Sightseeing flights a hit at aviation camp

Sightseeing flights around Thunder Bay were a hit for many youth at Wasaya Airway’s Pimesaywii Apitamahkaywin First Nations Youth Aviation Camp.
“It was fun,” said Weagamow’s Jayden Williams. “We were on the plane (for) most likely half an hour. (We saw) the Sleeping Giant.”
Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug’s Barry McKay also enjoyed the opportunity to fly a Cessna 172 for a while during his sightseeing flight to Kakabeka Falls.
“We had a competition with some paper airplanes and learned a little bit about lift,” said Stephane Therrien, one of the aviation camp leaders and a first-year flight management student at Confederation College. “Whoever got the longest got to sit in the front seat. And a few of the students got to take control of the plane for a few minutes.”
Kasabonika’s Dominik Albany was one of the youth who won the privilege of flying in the co-pilot’s seat of a Cessna 172. He won by flying his paper airplane the furthest during the paper airplane contest on the first day of the aviation camp.
“It felt pretty good — I knew I would be the winner,” Albany said about his paper airplane’s extra-long flight right outside of the hangar — the only paper airplane to do so.
Bearskin Lake’s Shane McKay enjoyed flying a remote control plane around the Sports Dome in Thunder Bay.
“We had a remote control and we flew a little plane around,” McKay said. “A couple of times I crashed.”
In addition to sightseeing flights, the paper airplane competition and flying remote control airplanes, the youth took part in a wide variety of activities during the aviation camp, including the designing, building and launching of bottle rockets. They also received instruction on the theory of flight, an introduction to careers in aviation, a pilot decision-making survival activity and turbine runs and piston runs at the Confederation College Aviation Centre of Excellence.
The youth took tours of the maintenance and flight sections of the ACE, Wasaya Airways prop shop and maintenance and flight operations, the Ornge medical transport base and Ministry of Natural Resources fire operations base in Thunder Bay.
A movie outing to the Silver City cinema, a paintball outing and a Mount McKay hike were also included in the July 23-27 aviation camp.
“At Wasaya we are dedicated to supporting Aboriginal youth excellence, continuing education, and we are also avid enthusiasts in giving back to the communities in which we live and operate,” said Tom Morris, Wasaya Airway’s CEO/president. “Therefore, it is very gratifying to us as a company to offer a program that provides our youth with the opportunity to explore potential careers in aviation, furthering their education, ensuring their success in the future.”
Held for five days each year during July, the aviation camp focuses on providing 13 to 15-year-old First Nations youth with an exposure to potential careers in the aviation field. This year’s camp was a joint initiative between Wasaya Airways, the Kenny Foundation, Confederation College Aviation Centre of Excellence, Negahneewin College of Academic and Community Development and Wasaya Wee-Chee-Way-Win.
“They are here because they show an interest in (aviation),” Therrien said about the youth. “We just want to nurture them and let them know there are lots of jobs available in that industry. Hopefully, they will leave with a better understanding and even more interest than they came here with.”
Youth were provided with opportunities to observe aircraft up close and in action, experience flight simulators, interact with pilots, mechanics and Confederation College students and learn about flying and aircraft repair.