Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (May 08/98) - Now, if you're a pilot œying in to Fort Simpson and you want to order a sandwich from the air, call Chad Skolseg.

Don't laugh, as the above is a truth story illustrating the types of services NAV Canada's air trafÞc specialists have been known to perform from their base at the Fort Simpson airport.

"We had a fellow come in from Tulita and ask us (from the air) to call a taxi and send it to the Nahanni Inn to (fetch) him a Denver sandwich," Skolseg, an air trafÞc specialist, says with a laugh. "We did it."

"We provide an advisory service, helping aircraft on route."

Skolseg, 32, started his present career four-and-a-half years ago. A graduate of the University of Calgary, he couldn't Þnd work in his Þeld of study. So, he began work on getting his electrical apprenticeship.

While doing that, Skolseg saw an advertisement in the paper for air trafÞc specialists. He wrote the exam, passed, and was soon off for eight months of intense training at NAV Canada's Cornwall, Ont. facility.

After that, he was off to his Þrst posting in Peace River, Alta.

"It looked interesting to me and I haven't looked back since," he says.

All told, he's been in Fort Simpson about three years.

And, while most think that NAV Canada staff spend all their working hours talking to pilots overhead, the work is actually much more complicated than that.

A major part of Skolseg's job is keeping track of the weather.

"We've been trained extensively in the interpretation of weather systems," he says. "We track rainfall, sunshine hours, temperatures and do our weather (observations) every hour on the hour."

This includes checking the temperature and a sky condition report.

Once input, this data is available worldwide.

When not doing this, you might Þnd Skolseg providing updates on the radio to high-œying Korean or Japanese pilots heading to Alaska and then home.

On other occasions, he's even heard the American president's Air Force One and Prime Minister Jean Chretien's much smaller œying ofÞce go over.

"It's great knowing that everyday will be different," Skolseg says. "There's always a change of pace and the job is a challenge."