Life in Toronto so Far

Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well! I am here to give you another update since it has been a while since you heard from me last. I moved to Toronto, Ontario about 2 months ago and I am loving it here so far. I started school at the beginning of September at Toronto Metropolitan University and my classes are going well. I am continuing my degree in Aerospace Engineering and I am taking Calculus, Chemistry, Introduction to Engineering, Communications in Engineering, and my elective, Viva Las Vegas. I was hoping to do a music elective this semester but unfortunately it didn’t work out with my schedule. I have been really busy the last couple of weeks with research projects, essays, and midterm exams. I am the first-year representative for a student group called CASI – the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute TMU Chapter. We hosted our first event a couple of weeks ago. It was a hiring event where aerospace engineers from the top aerospace companies in Toronto such as Bombardier and MDA spoke about the most effective ways to enter the aerospace industry, followed by a Q&A session and a time for students to network with the professional engineers. I am really glad I am getting involved in school clubs as it is great to meet new people with similar interests. I have joined a Facebook page for musicians at TMU but there haven’t been any posts this year, so I am going to look for other options to get involved in the music community here.

I wasn’t able to do any flight lessons this summer due to the lack of time again. There is a flight school nearby on the Toronto Islands at the Billy Bishop airport, and I am looking to start flight lessons there. I haven’t booked any lessons yet but I will post again when I do. Final exams are coming in about a month and winter comes soon after with lots of snow, so I am not sure I will be able to fly before the spring.

I have included some pictures of my university campus. Our campus is right in downtown Toronto, so unlike a traditional campus, the buildings are spread out around the downtown area. The feature photo on this post is the view from my dorm room on campus!

Pre-Flight Excitement!

Hey everyone. I wanted to let you all know that I am booked for flying next Wednesday! I will be flying with the Cargair flight school at the Mirabel airport (CYMX) with instructor Étienne. I will be continuing my training in a Cessna 172 and I’m really excited to finally get flying again. It’s been nearly a year since I flew because of poor conditions last summer and I was busy with school but I’m hoping that nothing will get in my way of completing my solo flight this summer.

Work has been going well, I’ve been keeping busy and I can’t believe I’m halfway through my internship. I will be done work at the end of August and soon after I will be moving to Toronto as I am transferring to Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University). I will continue my degree in aerospace engineering. I haven’t been able to play music lately, but I am still enjoying it while taking in the world class International Jazz Festival here in Montreal. I am looking for possible music elective classes in the fall.

I added a photo of the display helicopter (Bell 430 aircraft) at my work and one of Montreal for your enjoyment, I will update you after my first flight!

Done First Year and Internship News!

Hello everyone, it’s been a while since you heard from me, so I’d like to update you on my life. I just finished my first year of aerospace engineering at Concordia University in Montreal and it went well. It was a big adjustment moving across the country on my own into an entirely new environment but the year was very successful. I ended the year with a 3.53 GPA!

I started working as an intern at Bell Flight in Mirabel, Quebec last week and I will be there until the end of August. My job is to help engineers with the certification process of helicopters for Transport Canada, stress testing the main metals used in the aircraft and organizing the certification documents accordingly. Bell Flight has two central locations: one in Mirabel and one in Fort Worth, Texas. The location here produces helicopters from the ground up and it is really impressive to see the entire process in action.

I haven’t been able to fly during the school year but I will be working near an airport this summer so I’m hoping to be able to continue flight training during the summer months. The majority of people speak French in this area, so I hope to find a flight instructor who can teach me in English. I will reach out to the flight school sometime in the next couple of weeks once I’m settled into my new job.

Officially a Student Pilot!

Big news!!  I’m officially a student pilot!

I wrote my PSTAR exam (Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations) and I passed with a 96%!  This means that I’m ready to fly solo once I feel comfortable doing so.  Jared is the one of the flight instructors at SkyWings and he signed the official papers for me!

I have decided to postpone my flight training until next spring since I only have 2 weeks before I leave for university and I do not feel comfortable doing my solo flight before I move.  I will continue to post about any future musical/aviation endeavours between now and then! 🙂

Aviation Definitely Teaches Patience

Hi! I know it’s been a while since you last heard from me. Unfortunately I haven’t been flying due to the smoke caused by forest fires. The fires have been raging in my province as well as neighbouring provinces for the last couple weeks which has resulted in a significant loss of visibility, preventing me from safely flying. I wish I could have a more exciting update for all of you, but one thing that I’ve learned from this is that aviation teaches patience.
Attached is a photo of what the air quality looks like from the plane. The safety issue comes from not being able to see the horizon.

Started Flying!

Hello! This past week has been super busy for me. I have officially graduated high school, started my full time summer job and I’ve started flying! I went up last week with my instructor, Savannah, at SkyWings. We practiced climbs, descents and turns and I had control when we took off and landed. I also made some choppy radio calls but that will get better with practice. Alberta is experiencing a heat wave right now of 35℃ (95℉) and it has been this hot all week so we haven’t been able to fly, but I have been spending time in the classroom talking about the theory of maneuvers that we will be practicing, such as slow flight and stalls. I have flights booked for this upcoming week and I hope that the weather will cooperate!

Completed Ground School!

Hi everyone! In the past couple weeks, I have been keeping busy with completing my ground school classes at SkyWings Aviation. We covered approximately 30 hours of ground school in 3 weeks, there is sure a lot of material to cover in that course. We learned everything from radio procedures, the different types of clouds and other meteorology to navigation and filing flight plans. I already wrote and passed my Radio Licence exam and I am preparing to write my PSTAR exam (Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations), followed by my Transport Canada written exam later on. I was supposed to start flight training this week but it has been raining here for the last couple days so I will be starting it next week. I will keep you all updated on how that goes!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Gleim Aviation, Aircraft Spruce, Cirrus Aircraft, Sporty’s, Bose Aviation and everyone from FMA for all the gear I received today! I will be putting it all to use as I start flight training!

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A Bit About Me!

I would just like to say a big thank you for all the support I have received these last couple days!  Huge shoutout to my fellow finalists, I hope to be able to meet up at a fly-in event once restrictions ease on international travel.  Keep up your flight and music passions!

A little about me, I am graduating from Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer, Alberta in June.   I began music lessons at the age of 3, moving to piano lessons at the age of 5 and I have played guitar since the age of 10.  I joined Concert Band and Jazz Band in middle school playing clarinet and keyboard.  In high school, I joined our school’s Rock Band for 2 years as a keyboardist and I played alto saxophone for Jazz.  I joined Steel Drums in grade 11 and I love it.  It is very different from any other instrument I have played before and it’s a lot of fun!

I started flight lessons at the age of 8 and I was the youngest to take lessons at my local airport.  Although I couldn’t reach the rudder pedals at the time, I learned the basics of flight and I completed a portion of ground school.  Unfortunately I was unable to continue flying due to funding, but I am so thankful for this opportunity presented by the FMA community.  I will be pursuing my passion for aviation further by beginning by bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Concordia University in Montreal in the fall.

I’m very excited to start this new chapter of my life and to share it with all of you!