Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Apr 30/99) - Flying has been good to Ron Yalowica.

Having had an interest in flying as a child, he attained his pilot's licence at the age of 16, before he was licensed to drive a vehicle. While other guys in high school were taking their dates out in their cars, Yalowica took his on airplane rides.

His interest really lied in flying helicopters though. So in 1988 he went to Canadore College in North Bay, Ont., to learn to do just that. It ultimately became his career and led to his landing in Fort Simpson several years later where he currently manages the base for Canadian Helicopters.

It's also earned him a degree of fame and some first-hand knowledge of the entertainment business. Yalowica was hired by the crew of North of Sixty to film scenes from a movie that recently aired on CBC. With a nose-mounted camera and a cameraman sitting in the rear of the helicopter, he guided them over Fort Simpson, the Liard River and a barge.

"That was the coolest job. It made me want to go to Los Angeles," he said, adding that some scenes had to be done 25 times to get them just right and an hour of flying could amount to a five seconds of film on television. He was given a credit at the end of the movie for his contribution.

The job isn't all glamour, however. Earlier in his career, Yalowica worked as an air ambulance pilot out of Canora, Ont. He was involved in evacuation flights during the Red River flood near Winnipeg, Man. There were a number of night scene calls over 4.5 metres of water at that time.

"It was pretty exciting... everything you can imagine, we saw it," he said of his four years of air ambulance work.

Looking for a change, he decided to come to Fort Simpson two years ago to work for Canadian Helicopters. The opportunity offered a change of pace and some management experience as well. Here, Yalowica is responsible for taking passengers up for a variety of reasons, but survey work is a primary one. The summer is often the busiest time of year with forest fires creating a demand for aerial assistance. His business, which is in operation year-round, is also responsible for transporting goods to and from Fort Simpson during breakup and freezeup.

"We sling every piece of mail and every stick of groceries," he said, adding that another pilot is brought in specifically for that purpose and more are hired in the summer.

Yet Yalowica can still be called upon to help out in a jam. He was the pilot of the rescue helicopter when two men were trapped on a mountain near Cli Lake in January.

"It was pretty precarious... the weather was kind of poor. There were some weird winds coming off the mountain and the slope was pretty steep," he said of the rescue, during which he had to hover with the blades within feet of the mountain while the rescuers retrieved the men. "It was a crazy scene all around."

Most days aren't quite that risky, he acknowledged. There's usually flying to be done daily and paperwork builds quickly, he said.

"It's like a big house of cards, I always say. It's endless (work), but it's fun. I enjoy working under the pressure," he said.

Above all, safety come first as a pilot. They are required to be re-certified each year. Canadian Helicopters has a base in Penticton, B.C. for standardized one-week advanced training. The base is considered to be one of the best in the world and attracts pilots from the Coast Guard, RCMP and the military, particularly for its mountain-flying course.

There are many judgment calls to make as a pilot, Yalowica noted. As his fellow pilot, Rob Carroll

pointed out, there's an old saying that goes, "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than in the air wishing you were on the ground."