To add to my above I do have the desire to invest in others, it's just I do have a list already (to take up) and sometimes with my busy schedule I go on no notice. As discussed, the interest does seem somewhat limited, at least in terms of my in person interactions at airports. I'm introducing my daughter to flight for one. (That's fun)
Re: Looking to Build time
It is interesting. Even students these days are so much different. They don't seem to want to spend any more time at the airport than they have to. They barely show up on time for lessons, let alone early and as soon as they're done they are gone. No one seems to want to hang around and chat or help out or whatever.
And perhaps it is just a mirror of so many current pilots and instructors. Many of them are perhaps the role models?. They show up as late as they can and leave as soon as they possibly can after their last flight/lesson. They feel that hanging around at the airport or volunteering a bit of time is being taken advantage of. If they aren't going to be paid, there's no way they are going to be around so even if students want to hang out a bit, who's there for them to talk to? You can not develop or maintain a society/culture of shared interest and passion if some of the prime participants feel they have to be paid to participate.
Maybe aviation is loosing some of its "specialness". It's no longer a real passion for many and is becoming simply a job or vocation. They still enjoy the uniqueness of flight and piloting, but don't love it. Just like accountants don't hang around the office after hours to kibitz about double-entry bookkeeping or engineers meet up on the weekends to shoot the breeze and do calculations just for fun, pilots are becoming just the same.
The world certainly is changing and it's hard to project what the future holds but I do feel a bit sad with the current state of things.
And perhaps it is just a mirror of so many current pilots and instructors. Many of them are perhaps the role models?. They show up as late as they can and leave as soon as they possibly can after their last flight/lesson. They feel that hanging around at the airport or volunteering a bit of time is being taken advantage of. If they aren't going to be paid, there's no way they are going to be around so even if students want to hang out a bit, who's there for them to talk to? You can not develop or maintain a society/culture of shared interest and passion if some of the prime participants feel they have to be paid to participate.
Maybe aviation is loosing some of its "specialness". It's no longer a real passion for many and is becoming simply a job or vocation. They still enjoy the uniqueness of flight and piloting, but don't love it. Just like accountants don't hang around the office after hours to kibitz about double-entry bookkeeping or engineers meet up on the weekends to shoot the breeze and do calculations just for fun, pilots are becoming just the same.
The world certainly is changing and it's hard to project what the future holds but I do feel a bit sad with the current state of things.
Being stupid around airplanes is a capital offence and nature is a hanging judge!
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
Mark Twain
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
Mark Twain
Re: Looking to Build time
There are plenty of pilots hanging around airports. The Buttonville Flying Club hangs out at the Druxy's at CYKZ every weekend morning. If we're not there, we're probably off flying. It's not that friendly GA doesn't exist in Toronto, you just need to know where to look.
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Re: Looking to Build time
If you're building time, an hour is an hour. Go cheap. And, go at night.
Illya
Illya
Wish I didn't know now, what I didn't know then.
Re: Looking to Build time
I am happy to report GA redeemed itself today! I ended up for a ride in a Comanche 250. Fast and smooth compared to my Cherokee. Someone took pity on my trying to wipe the frost from my wings....
"Carelessness and overconfidence are more dangerous than deliberately accepted risk." -Wilbur Wright
Re: Looking to Build time
I second the Buttonville Flying Club post. Since you're looking in Southern Ontario that should be your first spot to go to. Plenty of guys there with their own planes offering rides in all different types of aircraft (old and new). Bring some coffee and maybe a few dollars to offer the sharing of the fuel cost and I'm sure you'd sit in a new plane every weekend. Sometimes some of them go down south of the border and are looking for company. Definitely a good source to learn a thing or two from some very experienced guys.
Re: Looking to Build time
The reality is that as a recreational activity, general aviation is simply too expensive/complicated. A few weeks ago, I had an empty seat going out to Nanaimo to pick up a friend. I called pretty much all of my aviation buddies and ended up going with an empty seat.
I wish it wasn't true but unfortunately general aviation is dying. I try to do my part and have flown several hundred Young Eagles/COPA for kids but its not enough to make a difference.
Glenn
I wish it wasn't true but unfortunately general aviation is dying. I try to do my part and have flown several hundred Young Eagles/COPA for kids but its not enough to make a difference.
Glenn
Re: Looking to Build time
5x5 wrote:It is interesting. Even students these days are so much different. They don't seem to want to spend any more time at the airport than they have to. They barely show up on time for lessons, let alone early and as soon as they're done they are gone. No one seems to want to hang around and chat or help out or whatever.
And perhaps it is just a mirror of so many current pilots and instructors. Many of them are perhaps the role models?. They show up as late as they can and leave as soon as they possibly can after their last flight/lesson. They feel that hanging around at the airport or volunteering a bit of time is being taken advantage of. If they aren't going to be paid, there's no way they are going to be around so even if students want to hang out a bit, who's there for them to talk to? You can not develop or maintain a society/culture of shared interest and passion if some of the prime participants feel they have to be paid to participate.
Stunning! Just stunning!
That is the best instructor-bashing thread ambush I have *ever* seen! Medals to 5x5, please, big shiny gongs with brightly coloured ribbons - and lots of them - for realizing that it's flight instructors who are responsible for yet another problem in aviation.
Yes, it's true. 20,000 professional instructors, all over Canada, should be donating at least 10 hours a week for free, each, to push planes around in the hangar (who cares if they actually need to be pushed? We'll push'em anyway, folks!) to make sure that 5x5 has someone to talk when he pops down to the airport.
"Whatchadoin', 5x5?"
"Me? I'm headin' down to the hangar to go chat with the folks doin' the community service plane-pushing."
"Great! Let's see who they've got lined up for you to chat with today!"
I mean, aside from deserving blame for world poverty, hunger, disease, famine and Katy Perry - instructors - the very people who teach others how to fly - should be given it in the neck for the fact that nobody wants to go flying! How awesome is that!?
I propose an AvCanada-specific version of Godwin's Law. Anytime someone blames flight instructors for something in a thread that has nothing whatsoever to do with flight instruction the discussion is lost by that person.
DId you hear the one about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
Re: Looking to Build time
Hmmm, that's an interesting response. I realized as I posted my original comment that some readers might get upset if they read it over quickly without thinking and sure enough someone did.
Through the judicious use of cut and paste, selective quoting can focus on the part of a comment someone wants to rail over rather than the actual import of the message. Anyone who regularly reads and understands what they read on this forum knows that I am one of the stronger advocates of the flight training community in Canada. Within today's setting I think Instructors continue to do an admirable job and steadfastly support them. So it was with some trepidation that I made my post, hoping it wouldn't be misconstrued.
However, in a conversation about the grassroots of aviation - building time and hanging at airports - how can flight training not be part of it? That's where it all starts. And thinking about why GA, which in many people's minds, is fading I was reflecting on students as that is what every aviator is at the beginning. Comparing the flight training environment that I see today to that of 20 or more years ago I made some observations. And I tied the general behaviour of students currently to that of previous generations and noted some differences. I then surmised that perhaps the students' behaviour was linked to that modelled by the pilot groups they have the most contact with - instructors and pilots (which I didn't describe specifically) but was thinking of as small charter company or pipeline/observation and what have you. The kind of pilots that would likely be at or around a flying school location.
But that was only to set the stage for the main point in my original post (which wasn't included in the above response). So, even though I'm not fond of self-quoting, here it is.
Through the judicious use of cut and paste, selective quoting can focus on the part of a comment someone wants to rail over rather than the actual import of the message. Anyone who regularly reads and understands what they read on this forum knows that I am one of the stronger advocates of the flight training community in Canada. Within today's setting I think Instructors continue to do an admirable job and steadfastly support them. So it was with some trepidation that I made my post, hoping it wouldn't be misconstrued.
However, in a conversation about the grassroots of aviation - building time and hanging at airports - how can flight training not be part of it? That's where it all starts. And thinking about why GA, which in many people's minds, is fading I was reflecting on students as that is what every aviator is at the beginning. Comparing the flight training environment that I see today to that of 20 or more years ago I made some observations. And I tied the general behaviour of students currently to that of previous generations and noted some differences. I then surmised that perhaps the students' behaviour was linked to that modelled by the pilot groups they have the most contact with - instructors and pilots (which I didn't describe specifically) but was thinking of as small charter company or pipeline/observation and what have you. The kind of pilots that would likely be at or around a flying school location.
But that was only to set the stage for the main point in my original post (which wasn't included in the above response). So, even though I'm not fond of self-quoting, here it is.
Perhaps I can be blamed for suffering from a bit of "good old days" myopia on a lazy, coffee-drinking Sunday, or you may disagree with my observation of today's behaviour as an over generalization or simplification, but I really don't think my post was the stunning one in this discussion.5x5 wrote:Maybe aviation is loosing some of its "specialness". It's no longer a real passion for many and is becoming simply a job or vocation. They still enjoy the uniqueness of flight and piloting, but don't love it. Just like accountants don't hang around the office after hours to kibitz about double-entry bookkeeping or engineers meet up on the weekends to shoot the breeze and do calculations just for fun, pilots are becoming just the same.
The world certainly is changing and it's hard to project what the future holds but I do feel a bit sad with the current state of things.
Being stupid around airplanes is a capital offence and nature is a hanging judge!
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
Mark Twain
“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”
Mark Twain
Re: Looking to Build time
Trust me - I read it slowly, and carefully, several times, in increasing disbelief.
When was the last time you were at a flight school and talked to an instructor? Back in the good old days? You really have no idea what you're talking about.
When was the last time you were at a flight school and talked to an instructor? Back in the good old days? You really have no idea what you're talking about.
DId you hear the one about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
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Re: Looking to Build time
I have to agree with photofly. I'm sure its never occurred to many that the causal effect, may be the other way around. For me, I've almost entirely lost my desire to instruct, and that's over a longer than usual period of instructing. The students have changed over the years, and that I would largely attribute to the world changing. A loy is expected out of you as an instructor any more, and its an extremely thankless job. Its not unusual for people expect for men to give up my weekends, weeknights , early mornings for a student's convinience. God help me if i say no or have time off. Add that to getting lumped in with the vast assumption I know nothing (the proliferation of the internet means everyone who walks through the door is an expert) and the training experience is some what combative. No one dedicates time to learn, and flight training, while viewed as expensive, is competing with almost equally expensive past times of students. Vacations, Golf, kids hockey, kids dance, expensive prestige vehicles.
Yes, I'm personally responsible for the decline in GA.
Yes, I'm personally responsible for the decline in GA.
We can't stop here! This is BAT country!
Re: Looking to Build time
Are you saying... you're Spartacus!?
DId you hear the one about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
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Re: Looking to Build time
Sure, lump that into everything else I get called.
We can't stop here! This is BAT country!
Re: Looking to Build time
I'm trying to find a word to describe how some people seem to feel about embracing new technology. I don't want to say that I think people are offended, though it certainly may seem that way. I guess I'd have to say it's surprising to see people not wanting to expand their ways to network. Most know that I'm in the Barrie area. Most also know that I'm always looking for ways to expand on my experience. Short of going over to Anne Street to the Springwater Aerodrome, or to Oro to the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, I don't always have nearby options to go to that don't take a lot of time away from the family. This, despite my daughter having a headset and wanting to fly with me.
I've hung out in those spots and haven't always had luck. Which brings me back to paying $159/hr plus insurance at $13/hr and fuel surcharge at whatever percentage is being charged this week. I'm not saying this bothers me because the folks at Future Air are great and have done great things for me. But I do wish that there were more options available and that there were actually people around to talk with. It may be that I'm missing the right times to go, what with dance, skating, gymnastics, insert whatever other family activity here. It may just be that these places aren't busy anymore.
I think most of us wish that there were still more people out there involved in GA, but unfortunately there are a lot of aircraft sitting around not being used and nobody to talk with to use them.
I've hung out in those spots and haven't always had luck. Which brings me back to paying $159/hr plus insurance at $13/hr and fuel surcharge at whatever percentage is being charged this week. I'm not saying this bothers me because the folks at Future Air are great and have done great things for me. But I do wish that there were more options available and that there were actually people around to talk with. It may be that I'm missing the right times to go, what with dance, skating, gymnastics, insert whatever other family activity here. It may just be that these places aren't busy anymore.
I think most of us wish that there were still more people out there involved in GA, but unfortunately there are a lot of aircraft sitting around not being used and nobody to talk with to use them.