6. Troy, the pilot who's done it all

In episode 6 of the Ground Effect podcast (recorded in May 2020), we head to North America to speak to Troy Baxter, a pilot whose international career is as diverse as it is surprising. From island-hopping in the Carribean, flying in an active warzone in Afghanistan and doing medevac in Canada (to name but a few of his adventures), Troy has done it all.This is the first of a two-part episode. In part 1, we talk about:How the Covid-19 pandemic has affected his flyingGrowing up in a military base in Nova ScotiaHow his training was subsidised by the Canadian governmentCompleting a very competitive flight training program at Seneca CollegeDifficulties in his flight trainingTraining in the Cessna 172, the Beech Baron and the BonanzaHow he didn’t touch a plane for 2 years after completing flight trainingIsland-hopping on the Twin Otter and the Islander in Sint Maarten in the CaribbeanReturning to Canada to do medevac flying on the King Air 100Flying the Dash-7 across international waters for the United NationsFlying civilian in an active war-zone in Afghanistan (and having to deal with rocket attacks)Flying the Dash-7 from Africa to North America (via the Middle East, Europe and the North Atlantic)We hope you enjoy this episode. And if you do, rest assured that there’s a lot more in part 2, which will be posted in the coming weeks.If you have any thoughts, ideas or suggestions for us, or you want to be a guest in the podcast, we'd love to hear from you! You can get in touch with us either by email (groundeffect[@]neustadt[.]fr), via Twitter @thegroundeffect or Instagram (groundeffectpodcast).Host: Parimal SatyalSupport and Original Artwork: Maggie OranPodcast Music: Getting It All Together by RockitMaxx