TC retirement

[Check Pilot]

After thousands of hours as an industry guy I burned out as a charter pilot, flying instructor and aerial applicator and I decided to quit the mayhem and join Transport Canada.

It has now been 29 years, 1207 check rides and somewhere around 20,000 total hours of flying, which are now over, from the day in July of 1980 when I first stepped into the Winnipeg offices of Transport Canada for my first day of work as a snot nosed rookie for the Fed’s.

Today, I am retiring from the Queen’s service to begin a different kind of lifestyle of my choosing, not that I didn’t make a choice to stick around for those years. I had lots of other options when I joined TC and could have gone whenever I wanted to. However, I chose to stay.

I always had the chance to go fuselage hugging and fly “big” planes but to me it meant way too many hours of boredom for the money and lifestyle I wanted. For me, I made the right choice in the end.

Luckily, after all, I stayed because of the people. Aviation is a wonderful world of mostly very good folks that actually care about what they do.

I met way more folks than I could have ever imagined through those 29 years and for the most part 99.9% did their best to get the job of aviating done properly and safely. Those folks took about .1% of my time.

The other .1% took 99.9% of my time. I hated the situations when we had to go after some shyster person that did not care about other folks in their aircraft. We always knew who they were but it always took huge amounts of time getting the stuff we needed to get them out of the air. BTW, I was never in the Enforcement section but if we had to get involved, it took huge amounts of time, sometimes months of reports seemed they would never end. In the end we usually succeeded in stopping some idiot from killing anyone.

Along the way I ran into folks that became my very good friends that I’ll always admire and cherish. Some of them are TC or ex-TC types and a lot of them are pilots, Operators and Owners that are involved in aviation (and even some that aren’t too). I specifically mention my good friends Jimmy Robinson and Lee Smith from the Winnipeg office and are now also now retired from the Queen’s service. Also the guy that got me going in my first year, Ron Clayton, also retired and Gerry Langen also long retired. They were the 2 guys that did their jobs and got my first year aggressive horns cut off and act like a normal human being Inspector. That’s a job I’ve had to do now a number of times with the new guys myself. The other guy that has my utmost respect is Ken Graham in Winnipeg. He’s one of the finest bosses a guy could know and a superbly astute regulator guy that most certainly knows the business and doesn’t put up with any kind of BS from either the TC staff or the Operators. Thanks Ken.

I don’t want to name Operators here but most of those that I’ve dealt with over the years are good folks that just want to get the job done safely. To those folks- thanks for your efforts in getting people and cargo around the country and making my job a lot easier. You know who you are that have dealt with me in the past. Thank you again.

I can see it’s time for me to hang up the headphones and paperwork and leave it to the “kid line” that’s just starting to come on stream with the new system and the next “sea change” to occur in TC.

I saw 2 of them in my career earlier.

One was Pierre Trudeau’s introduction of the famous (or infamous) Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which eventually wound up with the introduction of the Civil Aviation Tribunal, which is now the TATC. That changed the way TC operated in a huge way. Now we had to be seen as “fair”, which bugged the crap out of the old boys club. Most of them left shortly thereafter with sayings like “It’s all gone to hell and we’re just gonna see everyone die now in crashes”

The second huge seachange was the introduction of the CAR’s on October 10th 1996. We finally came into the modern world of regulation which was long overdue from the old ways of the Air Regulations and Air Navigation Orders. Also the introduction of the CARAC made a super difference in the ways that rules are made. Now everyone has a chance to have some input into stuff to some degree.

The third seachange is one I won’t be a part of now. That’s the change to the world of Safety Management Systems. That’s for the kid line to handle. I hope it works out. There are those that are having problems with the “cultural” change which is the most important part of it. I fear some folks won’t get it and wind up in history’s dust bin. SMS, I fear, will just not allow a lot of long in the tooth guys like me to change to the new world. I can only hope the new world of aviation safety works out for everyone.

Best of luck everyone. I wish you all good health and happiness.

[Flybabe]

Congrats, CP

[Check Pilot]

I can only hope you join the ranks soon too there Flybabe. You belong with the "Kid line" too.

Keep on trying!!!!!!!!!!

[Flybabe]

I "don't meet the qualifications"

[Check Pilot]

Keep tryin'

You need folks like you. We need ya in there. Don't give up.

[just curious]

I did two of those rides with you. They were fun.

JC.

[roger.roger]

I did two of those rides with you. They were fun.

Not too many people can say your post is fucking bullshit and not get it edited but at least we know the guy wasen't an asshole when it came to rides

[Sulako]

Happy Retirement Check Pilot! That was a great post.

[Cat Driver]

All the best check pilot you brought me back to a different era when we all knew each other.

Retirement will be real easy as long as you keep busy.

Gotta go flush my outboards as I'm not going to be here at my summer place for a few weeks.

[flyinthebug]

Happy Retirement Check Pilot! Looking at your list brings back some fond memories for me! In particular Lee & Ken!..Both great men and true leaders.

I have a feeling we met in the YWG office a few times.. and I believe you even did a pa31 PPC with me a few years back:)

All the best for your retirement & I hope you keep contributing to this forum and dont retire from this! We need some grey whiskers on this board! Cheers.

Fly safe all.

[Check Pilot]

Thanks for all the wonderful replies folks. I won't be leaving the aviation community at all as I have some number of part time work lined up. I will still be here and around CYXD now.

Thanks again.

[snaproll20]

Congratulations on joining "The Club", Check Pilot.
It's not so bad once you get into it.
I have to say, quite seriously, that you sound like one of the TC people whom it was good to work with through the years.

I believe you were one of the "good ones" I have referred to on numerous occasions on this site, which was a way of qualifying some of the more critical comments I have made about TC in general. I can still have little respect for the organization, but recognize that there are many good people working there.

It is a pity that your years of reasoned action cannot be carried over and your sagacious experience help to meld a relationship between TC and the industry, but it seems that is too much to expect.

Stay well.

[Carrier]

Quote: “The second huge seachange was the introduction of the CAR’s on October 10th 1996. We finally came into the modern world of regulation which was long overdue from the old ways of the Air Regulations and Air Navigation Orders.”

What an excellent job was done! However, since then it has just gone downhill as idiots have tried to legislate for lack of common sense. It seems every crash causes yet another knee-jerk legislative restriction. All the successful flights are forgotten about. The CARs and regs should have been frozen on 10 October 1996.

CP, enjoy your well-earned retirement.

[Check Pilot]

Carrier, I can only say that the whole system changed on October 10th, 1996 as you probably know, the system is now backed up beyond the breaking point. The last time I looked at the internal stuff we had about 2,000 items that need some work on. It's gonna take a bunch of time to get all the folks together to get some kind of new rules written. I think it's gonna be years, not just days or months. The CARAC is stunningly swamped with requests to change the rules.

The CARAC way was meant as a system to set up quick input from the industry and the Minister. It obviously didn't work as expected. It's now underwater and trying for new air. I hope the backlog gets resolved soon.

[Check Pilot]

Thanks folks.

[The Old Fogducker]

Check Pilot:

I've been on a day off doing some fishing or I would have replied sooner.

Let me say what a treat it was to work closely with you for over 20 years. I count you among my best friends and strongest influences.

You're about to enter another phase of life. Eventually, you'll enjoy the next step. At first the time will seem like you're on a week or two of comp time, then it will seem like annual leave. Then one morning you'll realize that you're actually done with TC and not going to the office to deal with on-going problems or read the latest policy letter which seems like a further give-away of something important by someone who doesn't have a clue about the business.

As one of your bosses said ... "They picked the right time go." That's what the "new kids" will say about our generation. Maybe they will even tell a few stories about your antics with some slippery operator who thought they had the best of you.

I recall being at the counter one day watching the wonderful Ron Clayton asking the rather thick skulled "client" ... "are you deliberately attempting to provoke a confrontation with me?"

They likely have some stories like that to pass along.

Like those retirees that have gone before, you can anticipate some period of "what now?" That too will pass as you move into your "new part-time gig" where they will appreciate your talents, but not have the slightest idea of the type of training you've received and the type of work you've done over the decades. They will only relate to your having conducted an audit or doing a check ride when there is so very much more to the job.

The new staff will need some convincing that you aren't a part of a massive TC sting operation and gone underground to be a "plant" in the company. You'll get a real kick out of that.....be sure to play it for all its worth because there is a great deal of laughing to be done.

It seems like forever since we celebrated each others success behind 333 Main. We've both been very fortunate.

I wish you well, and I think we can say we've done right by our mutual mentor Dave Brophy. Oh, and as you and Jimmy said ... the best jobs are the CAI 2 level!

All the best for now buddy,
The Old Fogducker

Thank-you for being a friend.

A good PETA member like you will get a kick out of this one to close out my post ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmcKBdEJ_U

[canwhitewolf]

all the best of luck and lifes enjoyment

[Sparkfarmer]

Congrats on your retirement.

Thanks for carrying the torch. Here is the hope that we, as the next gen are able to hold it high.

[Check Pilot]

As of today, I'm officially retired. I want to thank all my friends and, from my point of view, all the Companies that I dealt with over the years that got their work done safely.

Thanks to all my former companies of which I was the POI for doing all they did to keep my job as boring as it was.

DW

[TC Guy]

Good luck, Check Pilot.

I just have 20 more years to go.

Enjoy your retirement, you have certainly earned the rest!

-Guy