Seaplane Travel Represents the True Meaning of Luxury “Flying to Islands – Always to Islands” In an age where private jets and mega-cruise ships are marketed as the ultimate in exclusive travel, the real luxury lies in places you cannot reach by runway or pier. Ariara Island Resort in Linapacan, Philippines, exemplifies this paradox....
Telling Your Stories in Song- Putting Poems to Music For over 25 years, I have been trying to get someone to put my Woodsmoke & Perfume poetry into music. A helicopter pilot working in Escravos, Nigeria, and a friend of Kris Kristofferson, volunteered. His musical style was acoustic guitar and Western. After weeks of...
The Seaplane’s Sustainability Promise: A Case for the Amphibious Cessna C208B-EX As global eco-tourism expands into remote and environmentally sensitive regions, the aviation industry faces growing scrutiny over its ecological footprint. Among the solutions emerging from this evolving dialogue is the Cessna C208B-EX Caravan equipped with Wipline 8750 amphibious floats. Initially conceived in the...
Canada’s Energy Independence – Reducing Reliance on the U.S. Market This post delves into the global demand for Alberta’s heavy oil and the strategic importance of diversifying Canada’s energy markets. It highlights how various countries, including the United States, Europe, China, India, Japan, and South Korea, have refineries capable of processing heavy crude oil...
Pipeline Route Options within Canadian Borders Canada has explored the possibility of building a west-to-east oil pipeline entirely on Canadian soil. The most prominent proposal was Energy East, a 4,500+ km pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick. As shown in the map below, it would have linked Alberta’s oil sands (Hardisty) to the Atlantic...
Alberta Needs the Keystone XL Pipeline – But Not for the Reasons You Think! My first cousin, who worked in Fort McMurray, asked a legitimate question on Facebook. Why does Canada still buy oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Alberta? An angry Albertan offered a knee-jerk answer. That’s easy. Because of Trudeau, of course!...
Landing a Seaplane inside the Rinjani Volcano is equivalent to Indonesia landing a Man on the Moon. Mount Rinjani is an active volcano that built the island of Lombok. That is a realistic way of looking at a volcano’s role. When anyone mentions Mount Rinjani, they say it is on the island of Lombok....
An Alternative to Crowded Airports How do you cope as an ad-hoc charter operator when faced with long delays at a crowded airport with limited take-off and landing slots that must be booked days in advance? You need someone who can think outside the traffic pattern to answer this question. I was asked to...
Introduction to Life as a Seaplane Pilot In the world of aviation, pilots rely on strict procedures, detailed flight plans, and sophisticated technology to ensure each journey is completed safely and efficiently. When you’re in the cockpit of a seaplane, for instance, the combination of flight plans, checklists, and real-time analysis of wind, weather,...
