As many of you know, Jonathan obtained his Private Pilot License in September 2011 (which is yet another step towards his dream of being the real life James Bond). Since then, Irene and Jonathan have taken full advantage of the new found freedom by regularly flying, which is in line with their common love of travel and adventure.

 

Despite Jonathan taking relatives and friends up for beautiful sunset flights throughout the summer of 2012 over the breathtaking views of Vancouver, Irene and Jonathan had not yet had the opportunity to fly together at night due to conflicting work schedules and unfavourable weather conditions. So after much discussion, it was decided that they would make the goal of sharing their first night flight together a priority.

 

While that was the plan, Mother Nature decided that months of evening fog and inclement weather was what the Greater Vancouver area needed, thereby preventing the couple from taking that romantic plane ride. February 2013 came quickly and while the weather was still an ongoing challenge, the idea of a romantic February 14th flight on Valentine’s Day was agreed upon. The plan was set into motion with the plane reserved, the routing determined, and the flight plan ready for filing.

 

The morning of the 13th arrived and Jonathan noticed that the weather forecast for Valentine's Day was not favourable. It was however favourable for that particular evening so, keeping his cool, Jonathan casually mentioned to Irene that it might be a good idea for them to celebrate Valentine's Day a day early to take advantage of the weather and not ruin their plans. Irene agreed and both committed to return home after work ready for the flight.

 

That's when Jonathan jumped into action to move all the plans up by 24 hours. The most important thing he had to do was to call Irene’s parents to ask them for their blessing. However, Jonathan quickly realized he didn’t even have her dad’s work number. Thinking it would be easiest to contact her sister, Emilie, he sent her a vague, cryptic text asking for his number. This sent Emilie into a whirlwind of worry and a flurry of texts ensued which Jonathan tried his best to evade so as not to reveal his secret plans. Amongst all of this, Jonathan was able make contact with Irene’s Dad, Henry, to meet him at the office. They made their way to a nearby coffee shop and Jonathan made his intentions known, asking for Henry's permission for his oldest daughter's hand in marriage.  After some discussion and receiving some words of advice, Jonathan received Henry’s blessing. Next it was off to see Irene's mother, Masako. When Jonathan explained that he had just met Henry and had intentions to ask Irene to marry him that evening, Masako threw her arms around Jonathan and tears of joy started to flow.

 

By now it was late afternoon and Jonathan had to make his way from Vancouver to the plane at Pitt Meadows Airport to set it up for their flight and hide the engagement ring somewhere in the cabin. A final telephone call was made to the Air Traffic Controller at Pitt Meadows Airport to advise of the plan to take-off with a girlfriend and return with a fiancé that evening along with a request for a special greeting when they returned. Picking up Tim Horton's sandwiches for dinner for the two of them, Jonathan headed home to get dressed into his pilot shirt (hidden under his work coat) to await Irene's arrival.

 

Irene finally arrived around 6:30 PM, somewhat surprised that Jonathan had sandwiches prepared, however, tried not to read too much into it seeing as it was supposed to be part of the romantic night flight. The couple made their way to Pitt Meadows Airport and Irene was all prepared to conduct the airplane pre-flight set-up that they had done together many times before, only to discover that it had already been done. This raised a few flags, but again, Irene tried not to read too much into it as Jonathan explained that he got off work a little early and had time to prep the plane.

 

This is where it gets exciting... The sun had set at exactly 5:30 PM on February 13th in Vancouver so it was already dark by the time they had arrived at the airport around 7:00 PM. Getting into the plane, Jonathan grandly removed his coat and Irene quickly noticed his pilot shirt to which he explained it would make the flight more romantic. This lead to more suspicion and raised eyebrows from Irene but then again, that explanation made sense. At 7:21 PM they took-off on runway 26L on a VFR flight plan in the Cessna 172, call sign C-GJYY, climbing to a cruising altitude of 2200' and flew over SFU, west along the North Shore mountains, and south over the Lions' Gate Bridge. The city was breathtakingly beautiful with all the city lights. Then it was into right-hand orbits over the downtown core starting over Coal Harbor, the Vancouver Convention Centre, and Gastown. Next was Chinatown, Science World, Rogers Arena, and BC Place which was illuminated in a striking blue that night. They next flew over False Creek and English Bay, finally approaching Stanley Park from the south.