Local air cadets see two more success stories

The local 908 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron has begun a new year—and is looking for new recruits.
And if anyone ever needed examples of what heights air cadets can soar to, they need not look further than flight sergeants Ryan Wood and Jordan Manty.
At training camps over the summer, Wood passed the test to get his glider pilot’s licence while Manty, who was the first-ever local air cadet to get a glider licence last year, earned his private pilot’s licence.
Wood, who will turn 17 next month, attended the Regional Gliding School in Gimli, Man. for six weeks this past summer.
“A lot of people don’t like to think of glider [flight training] as a stepping stone to power [flight training]. Gliding is flying all in itself,” he remarked. “It’s a lot of fun. You learn a lot about it.
“I’m using it as an opportunity to get to fly and learn, and then hopefully go on to power next summer.
“To have both opportunities is a big deal to me,” added Wood.
He admitted the course was a lot of work, divided equally between flying time and ground school, with cadets only getting Sundays off. Flying was done with an instructor at first, and eventually solo.
Passing the course includes a written exam as well as completing 20 takeoffs and landings, and a final flight test with a standards pilot who marks the cadets on everything they do.
“It pays off in the end after passing that big exam. Being able to go up and already practice the stuff you know,” said Wood. “If you love flying, it’s a reward every time you get up there.
“It’s worth it all.”
Wood said being an air cadet for four years, getting his glider licence was a sort of defining moment in his squadron career.
“When I joined, I was already interested in aviation and it was just a bonus have this kind of opportunity,” he remarked. “It’s definitely a payoff. I can’t thank the [Air Cadet League of Canada] enough.”
Unfortunately, Wood said he probably won’t be able to glide as often he’d like now that the course is over.
“The closest gliding centre is in Thunder Bay, so it’s kinda tough to get down there,” he said. “Jordan and I already went down there once to fly for a weekend. We got about three flights each, and it’s a winch-tow system, so it was minutes, not hours, we got.
“But it was a good trip.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get down there as a whole squadron to help out as staff there when we can,” added Wood. “Four hours away is tough when you love to fly.”
Wood said he fully intends to apply to get into the power training course next summer. As far as long-term goals to be a commercial pilot, he said that while he’s entertained such thoughts in the past, he’s likely going to be a mechanical engineering millwright.
But Wood is very interested in having a plane for recreational use, and may end up going “halfers” on one with Manty somewhere down the road.
Meanwhile, Manty, 17, got his private pilot’s licence after attending Harv’s Air flying school in St. Andrew’s, Man. over the summer. Unlike the glider training, the Air Cadet League contracts out its power training to civilian flying schools.
Having got his glider licence last year, Manty said the course again was divided into ground school and flying. But that’s where the similarities ended.
While a glider flight might last up to minutes and the cadets get three flights a day, power flights range from 20 minutes to more than three hours for cross-country flights from airport to airport.
Manty did the latter once with an instructor and once by himself.
In addition to actually flying the plane, each flight involves coming up with a flight plan beforehand, checking the plane for mechanical problems and fuel, as well as dealing with air traffic control, to name just a few things.
“It’s a lot more complicated than gliding in that way,” he noted.
Manty recalled that flying his first solo flight and his solo cross-country trip were the most exciting parts of the course. “And probably passing the written exam—that was a milestone, as well,” he remarked.
“It’s nerve-wracking. That exam is a big thing—it decides whether you get your wings or not,” chimed in Wood. “So there’s a lot of studying, a lot of hesitation going into the exam, second-guessing, all that kind of stuff.”
In addition to having at least 45 hours of flying under his belt (Manty has 49.9), passing the power training course included an hour-and-a-half interview followed by a lengthy flight test, where Manty was tested at making decisions on the fly as well as his piloting skills.
“When you get back down, the examiner goes over the whole test with you,” he said. “When they say that you passed, it’s like the best feeling in the world. There’s a weight off your shoulders.”
Having earned his private pilot’s licence, Manty now is able to fly non-commercial single engine aircraft (wheels only, no floats or skis).
Personal aircraft ownership may be “a long ways away,” but Manty said he may become a commercial pilot and is looking at attending the Aviation Centre of Excellence at Confederation College in Thunder Bay.
As an air cadet, Wood and Manty agreed it takes a lot of hard work to get to getting their wings.
“All the cadets start at Level One, which is basic cadet knowledge, and then you go through the years,” said Wood. “If you show up, have a good attendance, a good attitude, you go through Level Two, Level Three, Level Four, and you learn more and more.
“Through those years, you get opportunities to go to camps and try different things,” he added. “There’s so many different types of camps. Music, survival, flight, anything.
“You get experience and you get to the scholarship programs, which are the glider and power summer training courses.”
While lower level camps are not so stringent with admissions, both Wood and Manty had to send in formal applications and go through an interview process to be admitted into their respective courses.
Aspects such as cadets’ school grades also are considered.
“Then, the Air Cadet League of Canada will look at you and look at other candidates and choose who gets to go to there camps,” said Wood. “The [federal government] is putting a lot of money and effort into sending kids away, and hopefully it’s going to the right person.”
Only a relatively small number of cadets from across Canada are picked to go to the flight training courses. Just three from Northwestern Ontario were picked this year to go to glider school while only two were chosen for power training.
The local 908 Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron is looking for new recruits, and Wood and Manty said not everyone who joins has to have dreams of becoming a pilot.
“There’s so much more to air cadets than just flying. You don’t have to be interested to join,” said Wood, adding cadets learn about everything from survival to leadership to marksmanship to preparing classes.
“It’s a really great program,” added Wood. “I highly recommend it for kids 12 and up.”
“One of the biggest advantages to the cadets program is it’s an equalizer,” said civilian instructor Doug MacDonald, an adult volunteer and local pilot.
“Your parents can be the richest people in town or the poorest people in town, but as soon as you put on that uniform, you’re treated based on your merits—how you act, how you treat others.
“There’s no social status here,” MacDonald stressed.
There is no cost to be an air cadet. The uniforms are provided by National Defence while the local cadet squadron raises funds for activities.
Joining the air cadets is easy. The squadron meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Memorial Sports Centre, and those interested can just show up.
Any youths aged 12-18 are invited to join. Cadets must leave the squadron when they turn 19.
“It’s phenomenal to see these kids develop,” said MacDonald, adding the cadets get a boost in maturity. “It gives them a leg up on the competition when it comes to going off to school.”
MacDonald also said parent volunteers are needed to help run activities and sit on various air cadet committees, such as fundraising.
If you can’t drop by, call the squadron at 274-1365 (Wednesday evenings only) for more information.