Pilot starts charter company
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 05/01) - For John Wannecke, the Northern sky is where his dream is.
A commercial pilot, Wannecke recently started a new company, Wannecke Air Services.
"It's a dream of flying come true," he said.
"Planes are a natural part of our lives here. I love flying in the North."
It has taken four years to get the company off the ground -- among the challenges was the paperwork.
"For every hour I spend flying, I spend five or six in the office," he said.
Another challenge was finding an aircraft.
He located a Cessna 180 right here in Yellowknife.
"For one year, I was looking for a plane," he said.
The 230-horsepower, four-seater is ready for any season and has plenty or room for cargo, he said.
Putting together a charter aircraft company has also meant facing some financing challenges.
"I had about four jobs to finance the plane," he said.
For now, he will continue to work his "day job" with the territorial government and see how the business develops.
The entrepreneur sees this winter as a time to market his business as much as possible.
Wannecke said he became interested in flying when he was pursuing a career in geology.
He was doing some mapping work when the bush pilot who picked him up remarked how he'd be more interested in geology work.
"I told him I wanted to be a pilot."
Asked about where he wants to take the business in the future, Wannecke, who received his flying training in Yellowknife, said "it's hard to say.
"I'm the business for the love of flying."
