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INUVIK
Although the co-pilot who died in the plane crash in Yellowknife last week moved from the community at a young age, she started her life in Inuvik.

Nicole Stacey graduated from Mount Royal University's Aviation Program and received her wings on Saturday, April 25, 2009 in Calgary. She also received the Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz awards. Stacey died in a plane crash on Sept. 22 in Yellowknife. - photo courtesy of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation

Nicole Stacey, 26, was the co-pilot of the Arctic Sunwest Twin Otter crash in Yellowknife on Sept. 22. She, along, with pilot Trevor Jonasson, died in the crash, but the seven passengers survived. Stacey, an Inuvialuit beneficiary, moved to Yellowknife at an early age and still has family in Inuvik.

A memorial was held in Yellowknife on Sept. 25 at St. Patrick High School to celebrate her life and that of pilot Trevor Jonasson.

Prior to entering Mount Royal University in Calgary, Stacey worked in the militia and military full time. She completed high school in Alberta and became a signaler in the armed forces in 2002 in Calgary.

She returned to Yellowknife in 2009 to pursue her dream of becoming a commercial pilot and became an instructor in voice communications and chemical and biological defense at the Yellowknife C Company.

"She was a really fantastic instructor," said Captain Conrad Schubert of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment 49th Battalion's Yellowknife C Company. "She could use her personality to teach with humour instead of sarcasm. If her recruits made a mistake, she could correct it without making the person feel bad.

"(I'll miss) her tremendous presence, her tremendous personality – her very positive attitude towards everything that she did."

Stacey followed in the footsteps of her father, a bush pilot who flew Twin Otters himself. She graduated from Mount Royal University with an aviation diploma in 2009.

During her education she won several awards and scholarships, including Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz awards and the $5,000 Aviation Career Development Scholarship from Aviation Alberta. She was also nominated for Bob Kirkman and Cal Browne Memorial Scholarships.

The two separate funerals were held on Sept. 28 in Yellowknife.

The plane crashed on Sept. 22 after returning from Thor Lake, about five kilometres north of the Hearne Channel on Great Slave Lake, and about 100 km southeast of Yellowknife.

– with notes from Heather Lange

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