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Competition finalists, from left: Jamie Feher – Manitoba Region – Harv’s Air; Zhaoyang David Shi – Atlanic Region – Moncton Flight College; Gabriel Kim – Eastern Ontario Region – Seneca College; Jack Bradshaw – Central Ontario region – Brampton Flight Centre; Matthew White – Alberta Region – Excel Flight Training; Alexandre Laplante – Quebec Region – Lachute Aviation; Simon Horlick – British Columbia Region – Pacific Flying Club; Mark Ehrenfellner – Western Ontario Region – Confederation College; Duncan Starling – Saskatchewan Region – Millenium Aviation. Webster Trophy Competition Photo
The Pacific Flying Club out of the Boundary Bay Airport in Delta, B.C, hosted the 2015 Webster Trophy Competition. The Webster Team cannot commend the staff of the host club enough. They were outstanding right from the early preparation up to the conclusion of the competition. A special accolade goes to Pat Kennedy for all her effort, time and dedication to ensuring that Webster was a success. We in turn were honoured to be part of their 50th anniversary celebrations
With a small delay of about two hours total for a deterioration in visibility in one instance and high winds in the other, the weather was exceptional for the entire week. The departure and return procedures for the practice areas at the Boundary Bay airport are challenging for the uninitiated and required a specific briefing from PFC staff prior to launching the competition flights, but all went well thanks to their detailed advice.
Webster week for the finalists includes more than just a competition. We strive to give them a good time while they are at the competition site and this year was no exception. The finalists got to tour the Jazz facility at the Vancouver airport on Tuesday evening. This was followed by a very well attended reception to celebrate the Pacific Flying Club’s 50th on Thursday evening held at the River Rock Resort. On Friday afternoon all the finalists were transported over to Air Canada where they spent a number of hours flying B-767 simulators and receiving career guidance from the sim instructors and Capt. Derek Stobbs, line manager – flight operations, YVR. Aero – Formatech came in with their mobile aircraft fire-fighting unit on Thursday during the day and all of the finalists took a certificated fire-fighting course which included cockpit fires, galley fires and total smoke escape techniques. On Saturday evening the Awards Banquet took place at the River Rock Resort and was attended by over eighty people many of whom were representing Air Canada, Jazz and a broad sector of the entire aviation community. The guest speaker for the evening was Barry Lapointe owner of KF Aerospace, formerly known as Kelowna Flightcraft.
2015 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition winner, Zhaoyang David Shi. Webster Trophy Competition Photo
The Webster Team is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2015 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition was Zhaoyang David Shi from the Atlantic Region and currently flying with the Moncton Flight College.
The 2015 runner-up is Jack Bradshaw, Central Ontario Region and flying with Brampton Flight Centre, Brampton, Ont.
Each year the Nav Canada Trophy is presented to the highest mark on the Nav Canada designed written exam. This year it was won by Gabriel Kim, Eastern Ontario Region and flying with Seneca College.
The Webster winner receives numerous awards and prizes from program supporters including two tickets from Air Canada for North America and the Caribbean, a development day with the Snowbirds and a Hamilton Khaki X-Patrol watch. All of the finalists receive excellent prizes which can be reviewed in the application package on the Webster website at webstertrophy.ca.
Further to the prizes received by the finalists the Flight Training Units benefit as well. Sennheiser Canada gives a grant of $3,000 to the school which encourages the largest number of competitors to enter. This was won again this year by Moncton Flight College. The grant must be applied to the additional training of up to a maximum of four of the current competitors.
Flight Safety International also offers a $2,000 grant to the school of the winner, in this case Moncton Flight College as well and again it must be used in the same manner as the Sennheiser grant.
The Canadian Business Aviation Association also gives a $1,000 grant to the regional finalist in the region where the CBAA is holding their annual convention. This year it went the Quebec finalist, Alexandre Laplante.
It is through the generosity of Air Canada, our sponsor, and so many supporters from the entire spectrum of the Canadian and United States aviation community that Webster is able to continue, to flourish and to grow. All deserve to be acknowledged for their time, efforts and financial assistance where applicable and to do so they are listed below along with their specific representatives. Without their help it is unlikely that this competition could function properly or even exist.
The 2016 Webster memorial Trophy Competition has already begun as of
June 16, 2015and next summer the nationals will be hosted by the Brampton Flight Centre. The exact dates are yet to be finalized but will be publicized shortly.
