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After a number of attempts to get up in the air in a helicopter, Stella & Lizzy were finally able to do so back on February 8, 2026. It was Stella’s first ever helicopter ride & Lizzy’s second. Flying in a helicopter was something that Stella's been keen to do for a long time now. She finally got her chance back in February! I’m not going to post much on this experience apart from a few photos & some brief videos of their trip courtesy of Lizzy. Thanks to Lizzy & Stella for filming their flight over the Falls. Come along for the ride & check out Niagara Falls from a lower altitude & slightly different view.
Interested in your own helicopter tour? If so, head here. Stella’s sticking with planes for now as she works toward completing her Recreational Pilot's Licence. Perhaps she’ll return back to helicopters in the future. For now though, at least she got to fulfill one of her wishes & head up in the air in one. Enjoy the view of Niagara Falls from the air & ground. Lizzy & Stella sure did! Lizzy handed over the yoke last Sunday and gave me a bit more responsibility at the controls. It was pretty amazing! Not only did I get to taxi to Runway 24, I also got to experience some 360 degree turns in the air. Taxiing is actually harder than it looks. You are essentially steering the plane with your feet. You are using the rudders, not the yoke. It takes patience and precision, and I’m looking forward to keeping Vyctor fully on the line next time. Once we were up in the air, we flew over Bay Beach, Port Colborne and Sunset Beach. Lake Erie is essentially ice free and Sunset Beach is opening soon after a season of renovations. We’ll soon head into the summer months & hopefully we’ll be able to view some of Niagara from above. Ready for another adventure in the sky? I’m back to flying with Lizzy as Stella pursues her Recreational & PPL licences. Here’s a really quick overview of what that looks like for her: # of in-flight hours for Recreational > 25 hours in the air Age at which Stella can solo > 14 years old Solo = no passengers Age at which she can obtain a Recreational Licence > 16 years old # of in-flight hours for a Private Pilot's Licence (PPL) > 45 hours Age at which Stella can obtain her PPL > 17 years old Super exciting that she’s decided to take this on. As Stella pursues her Rec & PPL, I'll keep flying & posting with Lizzy. Now back to Lizzy & I….. Here’s our recent flight from Niagara District Airport to Niagara Falls to Fort Erie & back. It’s probably one of my favourite routes.  On today’s flight, I’ll take you on another scenic tour of Niagara Falls. Who doesn’t want to see this marvellous site from above? The benefits of being in a plane are that we can continue to circle from above. The same rules don’t apply to helicopters. This time though, it was just a quick pass around & exit before heading off to Bay Beach. We didn’t make full use of the plane privileges. You’ll also get a clear view of Lake Erie & Bay Beach from above. The ice hasn’t fully cleared, so it’s a pretty cool site to see. We’ll then head back to CYSN for a smooth landing. Most of the recent posts have been largely visual tours of the Niagara Region, mostly due to limited time to create content, but also a step back from more formal lessons. I’ll return to a hybrid approach - visuals paired with a bit of content. This lesson is going to quickly provide an overview of weather, runways and aerodrome charts, as well as some wind & flight path calculations. You’ll also get a look at some aerials of Bay Beach & Niagara Falls. It’s such a stunning view! Here’s a more detailed look at the weather:  On a final note - we almost got to experience both Stella & I flying at the same time. She headed up with her instructor as Lizzy & I were coming in to taxi. Perhaps she’ll join us in the air another time. Until then….. Ready to head up into the clouds on another adventure? Let me give you a little context behind Stella's7Stories and my goal to support Canadian, especially other local business. Stella’s7Stories started with a travel guide on Japan, a flight guide on local aerobatic & level flight, a travel journal, postcards & pencils. Creative online content to extend the printed word was always woven throughout the process. I wanted things to constantly shift, evolve and grow & to be more interactive. My goal has always been to build incrementally and to add more. Not just more merch, but more of an approach that supported other small local businesses and that reduced long distance supply chains and promoted Canadian-made goods as much as possible. I also wanted to intentionally design a youth travel clothing line that was lighter weight, easy-to-pack, minimal and colourful. But also one that was lighter on the environment and that better ensured fairer wages were paid to the people making these items. The t-shirts aren’t $5-$10 and the sweatshirts aren’t for you to wear a few times & toss. My hope is that these items are a longer term investment that then get donated once they’ve served their purpose. A portion of sales goes back into charitable causes - mainly MS Canada & JCCC for the books & environmental causes for the clothing. However, the benefits really start at the source, with ties to Jerico, PressTime, Cut Loose, Laven & FriesenPress. I encourage you to also support these Canadian companies whenever you can. Together, let’s redistribute & refocus our spending so that we keep our $ in Canada. It starts with the consumer. Ready for another adventure? 
Stella’s stepped back a bit from flying for the time being, which now gives me the chance to fly with Lizzy from time to time. Our lessons are now more about aerial views and me gaining more flying time, and less about the actual lesson itself. We’ll get back to those when Stella returns to flying. For now, she’s pursuing other interests. In the meantime, having the opportunity to fly with Lizzy has been fantastic. It allows me to do something that I've always wanted to do. My dad got his pilot’s licence much later in life, and I had the chance to fly with him once or twice. It’s always something that I’ve wanted to pursue, but never really made a priority. Now that Stella’s learning how to fly, I’ve had the chance to learn alongside her. I can honestly say that I don’t think that I would have been ready to fly back then, so I’m sort of glad that it’s something that I deferred until now. It's a good reminder that you are never too young or too old to pursue your interests. If there’s something that you’ve been meaning to try, I’d encourage you to do so and to never let age be a barrier until it actually becomes one. On this flight, Lizzy and I revisited one of my favourite local views from the sky, Niagara Falls, and then headed to Port Colborne to check out Canal Days from above. We then were off to Fort Erie to take in some aerial views of Bay Beach. It’s a beach that Stella and I have been spending more time at this summer. I’ll keep this post brief. Enjoy the view. We sure did!  Lizzy & I flying on Mother's Day 2025. Piloting Priorities I’ve been spending more time in the air with Lizzy as Stella takes a bit of a break from flying. This has been such a fun & amazing experience and it reminds me why it’s important not to put short timelines on some of our goals, especially as moms. I’ve wanted to fly for a long time now and just never made it a priority. Creating this content pushes me to do so. Although it would have been great to get up in the air earlier in life, I’m not sure that I would have been ready. Stella started flying with Lizzy at just 7 years old. For me, waiting this long to fly was never intentional; however, it just sort of makes sense now. This last flight with Lizzy was on Mother’s Day, and it was a good reminder that shifting priorities don’t necessarily equate to unaccomplished goals. Sometimes, stuff just takes a bit longer to get to. So, for all the moms out there, keep pursuing your goals even if it means slowly chipping away at them when you have time to do so. Write them down, refer back to them, be generous with some timelines, and know that patience is often rewarded. On that note: Happy belated Mother’s Day to all! Stella's7Stories I also wanted to delve a bit into why I create what I create and to provide a bit of background as to why I started Stella’s7Stories in the first place. When Stella was young, I always felt that there was a lack of really relatable characters. Much of what exists for young people is fictional. I get why. However, I wanted to take all of the unique experiences that Stella has had as a young person, package them, and turn them into creative content that other young people could potentially learn from. Stella’s 13 now, but she’s experienced more adventure and travel than some people do in a lifetime. She’s lived in the Arctic, she’s travelled to several continents and countries, and she’s continuing to learn to fly small planes. She’s taught herself to solve a Rubik’s Cube, skateboard, free skate and dabble in learning languages in addition to English & French. I wanted Stella’s7Stories to be about a young & adventurous female character who challenges traditional gender norms, takes risks, goes on adventures, learns, grows and gets to experience new people and places. I wanted to take Stella’s experiences learning Japanese, cubing, travelling, surfing, skiing and flying and use these as a springboard to create meaningful and easy-to-understand content for other young people. As I’ve said before, most people don’t have access to a pilot like Lizzy; however, Stella’s experiences flying with Lizzy don’t just need to stay between them. This is why Lizzy works hard to teach Stella what she’ll eventually need to know for ground school, and why I then take these lessons and repackage them here. It’s helping prepare Stella and other young people to learn more about flight. As an added bonus, I also get to learn alongside Stella too, and that’s the super cool thing. All of her lessons are like a two-for-one. Most of the time, I’m absorbing all that I can at each of her lessons so that I can learn alongside her and then practice and reinforce what was taught. This includes everything from previous coding classes to online Japanese language classes to flying to basketball to life guarding and tennis. I didn’t take many lessons growing up, so it’s fun for me to sit in on all of these things now. This is why I look forward to her extracurricular activities - because it’s a chance for me to learn something new or to brush up on an existing skill. I have a passion for lifelong learning and for distilling what’s complex into simpler forms. This is what I’m trying to accomplish here with this content. That being said, I hope that it’s propelled some viewers to pursue their own passions, learn more, and to spend more time as a creator of content and less time as a consumer. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely appreciate all those who spend time consuming this content. Thank you! As I look back at my journey as a mom, I think that this past Mother’s Day helps to put it all into perspective. Despite devoting a lot of time and energy to motherhood, I still find time to fuel my own interests - flying, dance, drawing, hiking, photography, tennis, skiing and travel. Spending an hour in the plane last Sunday reminded me that regardless of age, it’s good to continue to take risks, to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and to not become static or stagnant. Know that sometimes you'll race toward your goals and other times you'll merely inch toward them. Either way, it’s progress. This is the 30th lesson that I’m posting. That’s progress. Now on to the content. This posting includes mostly images of Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, the tulip fields in NOTL and two fortifications - Fort George NHS & Fort Niagara. It's a bit nostalgic given that I worked at Fort George NHS & Brock’s Monument for a few summers over twenty years ago. It’s always fun to see these places from above & to continue to put everything into perspective. Enough with the reminiscing and writing. Are you ready for an adventure? We did this lesson back on April 20th. Lizzy taught Stella & I all about runway rules & signs. I've combined the content with some of the earlier lessons to put together a more comprehensive look at CYSN & what all those signs, symbols, letters and numbers mean both on and off the runway. I found it to be a super informative lesson, and hopefully you will too! Now, let's have a closer look at CYSN and its myriad of signs & symbols. I'll also take stock of what we've done to-date, how many flights we've all flown and what it means to take a step back and view your progress through a more holistic lens. Together, Stella, Lizzy & I have created content for 28 youth flight lessons. It's been lots of hours both in the air and on the ground, and it's been totally worth it! A huge thanks to Lizzy for teaching Stella (& now me too) how to fly. Are you ready for another adventure? The content on this post is light on words and heavy on visuals. There's just something about aerial photos, especially ones of natural features. Recently, it was my turn to fly and this flight did not disappoint. Lizzy and I headed up over Niagara Falls to see what was left of the ice & snow before double digit temperatures set in. Once again, I got to view Niagara Falls from above and also got to gain some additional experience flying Vyctor straight & level. It was bumpier than normal this time around due to cloud cover and some stronger than usual winds. All in all though, it was an amazing day out and about in the air just a few days before turning yet another year older last week. Happy birthday to me! Are you ready to fly? One of the best parts about flying is the vantage point. Absolutely, it's all about the view! This is Lizzy & Stella's first flight together in 2025. It's a quick one. It's also a good reminder to stop and enjoy the view. Ready to soar? Stella, Lizzy & I had the chance to tour the Tower at CYSN. I have to admit that it was a pretty cool and unexpected experience. We learnt a bit more about what's monitored at CYSN, what's inside, and what is & isn't allowed. We were able to get our questions answered and to experience what it's like to be out of the plane and in the Tower for a change. Pretty stimulating stuff all around. Check out this next lesson if you want a glimpse into our most recent experience at CYSN. Ready for another adventure? A quick word on what's ours online. I recently came across some sites selling Stella's7Stories merchandise without my consent. The only authorized places where our clothing is currently sold is with: 1) Cut Loose 2) On our website 3) At The Duke If you are looking for our clothing, please only purchase it from these three locations - the first two are online & the last one is in-person. Looking to purchase something in-person? Great! I'm typically at The Duke Saturdays from 1-3:30 PM, with the exception of this Saturday, December 28th. Now is the perfect time to buy our merch at Cut Loose. Check out their annual 20% off sale.
Sometimes, you just can't make the trip. Lizzy & Stella are going to take you on an imaginary flight to Brampton instead. Why? Well, Lizzy wants to teach you a thing or two about radio communication and it's easiest if we anchor it to another airport. Lizzy chose Brampton. Warning - this lesson is a long one! It's long because it covers a lot of old ground. We are going to spend time reviewing radio communication, controlled & uncontrolled airports, aerodrome charts, and all that fun stuff. This context is going to help the "flight to Brampton" radio stuff make more sense. Let's go cure our mic fright and pretend to head on over to Brampton so that you can hear what Lizzy would have to say over the radio. You'll also get a glimpse of some actual flying. This includes Stella flying straight and level over the Niagara Region and Lizzy bringing Vyctor in for a landing on Runway 06 at CYSN. Are you ready for another adventure? In my own experience, I've actually found that many things get better with age and that a number doesn't need to be a barrier to pursuing passions. Sometimes, it's actually better to wait. I had the chance to fly with Lizzy again at the end of October. It was super fun! Not only is Lizzy an amazing pilot, she's always calm, focussed and hilarious. It was time in the air well spent. I got to fly the plane once again, which only further cemented my desire to start pursuing recreational flight once Stella's ready to officially start her training. In the meantime, Stella's flights with Lizzy are an awesome opportunity for her to be mentored by an aerobatic pilot while learning the ropes before committing to a full on licence. She'll get there. Me too! For now though, I'll continue to take Stella's seat in the plane every so often. What's the future look like? Well, we'll continue to have fun in the clouds while we wait for Stella to get closer to the official piloting age requirements. Until then...... Are you ready for another adventure? This one is with me! Meta, for whatever reason, decided to block my Stellas7Stories Instagram account. They blocked my access on October 6th, 2024. While I wait for them to respond to my many requests to restore my account, please feel free to check us out on Instagram at irehs30 instead (QR code below). I use this account a lot less, so please be patient while I begin to post content there more often while I continue to wait for my Stellas7Stories Instagram account to finally get restored. Thanks!   This lesson is all about radio talk. You'll learn how Lizzy communicates with the Tower and get some refreshers on the radio alphabet and controlled & uncontrolled airports. Lizzy is going to walk you through some of her typical radio talk. Ready for another adventure? This is how Lizzy & Stella roll (literally). Check out some of their aerobatic adventures & flying fun! Are you ready to roll? Here's to posting the 21st lesson on the 21st of July. This is from a flight Lizzy & Stella did on 7.7.2024. Lizzy's going to walk you through Vyctor's instrument panel. She'll explain what she needs to check before taking off and heading up into the air with Stella by her side. Are you ready to fly? |
Dynamic DuoLizzy and Stella love to fly! Join this dynamic duo as they soar through the clouds on another adventure. Archives
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