W.T. (Tim) Cole: Bush Pilot to Bureaucrat and Back

If you’re like me, anything aviation related on TV will attract my attention. When a show combines classic cars and vintage taildraggers…I’m doubly hooked! On this new episode of Flying BC I speak with Jessica James, co-star and pilot on History Channels’ Lost Car Rescue TV show. Jessica flies a bushwheel-clad Stinson on the show as they search for and recover classic cars around rural Canada.  We also talk about how her career path changed just as she was stepping into a job with Harbour Air. It’s always fun to hear about unique jobs in aviation, and having a starring role in a TV show has got to be up there on the list of cool opportunities! Be sure to catch Lost Car Rescue on History Canada, and streaming on StackTV which you can find on Amazon. You can also find Season 1 on Hulu and Apple TV. Jessica's clothing line, Over Yonder can be found at www.overyonder.ca If you’re a fan of the Flying BC podcast, one of the best ways to show your support is to leave a comment or review on Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen…it all helps spread the word and work the algorithms! Follow me on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and feel free to send me a message - [email protected] I'm excited to work with the podcast editors at https://podfathercreative.com/ to bring you more regular episodes of the show.

In this special edition of Flying BC from EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2022, we catch up with Jason McDowell (@cessnateur), Luke Penner (@harvsairinverted) and Steve Thorne (@flightchops) to get their take on the world's greatest aviation gathering. Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and sign up for the mailing list at www.flyingbc.com #OSH22 #Airventure #EAA

The 5 members of the Porter family are going to fly around-the-world in a single engine aircraft and raise $1 million for the global charity SOS Children's Villages. Flying BC caught up with them right before they departed Vancouver for the first leg.  You can find out more information and donate to their charity on their website www.5inthesky.com Sign up for the Flying BC mailing list at www.flyingbc.com

"Our 206 landed in the community and they were on rations because nobody knew about them. We found out about them so we put a bunch of stuff together and flew it out to them. They were literally crying." When parts of British Columbia were cut off due to flooding in November 2021, General Aviation came to the rescue. Aviators and volunteers quickly banded together to provide highly adaptable relief, offering lifelines to isolated communities and filling gaps in the supply chain. In the aftermath came a desire to formalize the effort, to ensure that emergency planning agencies took General Aviation services into account. Spearheaded by Shaun Heaps from Langley, and bolstered by a group of experienced volunteers, a formal entity has now been created in the form of BC AERO: British Columbia Airlift Emergency Response Operation. On this episode I speak with Shaun Heaps, Sigmund Sort, and Mike Davenport about the airlift, the formation of BC AERO, and what the future has in store. And most importantly, how you can get involved. ---- COPA elections for BC & Yukon Regional Directors are open for voting on April 4th. I'd appreciate your vote so I can continue in the role for a full term and serve the BC & Yukon community! You can read the nomination bios and cast your vote on the COPA Elections webpage. ---- SIGN UP for the Flying BC mailing list and you'll be first in line to hear the latest episodes and other sneak peaks.  www.flyingbc.com/mailing-list Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and Facebook

"I heard a big crunch and then the scenery disappeared! I couldn't figure out why everything was gone all of a sudden, and it took me a while to realize I was looking at the bottom of the lake!" Dominique Prinet was a bush pilot in the late 60’s, flying everything from Cessna 180’s to Single Otters and Beech 18’s into some very remote places in Canada's far North. Later in his career he became a Vice President at Nordair and Canadian Airlines. He’s written a great book called Flying to Extremes, full of well-written stories packed with vivid details and photos. There was no GPS or Sat phones in those days…if you got lost or in trouble it was all on you to come up with a solution, and he definitely had some close calls and miraculous adventures! ---- As mentioned in the intro, COPA elections for BC & Yukon Regional Directors are open for voting on April 4th. I'd appreciate your vote so I can continue in the role for a full term and serve the BC & Yukon community! You can read the nomination bios and cast your vote on the COPA Elections webpage. ---- SIGN UP for the Flying BC mailing list and you'll be first in line to hear the latest episodes and other sneak peaks.  www.flyingbc.com/mailing-list Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and Facebook

"You can't expect perfection, but you can strive for precision, and I think they are two different things." If airshow flying is the flashy rockstar of aviation, competition aerobatics is the soloist in the orchestra. One is all about the show and the spectacle from the perspective of a crowd, where the other is a highly precise and practiced performance striving for perfection.  I sit down with Mark Cunningham and Christian Baxter at Boundary Bay airport to discuss all things aerobatics…and competition aerobatics in particular. As we’ll hear, competition is much different from airshow flying and if you’re someone who seeks a mission every time you go flying, or you just want to hone your stick and rudder skills, aerobatics could be the ticket for you. Follow Christian and Mark on Instagram: @cmhbaxter & @markcunningham Listen to the Fly Cool Shit podcast at www.flycoolshit.com ---- SIGN UP for the Flying BC mailing list and you'll be first in line to hear the latest episodes and other sneak peaks.  www.flyingbc.com/mailing-list Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and Facebook

"Your decision-making skills, everything, it benefits drastically by making the step into the float plane world." Peter Grimm is the President and Chief Pilot at Van City Seaplanes in Vancouver, BC. If you've ever wondered what it takes to be a float plane pilot on the West Coast, this episode is for you. Peter dives into how to get the experience and training you need, the intricacies of coastal weather and flight planning, the differences between lake and salt-water operations, and why the Dehavilland Beaver is still the workhorse of choice.  ---- SIGN UP for the Flying BC mailing list and you'll be first in line to hear the latest episodes and other sneak peaks.  www.flyingbc.com/mailing-list Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and Facebook  

"So we flew all the drums out, and laid them on the blue ice, and then we went back with pictures. We were all so happy because, you know, 100 drums, we did a good job and it looked really nice. And just the way he looked at the pictures when we showed him...we were, like, 'uh oh'. He's says, I'm really sorry guys but this won't do..." Linden Hoover is a First Officer with the legendary Canadian company, Kenn Borek Air. He has been flying the Twin Otter and Basler (Turboprop DC-3) in Northern Canada and Antarctica for the past few seasons. A graduate of University of Victoria’s Aviation Business program, he earned his CPL in 2017 and has some great insight into what it takes as a young commercial pilot to make connections and get your foot in the door at the jobs you want. Follow Linden on Instagram @lindenhoover Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE): @antarcticlogistics And of course, follow Flying BC  To get first crack at the Flying BC Aviation Adventure Camp, held at Tsuniah Lake Lodge on July 31-August 2, 2021, sign up for the mailing list at www.flyingbc.com

"People don't necessarily know that this doesn't have to be a career. This can be something that is an add-on to your life...a fantastic add-on to your life." In North America, we enjoy a freedom of the skies that is the envy of the rest of the world. And a lot of that is due to strength in numbers, and advocacy efforts from organizations like COPA – the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association. There’s a lot of change and new faces coming into COPA head office in the past few months, and as a member and regional director, I’m excited to see the organization revitalized. So, I asked COPA’s new President and CEO, Christine Gervais, to come on the show to talk about what COPA has up it’s sleeve for the future, and what she sees as the organization’s strengths and opportunities. Find out more about COPA at www.copanational.org Student Pilots get a free 1-year membership! ---- SIGN UP for the Flying BC mailing list and you'll be first in line for the Aviation Adventure Camp, July 31-August 2nd!  www.flyingbc.com/mailing-list Follow Flying BC on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia and Facebook  

"So I sat down in the roughest water I think I've ever landed in, and it's not that big of a plane so it was pretty big waves for those little floats. And I landed so far from the camp because I just wanted to be down on the water sooner than later." On this episode of Flying BC, I chat with my friend Katie Cowley about her first couple years as a new commercial pilot. For the past year, she’s been flying on floats and wheels out of Sioux Lookout in Northern Ontario, living the bush pilot life. I caught up with her just as she was coming up to the 1000 hour milestone, and we talked about her adventures – and misadventures – on her path through flight training, some of the lessons she’s learned along the way, and what it’s really like being a newly-minted commercial pilot trying to gain experience and find jobs. It’s not always easy!  You can find Katie on Instagram @katie.cowley --- Please send feedback, show ideas, and your questions to [email protected] Join me on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia or on Facebook. Videos on YouTube