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Flying legend retires
First Inuvialuit pilot, Cecil Hansen, hangs up his Canadian North wings after five decades

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 23, 2014

INUVIK
The sky is no longer the limit for Cecil Hansen.

NNSL photo/graphic

Legendary Northern pilot Fred Carmichael, left, was on hand to help celebrate the retirement of Cecil Hansen on Oct. 16 as he finished his final flight before retiring from Canadian North. Carmichael helped train Hansen, who is widely recognized as the first Inuvialuit commercial pilot. He's considered a role model and icon for his five decades of flying. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

After more than 40 years of flying commercially, Hansen flew his last flight, fittingly, into Inuvik on Oct. 16 as he retired from Canadian North.

Born in Aklavik, Hansen is an icon of the North, particularly to the Inuvialuit, as the first of their people to become a commercial pilot.

Fred Carmichael, perhaps the most legendary pilot in the Delta region, was his mentor and helped introduce Hansen to flying.

Carmichael, along with dozens of family and friends, was on hand for an impromptu celebration for Hansen just after 1 p.m. at the Mike Zubko Airport.

Airport staff even rolled a ceremonial red carpet over the lightly snow-covered landing tarmac as Hansen disembarked for the last time as the audience cheered.

He said he suspected there was going to be a celebration, since he had flown several family members to Inuvik on the flight, but he still seemed startled at his reception as tears began to flow.

"I was a little bit worried because I'd been planning it for weeks and I thought it might get emotional because a lot of my family was on board, but hopefully you're professional enough to get it done, and I was," Hansen said.

Hansen and Carmichael shared a fierce embrace, along with family members and Nellie Cournoyea, the chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

"It means a lot to be able to say that you know Cece and that's you've flown with him," Cournoyea said.

"He's made me very proud," Carmichael said. "I'm very proud of him today, and he's made the whole North proud."

Wayne Gordon, a long-time friend of Hansen's, helped organize the party.

Hansen, a modest and unassuming man, said he had mixed feelings about retiring and about his status as a role model to other Inuvialuit and Inuit.

He said he's recognized around the North, wherever he flies, which is to be expected in the Western Arctic, but even in the Eastern Arctic he's treated with deference.

"I never thought of myself in those terms, but lately I have," he said. "I do a lot of trips into Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk and Iqaluit and their loaders are all Inuit people and they know who I am and I think they treat me differently. It's a good feeling to work with those guys."

He began flying in the North in 1969 for Carmichael after receiving his training in Edmonton, but he had been hanging around Carmichael's Reindeer Air company for quite some time before that.

"Freddie was friends with my older bother Dennis, who just passed away, and because of that I got to know Fred quite early," Hansen said. "I was 16 years old, and he was getting a new airplane, and he asked me to go with him to pick up this airplane. We came back to Inuvik with it, and about eight years later I got to fly it."

John Sorenson is another of Hansen's contemporaries, also mentored by Carmichael.

"I've been a big fan of his," he said.

Hansen's daughter Dawn MacFarlane is also a pilot with Canadian North, who has flown occasionally with her father. She greeted his retirement with mixed feelings.

"It's bittersweet. I've had an amazing five years flying with him, and I would love it to go on forever. But he chooses when he needs to do it and we're all happy for him," MacFarlane said.

One of the things Hansen is known for is his calm demeanour. Even as he retired, he smoothly brushed aside all attempts to extract any colourful anecdotes from him.

"He's a pretty honourable pilot," said MacFarlane. "Most pilots will tell stories, but he's pretty cool and pretty slick. He doesn't like to brag at all."

Carmichael recounted a favourite story of just how unflappable Hansen was even as a young bush pilot, who are often known for some slightly off-the-wall antics.

He was on one of his first interior flights south from Inuvik, Carmichael said, when his engine froze up.

Hansen called for help and safely made a landing on a river.

By the time the rescue party reached him, he had set himself up comfortably with an emergency shelter in case he had to spend the night, Carmichael related.

Hansen said while he and other pilots started flying in the bush, he was always careful.

"They're the crazy ones," he said, gesturing to Carmichael and a few of his friends. "They would go places I never would."

Hansen said he lost several friends back in those early days who were every bit his match for flying skill.

"They were just unlucky," he said, agreeing with the cliche "there are old pilots and bold pilots but no old, bold pilots."

Hansen's legacy is already clearly evident in programs and recruiting efforts for aboriginal pilots by companies like Canadian North, Carmichael added.

Hansen said he's planning on taking a holiday for a couple of weeks in Palm Springs. He has no firm plans beyond that, except for doing some ice fishing in the Delta in November.

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