Holding Short

Episode 35- Allison Couch

Episode 35 is out today with guest Allison Couch! This episode was recorded for this year's Candian Women in Aviation Virtual Symposium, where it is available to stream in video format. All of this year's virtual symposium content will be available to stream until April 2022. For more information, please visit CWIA's website, or find CWIA on social media @cwiacommunity. 

 

At an early age, Allison was introduced up-close to the intricate details of airplanes by her father, as he was an aircraft maintenance engineer.  “I vividly recall the excitement of attending air shows with the roar of jet engines contrasting with the tranquility of a glider display.  I have been hooked ever since,” reflects Allison Couch about her early days growing up.

Since graduating from the aviation management program at Georgian College, she has held diverse, international job experiences with Emirates Airlines, Skyservice Business Aviation and Ornge Air.  As Allison explains, “I learned how to work as an integrated team member with colleagues from a multitude of cultures and backgrounds.”

Two years ago, Allison made the bold decision to transition her career from flight attendant to commercial pilot.  She left her job with Emirates Airlines and enrolled in the Integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence program at the Brampton Flight Centre.  She graduated in April of this year and is now flying as First Officer on a Pilatus PC-12 for a corporate operator.  In addition, she fulfills the role as their company Safety Manager.

Allison holds a Master’s Degree in Aviation Management, and can be found on Instagram @pilot.allison and Linkedin.

Episode 34- Jon Lee of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Episode 34 is out today with guest Jon Lee!

Jon Lee is the Regional Manager for Western Canada at the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada located in Edmonton, Alberta. He has worked for the Board since 1999 as an aircraft accident investigator and has been the Manager at the Edmonton office since 2004. He has been involved in over 50 investigations as Investigator-In-Charge (IIC) or 2IC where the Board has issued a report with findings as to cause and contributing factors. Jon has had the fortunate opportunity to support the TSB mandate by participating in foreign investigations that involve Canadian aerospace products and has worked with the NTSB (USA), ASC (Taiwan), AAIRB (Korea), AAIB (Singapore), AAIB (Mongolia), BFU (Switzerland), and AAIB (Finland).

Prior to accident investigation, Jon gained industry experience as a pilot in various types of operations from regional airlines to transcontinental cargo to MEDEVAC and flight instruction. He has flown over 35 types of aircraft and has accumulated 6500 flight hours. He maintains a valid and current Airline Transport Pilot License.

Jon can be found on LinkedIn. The TSB can be found on their website (www.tsb.gc.ca) as well as social media including Linkedin, and Facebook.

Episode 33- Aaron Doherty

Aaron Doherty has been fascinated by everything associated with the sky above us his entire life, with both flying and learning being at the forefront of his interests. It makes sense then, that once he found himself in aviation he was drawn to instructing as he began working with Harv’s Air. 

Aaron enjoys learning, and brings his enthusiasm for knowledge to his teaching, both in the airplane and on the ground. For him, the teaching aspect of flight training is almost as much fun as flying itself, and his work through PilotTraining.ca and Harv's Air has guided many aviators as they make their journey towards the heavens above.

In fact, Holding Short’s entire production team has been instructed by Aaron through PilotTraining.ca, without ever having been in the same class room! One of the most recognizable ground school instructors in Canada, we are so excited to have him join us!

For more information on courses available through pilottraining.ca, please visit their website (www.pilottraining.ca) or you can find Harv's Air on Facebook @harvsair and Instagram @harvsairschool and Harv's Air Inverted on Facebook and Instagram @Harvsairinverted

Episode 32- Dr. Farah Alibay

Dr. Farah Alibay has been a Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the past seven years. She is currently a system engineer on the Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. She has held a number of tasks on this mission, including testing its mobility system, supporting preparations for surface operations, and now leading tactical shifts during surface operations as well as being the operations interface with the Mars Helicopter technology demonstration: Ingenuity. Ingenuity performed the first powered flight on another planet in April 2021. 

Prior to joining the M2020 team, Dr. Alibay worked on the inSight Mars Lander, as well as its companion: the Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats. 

Dr. Alibay possesses an undergraduate and master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in the U.K., and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in Aerospace Engineering.

Dr. Farah Alibay can be found on Instagram @trifarahtops and on Twitter @farahalibay. Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory can be found on their website, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @nasajpl.

Episode 31- Renée Dupont-Adam

Entering the world in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Renée Dupont-Adam had her first flight over the mountain ranges with her dad at the age of 3 weeks old and from there, she was hooked!  Always being a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl, she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Her father, Gordon Dupont, is the  inventor of the Dirty Dozen and lovingly known as “the father of the Dirty Dozen”; as such, Renée takes great pride in being the “sister of the Dirty Dozen”.

The Dirty Dozen is a list of preconditions that can cause any of us to make the error(s) we never intend to make. They are: Complacency, Distraction, Fatigue, Pressure, Stress, Norms, Lack of Communication, Lack of Knowledge, Lack of Teamwork, Lack of Resources, Lack of Assertiveness, and Lack of Awareness.

Renée spent her whole life involved in aviation, from holding a private pilot licence to presenting the First World Conference on Maintenance Errors and Their Prevention. She held the position of Editor for “Ground Effects” on behalf of MARSS (Maintenance and Ramp Safety Society), ran PAMEA (Pacific Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association) and in 2008 joined her father at System Safety Services, becoming their CEO in 2020.

Currently Renée continues to facilitate workshops all over the world in the interest of furthering safety awareness, and helping engineers and companies develop “Safety Nets” to lessen the occurrence of making the mistakes they don’t intend to make. Renée and the team at System Safety are best contacted through their website at https://www.system-safety.com/.

Episode 30- Anna Pangrazzi

Anna Pangrazzi received her Private Pilot Licence in 1977, later completing her commercial licence, and instrument, multi-engine and float ratings. She graduated from York University with a B.A. in Economics in 1985 and completed a degree in Humanities in 2002.

All of this she has done in addition to accumulating extensive flying experience all over Canada and North America as the President and Founder of Apex Aircraft Sales, founded in 1988. Anna also became an agent for the sale of new Cessna Aircraft for Leggat Aviation Inc. in 1996 and would go on to receive the Robert Ames Gold CSTAR Award from Cessna, for Excellence in Retail Sales in 2000 and 2001. More recently, she and Leggat Aviation Ltd. were named the Eastern Canada Sales Representative for the Cessna Caravan.

Anna is a long-time member of the International Organization of Women Pilot’s and The Ninety Nines, continuing to be active in the First Canadian Chapter having held various offices over the years.  She has previously been the Governor of the East Canada Section and also the head of Operation Skywatch: a joint program encompassing the flight monitoring and photographing of land, water and air pollution in Ontario by volunteer pilots of the Ninety-Nines in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment from 1985-1988.

In addition to her numerous professional roles, Anna volunteers her time as Vice-President of the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, an organization formed in 2009 to recognize women who have made significant contributions to Aviation and Aerospace in Canada.

In 2013, Anna received the Governor’s Service Award from the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines. In 2014, she was inducted into the Ninety-Nines International Forest of Friendship. She has also been recognized by the 2013 Women’s Courage Awards in the Amelia Earhart category and has been recognized by the Women of Influence organization as a Diversity Champion for her work on the Northern Lights Aero Foundation. She has also previously been Director for the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame. 

A member of AOPA, COPA, WIA (Women in Aviation International), WOAW (Women of Aviation Week) and WIA-C (Women in Aerospace – Canada), a Director on the Board for Hope Air, and the current co-chair of Rally for the Cure for the Ewings Cancer Foundation, Anna is busy coordinating events and air rallies across Canada. She lives in Toronto and has one son, Jesse.

The Northern Lights Aero Foundation can be found on their website (https://northernlightsaerofoundation.com/), Instagram @northernlightsaero, and Facebook @northernlightsaero. Apex Aircraft Sales can be found on their website (www.apexaircraft.com), Instagram @apexaircraft and Facebook @apexaircraftsales.  Anna can be found on LinkedIn. 

Episode 29- Reilly Henri of Flare Aviation

Reilly Henri is a 21 year-old pilot from Kitchener, Ontario who just completed his CPL out of Waterloo Int airport. Reilly began dreaming of being a pilot at age 8 and by 12 years old he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. After his three years in the cadet program he knew that flying was something he wanted to pursue professionally. He started his flight training at Sault College in 2018 and after a year ended up returning back to Waterloo where he continued his training. Reilly currently works for a medevac operator as an aircraft groomer and hopes to start his career with them before pursuing a flying role at an airline. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Reilly created the “Flare Aviation” podcast which allowed him to stay connected with the aviation community and continue to learn and grow as an aviator. As he moves forward with his training his main goal is to continue learning as much as possible and taking every opportunity to grow into the best pilot he can be.

Reilly and The Flare Aviation Podcast can be found on Instagram @flare_aviation or through his link page (https://instabio.cc/20603OmX59h).

Episode 28- Warwick Patterson

Growing up, aeroplanes were an obsession for Warwick, and he has it on good authority that “airplane” was his first word. He was fortunate enough to grow up flying in his father’s plane, in addition to spending time as an Air Cadet, and so he felt entirely comfortable around aviation. In spite of  this, he didn’t earn his PPL until 2017 when he was in his mid-thirties. The month after his flight test, he partnered with a friend on a Cessna 172 and hasn’t looked back. As someone exposed to aviation at an early age, Warwick often wonders why it took him so long to get into it. This is partly why he finds himself getting involved with organizations like COPA and the BC General Aviation Association, to try and connect people who have a passion for aviation with the opportunities available.

 

For over 20 years, Warwick has been the owner of Formula Photographic Inc., a production company specializing in documentary and automotive films. During the pandemic he started the Flying BC podcast and video series as a means to further explore the aviation community. He admits he tends to dive head first into what he's passionate about, and video and photography is how he can best express and share those passions with others.

 

He’s currently working on his CPL now, and then will move on to flight instructing, with his long term goal being to open a specialty flying school, and maybe convince someone to let him fly their warbirds!

Warwick and the FlyingBC podcast can be found on their website www.flyingbc.com, on Instagram @flyingbritishcolumbia, on Facbeook at Flying BC , Youtube, and all major podcast streaming services. 

Episode 27- Brian Murray and Scott Holmes from Deadstick Radio

This episode we interview the crew behind Deadstick Radio! Brian Murray and Scott Holmes started their podcast project with the goal of sharing aviation stories that haven’t been heard before. They draw on their own wide variety of experience, from flying gliders, air racing, and building experimental aircraft, to interview people from across the country, and around the world.

Brian Murray has always had aviation in his blood. He started his aviation journey in flight simulators as a kid and worked his way up through RC aircraft, gliders and now holds a private license. Brian is the proud owner of a Lake Buccaneer, which he hopes to take around the world. 

Brian's career has been marked by an entrepreneurial drive, and a desire to leave aviation better than he found it. He now hosts two podcasts, and a YouTube channel that focuses on aviation technology and amphibious adventures. Brian has also written several successful mobile apps, including a Glider navigation and optimization app. 

 

Scott Holmes has been flying since before he could drive. Starting in the Air Cadet Program and finishing his PPL in high school, Scott soon set his sights on learning to fly aerobatic aircraft while studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. After graduation, he looked to a new challenge… air racing: a sport that requires engineering, aircraft construction, and high performance flying to be successful.

Scott now races in the Formula 1 class at the Reno Air Races and globally in the Air Race 1 World Series. He is also working on two aircraft development projects. The first is his electric Cassutt conversion, and the second is a unique racing aircraft being purpose built to challenge speed, altitude, and distance records

Deadstick Radio can be found on many streaming services, including YouTube, podbean, Spotify, Google podcasts, and Apple podcasts. They are also on Facebook and Instagram @deadstickradio. Brian is on YouTube under Brian Murray, as well as Instagram @intheblueyonder. Scott is on Instagram @holmes540, and his race team, Outlaw Air Racing is on Facebook.

Episode 26- Nour Utayim

Nour Utayim, who is currently a flight instructor in Montreal Canada had no idea what the future held for her 4 years ago before she came to Canada as a Syrian refugee. A leap, she says, that brought her across the globe and above the stars.

Nour comes from a family of pilots. Both her dad and grandpa were airline captains in her home country Syria, who inspired her to become a pilot at any cost. After realizing her dream was far from being close, she went to study Architectural engineering in Beirut. In 2017 she was selected to be part of the Syrian Refugees Resettlement Initiative in Canada.

Upon her arrival, She started learning French and looking for a job while applying to local universities. It was then she realized that she could finally make her dream come true and she started flight lessons. 6 months later Nour obtained her PPL, had her eyes set on doing the commercial license and the instructor rating. She now enjoys instructing full time and finds a lot of happiness in sharing her passion with student pilots and hopes to become an airline pilot in Canada one day.

Nour can be found on Instagram @nourutayim.