Canada didn’t just use the helicopter. It needed it. Pull out a VNC — a Visual Navigation Chart, published by NAV Canada — and look at it north of the 55th parallel. The roads start to disappear. Rail lines thin out. Highways end. By the time you reach 60 degrees north, there’s almost nothing. What…
Glassy Lakes — When Your Eyes Lie to You A pilot is always looking for reference outside. It’s incredibly hard — sometimes impossible — to fly if you can’t see out the window. I am certified to fly under instruments only, but instrument flight comes with a lot of strings attached. You have to do…
A small fire. A tight clearing. A lesson I won’t forget. We are at 1,800 feet. Visibility is great — unrestricted in every direction. About 700 feet above us, a thick overcast layer sits like a lid on the world. Below, the boreal forest of western Saskatchewan stretches to every horizon: dense spruce, muskeg, and…
