Eagle's Wings Flight School

We invite all of our 2020 graduates and any prospective students to mark your calendars for Thursday, November 5th and attend a virtual aviation career fair hosted by one of our amazing sponsors, Manitoba Aerospace. The morning panel begins at 9am and we'll hear speakers from post-secondary and flight training programs across Manitoba. The afternoon sessions will feature guest speakers who are now working in the aerospace sector, including Ms. Raven Beardy who the EWFS students got to meet during our ground school this past July. Spread the word and invite any and all youth who may be considering our summer flight program for 2021, or any who may be contemplating a career in the aerospace sector. Registration information in the link:

Here’s to our MVP, ‘The Beast’ as she was affectionately named, when quite honestly, a name like ‘Tinkerbell’ would be more fitting. She flew more than 80 hours over three weeks this summer, and now it’s time to get her ready for a long winter’s nap. Josh, Billy, and one of our student graduates spent the afternoon down at Southport taking the wings off and getting her ready for storage. We have a couple of overhaul projects planned for the winter, which will put us in a great spot to fly non-stop again with next summer’s class of student pilots.

Congratulations to our class of 2020 graduates! https://www.skiesmag.com//student-pilots-graduate-eagles-/

It rained and it poured, and we ended up cutting our guest list in half at the last minute to celebrate the first class of EWFS Graduates indoors with just their families. Thank you to the sponsors and volunteers who we had to cancel on at the last minute, we wanted to recognize your support and know you wanted to be there this morning. Graduates, rest in your enormous accomplishment this summer, and we wish you nothing but more success ahead as you return to school in the fa...ll. Stay in touch and wear those wings proudly. Thank you Gayle Loewen for capturing some really special moments today.

It’s graduation day! We’re following public health regulations and holding our ceremony outdoors on the lawn of the Rufus Prince Building at Keeshkeemaquah. The Long Plain Prevention team was gracious enough to set up a teepee for our event. We started our flying program on Saturday, August 1st and had a 12 day streak of magnificent weather so we’re hopeful today's rain will hold off until we’re done celebrating our EWFS Class of 2020!

The last two of our students are flying their final flights today! This afternoon we’re celebrating an incredible two weeks together with a pizza party/pool tournament and a screening of Top Gun. We did get a ‘That movie is older than my grandma!' comment, so we'll see how it goes. Our team is working with DOCFS on planning and preparing for tomorrow's graduation ceremony when we'll publicly recognize the achievements of these six young leaders.

He set his alarm early, and by 8:30 this morning, the first of our six students had flown his final 1.3 in ‘The Beast’ as instructor Ken so aptly named the ultralight a few weeks ago. Congratulations Cayden on your outstanding dedication, the early morning wake up calls, and for charting a new path for your future. We are privileged and honoured to have gotten to know you, and watched you develop a new skillset, flying a real airplane after years spent on a simulator! We know you will continue on to achieve great things as you head into Grade 12. Way to go!

There are so many incredible career opportunities in aviation that often get overlooked. Today our class had a chance to learn all about the very important role of an Air Traffic Controller. Our students have been talking to the team at the Southport Control Tower over the radio a lot this week, and it was fun to learn more about it. A highlight for the group was watching one of their classmates descend and land his flight. Thank you Mike Hnatiuk for sharing your cool job with us, for broadening the horizon for these young people, and for helping them to dream big about what a future in aviation might look like.

The weather is perfect for our student cross country trips this weekend. This morning one of our six flew over his hometown Steinbach, and did some scenic sight seeing in Winnipeg on his return to Southport.

This weekend our students are diving into plotting and planning cross country trips to their chosen destinations, many heading back home in the ultralight to do some flybys over their communities. We're also looking forward to a Control Tower tour at Southport Aerospace!

https://www.thegraphicleader.com//six-indigenous-youth-tak

Today we had the pleasure of hosting a journalist from CTV Winnipeg at YFC Portage for lunch and our pre-flight mass brief. He joined our instructors and a student pilot down at Southport and got some great footage. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2008456 None of this would be possible with out the incredible support and generosity of our sponsors who share our mission to inspire at-risk youth to explore their innate gifts, build self-confidence, and develop practical life-skills through aviation training.

Last week during Dakota Ojibway Child & Family Service's Cultural Awareness sessions, Alana shared that for Indigeonous people, the eagle holds a place of great honour and respect. It is known to be the messenger to The Creator. It flies the highest in the sky and is therefore the closest to Heaven. Watching another student take off and reach for the heavens doesn't get old.

Our 2020 class of student aviators range from 14 - 18yrs old. Our hope is that their accomplishments in the air with us will inspire these youth as they achieve even bigger things in the years ahead, graduate high school, and pursue their passions in whatever careers they may choose. These young people are capable, they are confident and they are well equipped to chase after their dreams. One of the six celebrated his birthday today by taking off all on his own and learning the art of landing. Next up, our students are designing and planning for their very own ’cross country’ trips which they’ll begin to fly in a few days. We’ve got participants from as far away as Roseau River First Nation and Canupawakpa First Nation who are looking forward to flying over their home communities.

Day 2 of student flights is in the books! We had some of our young people take off on their own today, and those who were selected from our local First Nations have been flying over their Grandmas, Grandpas and Aunties houses! We are so blessed that our students have their own communities and families cheering them on as they achieve big things! Our instructors and volunteers are having the time of their lives and we need to thank our sponsors who are making this all possible. Today, we’ll begin with the folks down at Southport who are hangaring our ultralight for us and allowing us to operate out of their airspace. Canada Catering Limited is providing meals for us throughout the entire training program, KF Aero and CBO have also been big supporters along the way. Thank you!

An 8:00am take-off time came early for our first student this morning, and the rest of the class has been flying out of Southport all day. It's emotional to say the least, and seeing these young people pursue their passion and try flying for the first time has been incredibly inspiring and rewarding for all who have the privilege of being involved. Thank you to the friends and family down on the ground who came out to cheer them on! ... (Photo credit: Pete Musters)

Today we wrapped up our cultural awareness and ground school training at Dakota Plains School, and now our students have nothing but blue skies ahead! Our resident cultural expert, Alana Daniels, shared this morning on behalf of DOCFS and highlighted some of the incredibly progressive economic, social and legal advances taking place today in Indigenous communities across our nation. Our students and volunteers are now well equipped to educate ourselves on the various topics ...we’ve touched on this week, and we’re looking forward to starting with some of her recommended reading. This afternoon we had another friend come out to teach our final ground school session on subjects like radio communications, airport operations and airmanship. Thank you Stephen Ross! Tomorrow each student will have their first flight, for some, it will be their very first experience in an airplane. Keep your eyes peeled for our red, yellow and white ultralight as we’ll be in and out of Southport all day for the next couple of weeks!

This morning our students and volunteers had the privilege of diving into a teaching session around Treaties and the history of the Indian Act. We learned about some of the difficult realities that were part of European colonization in Canada, but we also found great hope for the future in the healing and relationship building that we’ve witnessed over our lifetimes in our region, province and country. Teaching like this and hearing the truths and stories of our Indigenous ...friends and neighbours are the first steps in this great mission of reconciliation that we at EWFS are proud to be a part of. Raven Beardy, originally from Shamattawa in Northern Manitoba, is living her dream as a commercial pilot in Winnipeg and was eager to make the trip out and share her personal experience with our students. This woman is an overcomer like no other, and despite many obstacles and years of putting in her time working in aviation in ground support, she persisted and now proudly calls her self Captain Beardy. This afternoon, we were fortunate to have Dan Conway, an RCAF flight instructor volunteer his time to teach our ground school session on all things weather which will come in handy this Saturday as we prepare for our first FLIGHTS!

We want to thank Dakota Plains First Nation for their generous support and for providing a phenomenal facility where we hosted DAY ONE of our first ever EWFS Ground School. The space was perfect for our time this morning spent learning about traditional medicines and ceremonies from Alana Daniels on behalf of Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services. Some of the basic principles that Instructor Ken Baker covered in this afternoon's flight-related teaching were the four forces of flight, and an introduction to engine operations and flight controls. Stay tuned, there's lots more to come!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! https://www.skiesmag.com//six-indigenous-youth-from-sout/

Our volunteer maintainers have been hard at work and the airplane has undergone a thorough maintenance inspection over the past couple of weeks. Josh was kind enough to share his view this morning on his flight back to Southport.

We're excited about the launch of our WEBSITE! Check it out, meet our team, and learn more about our summer flight training program. We'll be starting ground school in exactly two weeks. https://eagleswingsflightschool.ca/ Also, who doesn't love a nice sunrise shot of the runway?