End of Day 1

So yesterday I flew in, unpacked my stuff. Today has been my first full day here. The accommodations aren’t luxurious, but they do the trick, and I get it all to myself since the other pilot who was supposed to be up here with me quit. I’m getting a wi-fi internet connection off my boss’s house next door, but the connection is very poor due to the long range, so I’m working on getting my own internet.

My first experience was this morning at around 9:30. We managed to fit a snow mobile into a Cessna 206. I didn’t think it would be possible. They had to remove all the seats in the airplane including the pilot seat, which was reinstalled after the snow mobile was wrestled in. The snow mobile itself had to have the windscreen and the two front skis removed as well. It went in though, as well as a bunch of other stuff - incredible.

The plan for today was also to take the Cherokee 6 up flying to get me checked out in it, but the weather wasn’t good enough for training, so it never happened. I went and did some grocery shopping, and then refuelled the 206 when it was back. It’s a family run company, and they all, as well as me, live in houses right by the river. The river is frozen this time of year, so the 206 is on skis and they fly it right off the river behind the house. The Cherokee is at the airport.

In the meantime I have the company operations manual to study, because I have to write a test on it. I'm also studying the Cherokee's flight manual so I'll be competant and familiar with the airplane for my flight check. According to the operations manual I require 3 hours air time of initial training.

The Northern Store up here is surprisingly large. Its no Super-Walmart, but it has a reasonable selection of groceries, unlike the one in Waskagonish when I was there. It is more expensive then down south, but not as bad as I was expecting. I spent $100 for about a weeks worth of groceries as well as a number of household supplies like toilet paper and cleaning supplies. I suspect my weekly groceries will be around $50-80.

There is a cute little 8 week old Beagle pup owned by the owner of the company, which I met this morning. This afternoon as I was walking back from fuelling the airplane, she came bounding through the snow towards me, with mom reluctantly and cautiously following. I played with them for a bit. The pup couldn’t get enough of me, and would have followed me home if the mother would have let her, but the mom was shy and uneasy about the encounter, but let us play for a bit before she decided it was time to go and herded her puppy back towards the house. Very cute.