bluethunder

I've been playing around with Forflight, wanting to superimpose National and Provincial Parks in a clearer way on the VFR Charts. I was able to find a link for National Parks, so I thought I would share this. I'll throw in a bit of a tutorial as well. https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/dd8cd91871534c9aa34310eed84fe076/explore Once you open the link (on your iPad/iPhone): -Click on "Menu" -Click on "download" -Click on "download options" under KML -Click on "Generate new download with latest data) -Then (once it is downloaded) find your "Files" app on your device -Click on "recents" -Find the file (it should be the most recent, but it starts with National_P) -Then click the "forward button" (a square with an arrow pointing up) on the bottom left of your screen. -Find the Foreflight logo in the bottom row of options (you may have to click on "more" to find it, then click on it. -You will come to a "Custom Content " option. Click on that. -You then come to a "Custom Map Layers" option, click on that. -It should now be imported, then click on "show on map", and you should have a red outline on all the National Parks on your App (instead of the 'hardly visible lines already on the charts) 😜. Now, if anyone can find KML files for the Provincial Parks I would be most grateful. I've searched for some time and I didn't run across any links that would provide me with this.

https://www.speedonthewater.com/former-dcb-company-owner-rob-blair-dies-in-helicopter-accident/ A real great guy.

Merry Christmas all.

Anyone hear more on this? Did they ever find the "runner"?

I've been dealing with an inspection of my heliport and the individual assigned to the task said there was no strike for him, he was deemed an essential worker. Licensing could be a different issue.

It’s happened to me before, departing Cut Bank and headed to Calgary. It wasn’t no big deal, just a write up on Cadors😜

I'll chime in Grant. I've been working (along with others) with the City to reopen the pad. Initially it was a temporary thing, then I got a meeting with the Mayor's 'right hand'. It sounds like some trees need to be removed/trimmed, new security system, and a few other things. I think the tab was 120k. We questioned why so much, after all, removing/trimming trees couldn't possibly cost so much, but they explained that when a tree is removed, it must be replaced somewhere else (part of our Liberal bureaucratic way of doing things any more). My belief is that they are scared of the tree huggers and don't want to touch the trees, or a developer is eying the property for development. One thing I know for sure is that if they close this helipad down permanently, we will never see another open downtown.

Here's a funny story from the past that may get you'll to think that sometimes "luck" can be on your side. It's rare, and I bet I won't tell the story as well as the guy I'm talking about. Somewhere back in the late 70's, a good friend of mine graduated from university with some sort of oilfield related degree. Around the same time, he thought he would do a bit of fixed wing training and had a few hours dual training. He scored his first job shortly after graduating, and about 10 days into this new gig, the president of the company heard wind of his flight training. He approached my friend, and said the company was toying with the idea of buying an helicopter, and asked if he would like to fly it. My friend (and again, he tells the story much funnier than my rendition) jumped at the offer. He was then tasked to buy a helicopter for the company. My friend had never sat in a helicopter before, so off he went with his newly printed business cards and a whole bunch of confidence. He tore out all the 'yellow pages' of a phone book that had anything remotely to do with helicopters and off he went. His first stop was Bell helicopters (I can't remember the gent's name). As he walked inside, there was a gorgeous brunette at the front desk and he proudly presented this beauty with one of his freshly printed business cards, and she got up and went into the Sales Rep's office. He was feeling pretty good about himself, and thought maybe he had a chance to scoop a date with the brunette if all went well. When the sales rep came out and started asking him a few questions, he soon realized my buddy didn't know #### about helicopters, only the fact that he wanted a Jetranger. The sales rep basically undressed him in from of the brunette and he left the office with his tail between his legs. But he didn't stop there! Next stop was with Bob McCord (I believe that's his correct name), sales rep for Hughes. Bob was nicer, although he also probably realized my buddy didn't know much. Off they jumped into a 500D and Bob showed him things that Dave (yep, I'll start using his name) never thought were possible in a helicopter. Dave was impressed, and although no decision was yet made on what type of chopper they were buying, his company soon after enrolled him into flight school at Alpine. It was early on in his training and while all the training pilots were in a classroom one day, the Bell salesman (who had undressed him weeks earlier) came by to hang with Ted Jansen and the other big dogs at Alpine. He immediately recognized Dave in the classroom, and focussed a lot of attention his way. He finally figured out the Dave may be the 'real deal'. Now he's throwing himself at Dave, and all the other students in the class are wondering what this "Dave" guy is all about. Fast forward, Dave did help his company buy a 206, and after his purchase, he completed his training and they then sent him down to Bell in Texas to do some 206 training. As everyone sat in the classroom, they were asked to write down their flying experiences on paper so the instructor could share them. Dave wrote basically a paragraph......something along the line that he had 35 hours training in a 47 or something of the sort. As he looked around the classroom, others were still writing, turning over the paper to write more. There were many ex-Vietnam guys telling tales of their flying experiences and about how many people they had to kill with their bare hands. As the instructor began reading about these experiences, he shoved one paper to the bottom of the stack and asked Dave to stay behind when class was dismissed. At that time, he looked at Dave and said "does your dad own the company you work for"? As they went out to do flight training, they rolled out an actual red carpet for every pilot who flew next. Dave's turn to fly didn't come quick, it was actually the last flight of the week, and there was no red carpet. The instructor wouldn't even let him touch the controls until he had a lot of altitude below. At some point Dave had the controls and the throttle was rolled off. Dave nailed the auto and redeemed himself.........just a little. Back on the job in Alberta, Dave flew thousands of hours in the 206 while he checked drilling muds at the companies' numerous locations. Dave did OK in life, he went on to own a few of his own businesses. Dave has a 5M house in Bearspaw (anyone who knows Calgary will know that this isn't 'the hood'), a beautiful place on a lake where a retired neighbour next door didn't like him landing. Dave bought the 80 acres next to that development so he could land close in. Along came a Longranger (with a hangar at both places) and a seven figure boat he keeps in a private covered dock in Nanaimo (actually, Lady Smith). We chopper out to the coast every year to enjoy some fishing and some great times. The point I'm making here is not to brag about Dave (personally, he doesn't enjoy the accolades), but to say to everyone on here that this OP that asked the original question may have a pretty good iron in the fire, and maybe a great opportunity ahead of him to make it big one day. I agree, it doesn't happen often, but when you run across this guy if he hits the jackpot like Dave did, he may have a few good stories to tell you and a boat for you to fish on. You'd all like Dave! Good luck and success to the OP!

I have more sh*t in my cockpit that I can use but still like the 496 as well as Foreflight. The rest of this stuff are "boat anchors". 😉.

I'm having a bit of trouble loading the new data on to my 496. I will follow up once I've had some success.

I reached out to him and he was quick to respond. He sent a code right away after I sent 49.95 US to him on PayPal.

Yup, I see the error of my ways...........Good catch!

I had to draw it out and still feel confused!

Len McTaggart has got to be 90 years old??? Maybe he just looked older than he was when I worked around him 40 years ago 😉

Thanks. Ive reached out to them.