The Sault’s Ben Appleton — a Sault College aviation program student — recently had an unexpected but rewarding experience on his road to becoming a professional pilot.
On June 12, Appleton and fellow aviation student Lucas Newman took to the skies for a training flight from the Sault Ste. Marie Airport to the Niagara District Airport in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
The flight was a planned part of their aviation program to satisfy Transport Canada’s licensing requirements but there was a last minute twist to their voyage.
Appleton and Newman were asked by Jim Cairns, Sault College aviation program chief flight instructor, to transport an orphaned young barred owl to a rehabilitation facility in southern Ontario.
“There were two routes we could do, going to either St. Catharines or Pembroke. We originally planned for Pembroke but the night before we flew I got a call from Mr. Cairns. He said there's an owl that needs to be taken down to Niagara and he asked us if we could head there instead, so we said ‘sure, no problem,’” Appleton told SooToday.
The owl had been cared for by Northland Animal Hospital but needed to reach The Owl Foundation in Vineland, Ont. where it received specialized care and training before being released back into the wild.
The owl was a peaceful passenger.
“It was in a box. We just strapped it into the back seat and on our way we went. We never heard any sounds or anything coming from the box. It was definitely an interesting experience,” Appleton said.
Appleton and Newman delivered the owl to Bruce White, an Owl Foundation volunteer at the Niagara District Airport.
The Owl Foundation teaches owls to hunt live prey and gain the strength and stamina they will need to survive in the wilderness. The plan was for the owl to be brought back to the Sault Ste. Marie area and released.
“It felt good because we made use of the flight training and helped a bird at the same time,” Appleton said.
Appleton, 20, is heading into his third and final year of Sault College’s aviation program in September.
“I'm hoping to find a job close by. I enjoy being outdoors and I would like to fly passengers to fly-in fishing resorts. That would interest me,” Appleton said.
“Eventually I think moving on to the airlines would be adventurous for me, but as soon as I get out of school I would like to do some bush flying with float planes.”
Transporting the orphaned owl to a place of rehabilitation also reminded Appleton of the importance of air ambulance services.
“A medevac job would definitely be interesting to me for sure. There are lots of people in smaller communities that need transportation by air ambulance.”
There’s also at least one organization that enables pilots to transport abandoned and injured animals to rehabilitation centres.
“Although the timing worked well for Sault College to be able to facilitate this transfer on one of our training flights, there is a large need for wildlife transfers such as this. One foundation that the general aviation community can get involved with is Canadian Wings of Rescue. This is a good opportunity for low experience pilots to build up flight time. Interested parties can contact them to sign up,” Cairns said in an email.
Canadian Wings of Rescue is a volunteer-run charity organization dedicated to transporting animals within Canada.