waving hello to people in the CN Tower observatory

The sky is my happy place. As soon as I lift off, I leave my work on the ground… I’ve been working a lot lately and all I want to do is go up in a plane!

These aren’t all the aerials, but what I’ve had time to upload thus far:

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My helicopter flight yesterday, in between photo shoots. (Unsurprisingly, as soon as I arrived home, I crashed.) This is my fourth flight in a helicopter. It was shot with a phone camera, so I recommend muting it unless you enjoy the sound of rotor blades.

Flying is always my preferred manner in which to observe David’s passing due to cancer on December 18, 2005. On the weekend we met, he surprised me with my first helicopter flight.

I took my second helicopter flight on the Durham Regional Police’s Air1 helicopter in October 2007.

My third helicopter flight was David’s birthday on May 30, 2010.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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As I was compiling a list of my annual pilgrimages south to fly for David’s birthday on May 30, it struck me how fortunate I’ve been over the years at getting myself up in the air six years in a row. Since scattering David’s ashes on May 30, 2006 (a major feat* in itself after all that happened on that trip), there’s been all sorts of weather challenges — from stormy skies to major haze to high winds. But every year I still manage to do it, and I’ll keep doing it until I face some real inclement weather. So far I’ve been lucky it hasn’t been bad enough to call off a trip yet.

David’s B-Day 2006 – scattered his ashes
David’s B-Day 2007 – flew with an instructor at Brampton Flying Club in low visibility conditions
David’s B-Day 2008 – first flight with Alan in his Super Cub
David’s B-Day 2009 – flew with Alan in his Super Cub, landing in windy conditions [original post]
David’s B-Day 2010 – flew in a helicopter at Mount Pocono Airport
David’s B-Day 2011 – flew with Tyler and Tiffany in a Piper Arrow

The video above was from my flight with Alan two years ago, when the winds picked up so fiercely we braced ourselves for a bumpy landing. Here’s what I wrote in Flickr in the description:

Sunday, May 31, 2009

It wasn’t windy when we left Cherry Ridge Airport, but after returning from a stop at Mount Pocono Municipal Airport the winds picked up tremendously and we were landing in a crosswind. (Look at the windsock with 11 seconds to go.)

Our first attempt at landing turned into a touch-and-go and this was the second attempt. If this was a couple of years ago, Alan wouldn’t have attempted it, but he’s come a long way as a pilot and I had every confidence in him that we’d land safely. David would’ve been so pleased! (They flew a lot together in Civil Air Patrol.)

When we taxied by the airport, there was a line of pilots cheering — it was pretty funny. Rick said the people in the airport gave Alan a standing ovation.

I have yet to upload the rest of the flying photos from a week ago with Tyler as PIC (pilot in command), but it’ll have to wait until I get back. For now I’ll leave you with a video I shot three years ago on David’s birthday of his Snoopy the Aviator music box from his baby days. Aww, Beano’s in this one, too (and Xena’s in the back).

* the car broke down less than half an hour outside of Toronto, then I had to tow it, get a rental car, continue to Allentown to pick up the ashes, back to Scranton, and got a call at 7am from the museum when they found a pilot to fly from Connecticut, round up everyone and drive the 2.5 hours to Rhinebeck, NY in stifling humidity.

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Airborne for David’s birthday! Mission was a success, all credit due to Tiffany and her brother Tyler for making it happen. More photos after I get back to Toronto…

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David with Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome pilot Bill King in September 2005

A couple of weeks ago, by pure chance, I happened upon a Flickr contact’s photo of her flying with her brother over the town where I used to live with David. I was so excited I asked if she could ask him if he’d take me flying on Monday, and today I got a YES! Monday, May 30 is David’s birthday. (Which also happens to be the same day as my brother‘s, and Digital Nomad Eric‘s.)

In my sleep-deprived state, I could cry with joy. This week has been a wave of wonderful emails from new clients and happy current clients. What a boost! Now I’m ready to sleep off some of this productivity exhaustion and recharge for a work-free long weekend in Pennsylvania (I’m taking the U.S. Memorial Day off courtesy of The Firm). I’ll start driving south around dawn and hopefully bypass any storm action.

Looking forward to blue skies on Monday! Fingers crossed!

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There has been a very conspicuous (to me, at least) absence of aircraft on this website this year, in large part due to being crowded out by wedding and engagement photography. Even the travel photography has taken a backseat to the commissioned portraiture. I say it’s about time I evened out the situation!

Photos for now, commentary and more photos coming after I’ve caught up a bit on sleep!

www.challenger.ca

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Being too sick and too busy to do any shooting lately, the recent posts have been all cameraphone shots and weddings and not enough of my other interests, especially aviation. In fact, it’s been five months since I had an aviation fix: Blue Angels on Jones Beach in New York May 29, and the helicopter ride May 30. This summer I came to the sad realisation that this is the first season in five years that I will not make it to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome before their last day of biplane rides (extended from mid-Oct to Nov 1, but I can’t make it down this weekend). I was considering another biplane ride while in Ottawa in August, but I opted for trainspotting instead.

Now that the weddings are over for this season (there are still corporate and engagement shoots, though), I plan to post more aviation material before the end of the year. How? Good question, I’m working on it… meanwhile, for all the aviation enthusiasts out there who account for the majority of hits to this website, a guy at work taking flying lessons sent me this link (it’s safe for work, but put on the headphones!):

http://thetenarrives.com/

Wow! Watching this makes me want to play the lottery!

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The sunset landing in Toronto this evening was amazing… I know, aren’t all sunsets amazing? But I still take pictures of them. These photos are all straight of the Canon A520 point-and-shoot.

I’m back, Toronto! Back to all your G20 mayhem and madness, and gritting my teeth to work through it all. I arrived home to find my G20 passes to enter The Security Fence, but I need to bring photo ID with me, too! I’ll be so glad when this is all over and we can get back to regular summer activity. In better news, I got to board a retired British Airways Concorde (Alpha Echo) yesterday afternoon in Barbados before I left. WOW, that’s all I can say. I had one chance only to fly in a Concorde (for free), but I’ll tell the story when I get the photos downloaded off the card and after some sleep.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_Has_Landed

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I’ve seen the Blue Angels a bunch of times before, but never this close! I don’t have much zoom on the lens I brought with me, yet I could read the numbers on the sides of the planes. Amazing. Some of their high-speed passes were so low over the water and close to the beach they could take out swimmers.

I’m leaving for Toronto in a couple of hours. More pics to come after I get back.

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On May 30 every year I fly for David’s birthday, and this year I decided to go up in a helicopter. Mount Pocono Municipal Airport was where David trained for his pilot’s license in 1994, and where he surprised me with my very first helicopter flight that fateful weekend in October 2004.

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