Welcome to another edition of The Buzz. Sit back, relax, enjoy… welcome to the weekend.
While I’ve been lucky in my life, it hasn’t all been roses. I didn’t finish high school; I never went to university… and then I failed in my first great love: wanting to be a pilot in the Canadian Navy. I made it through primary flying school, single-engine Chipmunk aircraft at Camp Borden in Ontario. But not so lucky when I started flying multi-engine C-45s at Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Those were the days when the armed forces were flush with Air Force pilots flying all kinds of fixed-wing aircraft, jet fighters, and helicopters; and the navy flying their helicopters and fixed-wing “Trackers” off the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure (yes, we had a carrier back then).
These aren’t the days though for pilots training in the Canadian forces. Because of budgets, cutbacks, and government decisions, the distinguished history of pilot training in Canada that spans two World Wars is about to change. Once known because of our vast and often flat landscape as one giant runway, would-be Canadian pilots will now have to go as far away as Finland to learn to fly. No more Bordens, Portages, Moose Jaws, and the rest anymore. Now it will be Texas, Italy and, as mentioned, Finland for training.
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