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KF Aerospace Expands

KF Aerospace will undergo major expansion in Kelowna

KF Aerospace will hire 90 employees in coming months to cover a major expansion in its maintenance and cargo conversion business.

The company has signed a deal with Aeronautical Engineers Inc. which holds the engineering rights for installing cargo doors on Boeing 737-400 and 800 passenger aircraft as well as MD80 and CRJ models. The Kelowna-based KF Aerospace will do the conversions on AEI’s behalf.

KF Aerospace also won a contract from Vx Capital to do conversions on up to 19 737s owned by Vx Capital.

“Even better, we still have a few other announcements pending over the next few weeks – all good news,” said Grant Stevens, KF Aerospace’s director of human resources.

KF Aerospace fell on hard times two years ago when it lost the contract to carry freight for Canada Post and Purolator. The company refocused on its maintenance business and earned deals to convert WestJet airliners from seatback televisions to online entertainment systems.

As part of the expansion, the company is building a new hangar at Kelowna International Airport.

Hawk One For Sale

Hawk One is for sale for $1million.

Vintage Wings of Canada is selling Hawk One, its Canadair MK-V Sabre that has been used as an air demonstration aircraft since 2009.

The airplane was originally restored as a tribute to the centennial of powered flight in Canada in 2009. Vintage Wings has flown the aircraft at air shows in the intervening years but it hasn’t flown since 2015.

It was flown by astronaut Chris Hadfield at the reenactment of the flight of the Silver Dart in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in 2009.

The nonprofit foundation that ran Vintage Wings’ flight ops has been restructured and it would appear the notoriously thirsty Sabre is a casualty of that. The aircraft is being sold by Courtesy Aircraft Sales in Rockford, Illinois.

The Sabre in question was built in Canada and has the more powerful Orenda 14 engine that is favoured by fans of the airplane. It served in the Royal Canadian Air Force until 1968.

The airplane was owned by EAA in the 1990s and flown in U.S. Air Force colours. The aircraft has had a lot of work, including a rebuilt engine, modern avionics, updated ejection seat and dozens of other items far exceeding the asking price of $1 million CAD. It has 3,506 hours TT and 363 hours since its restoration.

17 WOAW Events in Canada

Participants show their certificates after a flight.

Canadian volunteers staged 17 events in the annual Women of Aviation Worldwide Week in early March as part of a global effort to expose women to aviation.

A total of 53,000 girls and women at 148 events all over the world jumped at the opportunity to visit local industry facilities, attend multi-faceted events, meet female role models, try various skills, hands-on, and check out static aircraft displays. A total of 9,056, went on a Fly It Forward flight – an introductory flight for women and girls who have not previously flown on any small aircraft.

The week organized by the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) aims to address the air and space’s industry deeply rooted gender imbalance by inviting girls of all ages to discover the industry’s careers and hobbies within a welcoming environment and familiarizing them with women’s past and present contributions.

Studies and iWOAW’s annual feedback surveys show that women and girls are unlikely to consider the industry’s technical careers traditionally presented as men’s jobs without an explicit invitation to do so.

Since 2010, iWOAW’s Fly It Forward Challenge and Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week initiatives have successfully changed perceptions. For more than 80 percent of nearly 200,000 participants to date, the impact went beyond a perception shift; it was life changing. In fact, 64% are now considering a career or hobby in the industry.

No participating airport anywhere in the world introduced more women and girls to flying than Albuquerque International Sunport did. It wins the 2017 Most Female Pilot Friendly Airport Worldwide title. Runner ups in the airport category are the Lachute Airport, QC, Canada and the Brampton-Caledon Airport, ON, Canada.

Hosting a one-day event including a fully fledged conference, many industry booths, activities spanning across two airports and coordinating as many as 170 flight introductions per hour, Marguerite Varin of Lachute, QC, Canada is this year’s Most Productive Organizer Worldwide in the flying event category.

Correction

We goofed big time last week when we said the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame was awarding its Belt of Orion Award for Excellence to the Snowbirds. The team earned that in 1994. This year, their predecessors the Golden Hawks will get the award. We apologize for the error.