Not many youngsters these days are learning to fly. Alexandra Johnston, aspiring pilot extraordinaire, who turns 17 this month, is the exception. She began flying three years ago at the age of 14, and recently was awarded the B.C. Aviation Council's Anderson Family Flight Training Scholarship, a $5,000 bursary. The money will allow her to complete her private pilot's license by the end of this summer.
Flying runs in Johnston's family. Her grandfather and great uncle were in the Air Force, and her uncle was a commercial pilot who flew floatplanes in Vancouver.
Tragically, her great uncle went MIA and her uncle died in a crash before she was born. Johnston says that doesn't faze her: "Once you start flying it's the most natural thing in the world," she said.
She doesn't think about crashing, but about problem solving. She seems like a youngster who is destined for success.
She first became interested in taking lessons when her mother, Beth Johnston, signed up for ground school and brought home flying books. When her mother quit because of a lack of time, Johnston thought maybe she could carry the torch.
Johnston is taking flying lessons with Glacier Air, usually with Colette Morin, the company's owner, though sometimes also with Francois Leh or Nicolas Potiron, who have been around longer. Johnston said she likes them because they are competent and they care. Morin's encouragement, in fact, prompted Johnston to apply for the scholarship.
She flies a blue-and-white Cessna 172, which she describes as "really fun."
She'll be a Grade 12 student at Howe Sound Secondary School this fall, and her pilot's licence will give her four credits toward her high school diploma. There are also scholarships and bursaries at the university level for aspiring commercial pilots. Eventually, she would like to pursue her commercial licence, provided her vision doesn't worsen (she wears contacts), and go to work for a humanitarian organization flying medical teams into Afghanistan or Africa.
"I couldn't do a desk job," she admitted. "I feel more energized after doing something involving risk. It requires more thinking."
Her training currently consists of circuits around the Squamish Airport and exercises that involve recovering from spins and spiral dives. It takes five to 10 minutes to circuit Brackendale.
Trainees have to log many circuiting hours before they are allowed to fly solo, which she hasn't done yet. Pilots also practice gliding and idling, as well as navigation, where they take longer flights and use a map and compass.
As part of Johnston's training, she'll have to log a certain number of kilometres away from her home base, meaning that eventually Johnston must fly solo to places like Chilliwack and back.
Her dream-plane is an F-47 fighter jet. She frequently watches a movie called Mayday which is about plane crashes. Despite the morbid content, she enjoys watching what goes wrong and thinking about how to fix it.
When asked if she's learned any transferable skills from flying, she responded, "You have to look way ahead into the distance, just like in driving. Being aware of surroundings, making sure you know what's going on."
It weirds people out when they find out she's taking flying lessons. They're usually not jealous, just surprised, she said.
When she's not flying she enjoys cooking, baking, and cycling. She reads fantasy post-apocalyptic, dystopian novels.
But of course, she was much less interested in talking about these activities that are secondary to her main passion: flying.
For more information on the Anderson Scholarship, check out B.C. Aviation Council's website.
