Dream Comes True

We taxpayers, most of the time, feel that we are not receiving the service we think we deserve from government. Therefore, most of the time we joke about lack/delay of governmental agencies responses to our requests, complain about their methodology in executing their work or even criticize them and accuse them of wasting our time and money.

Pilots in Canada deal mainly with Transport Canada among other agencies and we always complain about their website complexity slow in responding to calls, and in processing paperwork.

Last year, I was making joke about how my aviation booklet was delayed for more than four months, how my ultralight aircraft CoR was delayed for three months and on and on and on. I have to admit that, in last few months, and after multitude of encounters with TC, I started to rethink about the efficiency of TC. I should say that TC staff and their workflow impressed me to the level of highest satisfaction.

In the month of July, I was planning to write my Instructional Technique exam, and I was not able to find where the exam is going to be administered, phone calls with TC took me to nowhere and none of the flying schools were able to help me out. Therefore, I went to TC’s Calgary office, to meet any person carries TC badge to complain about their services. The office door was closed and there was a note on the door saying that “meeting their staff is only by appointments and I should call first”. “What?” no way, I am not leaving today without meeting a TC person. I kept knocking the bell / door until they responded and opened the door. I met a very pleasant staff member and explained to her my case. She was very cooperative, she checked with someone over the phone, and she confirmed that they administer the test in their office, I scheduled the test, passed it and off we go.

Then in the month of August, I was looking for an Ultralight Instructor Examiner because the examiner in Nanton was retired, and we didn’t have one in Calgary area. I was told by one of our fellow club members that I should call Lenora Crane from TC for some advice. “Great”, I can see now light at the end of the tunnel. I called Lenora and left her a voice message. She came to me on the next day with clear direction; she advised that Roland Morton (Exact Flight Training) in Lethbridge (Phone: 403 329 4887) designated to conduct the Ultralight Instructors Test. I called Roland, scheduled the test day, passed it and off we go.

In the beginning of September, I bought a Merlin Sport 65 from Idaho with the help of my friend Stu. The process of de-registration started with FAA and the airplane was deregistered after few days of sending the purchase document to FAA. I started the process of registering the airplane and that what made me change my opinion about TC’s staff efficiency and performance. I should emphasis on positive “Change”, TC is getting organized, and they are streamlining their workflows. First, I called them! well left a voice message, aiming to understand how the process works. Within few hours of my call, they called back, and they were very helpful in deciphering the process. Then they sent me an e-mail with the steps required and advised me to contact other specialist for the aircraft registration. In fact, the specialist contacted me the day after, (even without me prompting him). He was clear in his direction and very thorough. Call a number to reserve a call sign, then call another number to pay the fees, I did and received the call sign reservation in one day. Once you have the sales document and proof of call sign reservation, e-mail it to them, pay the fees (via another phone call), and they will issue the CoR within two working days. Actually, they did issue mine within two business days. They had to check with FAA regarding the cancellation of N-number. Folks, we have to admit that we now have a functional team in TC.

Why am I going through all that hassle with TC? The answer is simple and stems from our club director meeting in beginning of this year. During the mentioned meeting we boiled down the lack of ultralight pilots to the lack of ultralight instructor. At that time, specifically in the month of March 2015, I started my “from the cockpit” article with the following statement: “We need more ultralight instructors to bring ultralight pilots to the sky. It is that simple.” The article ended with “The lack of ultralight instructors is severely impacting the flying enthusiast to achieve their dreams, and we have to work together to find solutions and bring more flying enthusiast to the sky”. Then, during March meeting we discussed the big “how?” It was obvious to me that I must act, I need to not only talk, I have to walk my talks.

Therefore, I am pleased to report that after I obtained my ultralight Instructor License, Light Sport Aviation Inc. is incorporated for the purpose of providing ultralight training, it owns a Merlin Sport 65, the ground school lessons and the syllabus for the air exercises are near to complete, Stu completed shooting the training video clips and he is working to produce them, the company website, LinkedIn and Twitter pages were created or under construction and I will soon start the process of concluding the remaining paper work required by TC to officially start the training school. I am really excited that an idea initiated by our directors will become an ultralight training school soon. In our club the dream comes true.