Brantford’s local airplane owners and pilots association, COPA 148, is gearing up for its annual Discover Aviation Day, held at the Brantford Municipal Airport, on Saturday, September 21, 2024.
During the event, up to 140 registered participants, ages 12 to 70, will receive a free complimentary flight and a pass to free online ground school training (for those looking to take up flying), as well as the chance to learn more about COPA scholarship opportunities
“Effectively, it’s plane owners and pilots donating their time and aircraft costs like fuel and such, to provide these flights and promote general aviation,” said Ed Johnston, President of the board for the Brantford Flying Club and an involved member of the COPA 148. “We all love to fly, so why not take somebody with us and maybe make a difference in their lives and their futures?”
Johnston said Discover Aviation Day will begin at 9:00 a.m. and participants will take turns going up in the air until the event ends at 3:00 p.m.
“Once our registrants start arriving and get signed in, we’ll have them come down to our ground school room for a little bit of a primer, so things like what flying is all about, things to look for and the safety briefing,” he said. “We actually do those in succession so we’ll do that first batch so they can get airside and get flying, and then we’ll move onto the next group and so on.”
Once three to four participants are up in the air, the pilots will take them on a 15 to 20 minute route before heading back and landing at the Brantford Municipal Airport.
“We’ll be doing a little triangular route from Brantford to a small airport and then we’ll cut over to another one before we head back,” said Johnston. “The actual flight time in the air will be somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes, but in all it’s about 30 minutes including the time it takes to get them on board, the safety briefing at the plane and getting them disembarked.”
As the Chief Pilot for the event, Johnston said that while the day is all about the love of flying and sharing those experiences, when it comes to taking up their guests, safety is of the utmost importance.
“There’s a huge safety aspect on the day and so every pilot has to have a background check and all the aircrafts by law have to be safetied and insured, and top of that we also have insurance for the event,” he said. “We do all this with a mantra of safety, comfort and visibility. Obviously, safety is paramount for us so we prefer a nice day where it’s not too turbulent and it’s comfortable for everyone. Then of course, you want to see stuff; it’s just amazing what you can see from the air and some people get to see their homes or they get a better view of the farmland and then you also get to see Lake Erie in the distance too.”
Johnston said that overall, with anywhere between six to 10 ten volunteer pilots, attendees can expect to see a variety of different general aviation aircrafts, and will get an up close at the process of flying.
“Once we have people in the skies, whoever is sitting right seat in the front, will often actually have a chance to put their hands on the controls and check it out,” he said. “Landings in a general aviation aircraft, compared to an airliner, are also really fun because you actually see the runway as you approach it and so you really get to hear everything and see everything… it’s really quite an experience that we’re happy to share.”
For anyone looking to learn more about the event, pre-registration is required and is now open at https://discoveraviation.org/CYFD/index.php
