Oregon :

This was my first flight with Eva Airways and I was impressed by their comfort, competitive pricing and service. Everything was great for arrival, on time, to pick up “Nang Fah” in Portland .

The team at Troutdale Aircraft Services had the plane ready and in good shape after the 4 month layoff. I caught up with some new friends, Steve and Patty Schuster, who had contacted me through our web site. Patty is Thai, married to Steve, and they live in the Portland area. Patty is a very accomplished pilot (so is Steve….) with current instrument rating and working on her commercial license. She flew us in their Mirage around Portland and we stopped for a fun lunch at a local airport before heading back to Troutdale. Thank you both so much for taking to trouble to fly over and getting together.

British Columbia , Canada :

After a few days rest and some local familiarization flights in Nang Fah, I was off to Kelowna , British Columbia , Canada .

Kelowna sits in the Okanagan Valley right in the middle of the Canadian Rocky Mountains – between Vancouver and Calgary. By brother, Mel, and brother in law, Yves, came out from Toronto and Edmonton and we played some golf, lounged in the hot tub and generally did nothing stressful for several days.

Valley views – typical around Kelowna

You can see by the pictures this is a gorgeous place and at this time of year. The cattle are out, golf courses open, miles of clear blue sky above and the air is eternally FRESH. Sometimes I wonder why we live in the big city when there are so many magnificent places like Kelowna ?????? See more pictures of Kelowna and Vernon B.C. in the Gallery……

Yves and Mel – happy the round in OVER?

I spent my time organizing more details of the trip and completing arrangements with various North American suppliers.

We decided to use Jeppesen's - JeppView - instead of paper trip kits for navigation and approach planning.

The Jeppesen web site is not very clear on this product and I had previously dismissed using it; mainly because the information is misleading and incomplete on their site. However, their customer service people were very helpful when I called and we found that you can subscribe to a “home” region then buy individual electronic “trip kits” (valid for one month) for different regions of the world. Much more flexible and more affordable than the $10,000 annual world wide subscription that the web site only offers. In fact using Jepp View this way is about the same price as paper trip kits with fewer logistical problems, lighter weight in the airplane and more flexibility. We will carry a laptop computer and small Canon printer to print the approach plates for each segment of the trip. In addition, we are using Jeppesen’s IFR Flite Star and of course Skybound updates for the Garmin 1000.

After Kelowna it was off to Vancouver (Boundary Bay) to visit my friends at ProIFR. John Montgomery, Mike Droege and Don Stewart were, as always, very helpful in getting the airplane fine tuned, doing some night flights with Don and John always fires everyone up with his infectious enthusiasm for aviation and training. For foreign students, it is much easier to be accepted for aviation training in Canada than the US after 9/11. So, if you want great training (VRF, IFR, and helicopter or multi engine) in beautiful country, look up ProIFR on the internet. http://proifr.com

(See the Training VDO clip )

Getting Ready to “Dunk” …..

One of the safety preparations that we wanted to do was undertaking a “Ditching” (Egress) course in the event we ever had to exit from an emergency landing in water. Luckily, we found such a course right in Vancouver . John and Jackie Heiler have conducted their Egress Course at ProAviation Safety www. proaviation.ca for many years and trained thousands. The course is one day, very affordable, completely hands-on, effective and FUN. I was amazed at how disoriented you become when you find yourself under water, upside down in a rotating capsule – like you could be in an airplane cockpit. Experiencing this and learning how to cope in such an emergency made us very glad that we took the course. Thanks to John, Jackie and the other course participants for guiding us through this excellent program.

Use your Hands to Guide you Out….

Lec arrived from Thailand on May 16th and I flew down to San Francisco to meet her. We attended her son, Paul’s, graduation from the University of San Fran…. It was a great day. We really enjoyed meeting many young people and their families on this special occasion. After 4 years together they were all saying good bye, heading too many points around the world, starting their careers. I’m glad I have finished mine and heading around the world our way……..

In a few days we will start the “official” Round the World trip. It will be up to Alaska for a few weeks touring by motor home then across Canada before tackling the North Atlantic and into Scandinavia . .

Proud Mom with Paul and the Golden Gate Bridge behind….