Air cadet gets his wings
Iqaluit teenager can fly gliders
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, September 19, 2016
IQALUIT
The sky's the limit for an Iqaluit teenager who received his glider wings this past summer.
Cadet Flight-Sargent Hayden Hickey (aged 16) was awarded a pilot training scholarship this summer - Michele LeTourneau/NNSL - |
Air Cadet Flight Sergeant Hayden Hickey had to complete a rigorous selection process to achieve the honour.
"Gliding is basically like flying a normal plane but it doesn't have an engine. You're towed out by another plane and stay up in the air as long as you can," said Hayden.
His commanding officer at Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron 795 Iqaluit, Lt. (Navy) Matthew Ayres. said "the pilot training course is one of the most highly sought-after courses in the air cadet program."
Northern cadets travel to Whitehorse each winter to stand before a board which interviews cadets wishing to attend national summer training courses, said Ayres.
But Hayden didn't travel to Whitehorse. He was set to travel on a flight with a sports team, but one person was asked to volunteer to give up their seat, otherwise the team's gear wouldn't get on the flight.
Hayden volunteered and was interviewed by Skype, which as Ayres notes, makes it more difficult to make an impression than in person.
Hayden aced his interview and won the spot over four other potential students.
The scholarship that got Hayden to flight training in Gimli, an expensive proposition, was thanks to a partnership between the Department of National Defence, the Air Cadet League of Canada and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 168 in Iqaluit.
Although born in Halifax in September 1999, the 16-year-old was three months old when his family moved to Rankin Inlet.
"We lived there until January 2004, at which time we moved to Iqaluit and have been here ever since," said dad Ted Hickey.
Ted says Hayden is a very focused individual, whether it's involving sports or cadets.
"He loves the structure. He's very disciplined. He likes things to be organized. He doesn't like for it to be chaotic."
Hayden took up speedskating 10 years ago.
He has competed at Canada Games and Arctic Winter Games.
"I originally joined speedskating because I wanted to be faster at hockey. But I ended up quitting hockey because I wanted to do speedskating instead."
For a few years now, Hayden has been coaching the younger skaters.
At 13 he decided to check out cadets because he'd heard about the organization from friends.
"I gave cadets a try and it was fun, so I stuck with it. Eventually, I heard that they have flying programs. I ended up trying out for that and just went from there."
Hayden says cadets was fun because of all the activities that are offered.
Those activities are possible, said Ayres, because the Iqaluit Legion dedicates so much of its fundraising proceeds to the youth organization.
The Government of Nunavut, meanwhile, is responsible for the flight simulators at Cadet Hall, where young would-be aviators train.
Hayden's isn't sure what drove him to fly.
"Nobody in my family flies. Before I learned how to fly a glider, I was only in a glider once," he said.
However, at an additional week-long camp last summer, he kept the glider in the air for two hours and 37 minutes, just a few minutes behind an experienced glider.
"Once I got there I just didn't want to stop flying. It was just ... awesome," said Hayden. "If you don't do anything the flights are about 12 minutes long. Some of the longest flights can be 17 hours long. There are different methods people use to stay up in the air."
He hopes to do the power course - fly a plane with an engine - next summer.
During the summer of 2015, Hayden attended astronaut training in St. Jean, Que., where Canadian astronauts train through the Canadian Space Agency.
Ayres says such cadet opportunities are available to any young person in Iqaluit if they apply themselves. These are without cost to families.
"Cadets are open to youth from 12 to 18 years of age. The earlier a young person starts out the more opportunities there are to take advantage of," he said.
"The sky's the limit."
