Free flights being offered for kids

It’s that time again for local pilots and young flight enthusiasts.

The fifth annual COPA for Kids event will be held at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Saturday, Aug. 10, offering free flights over the city for children and youth from eight to 17 years of age.

An online registration form for parents to fill out for their kids is now up and running, said Terry Mortimore, COPA Flight 66 captain, speaking to SooToday.

To register your children, go to the COPA Flight 66 website and then click on ‘Register Here.’

The Canadian Owners Pilot’s Association (COPA) Flight 66 is a group of Sault and area pilots and flight enthusiasts, which forms the local chapter of the Canadian Owners Pilot’s Association.

COPA Flight 66 began in Sault Ste. Marie in 1973 and met at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) hangar (now the Bushplane Museum's home), the local chapter fizzling out in the late 1970s before it successfully revived in 2015.

It currently has a core group of 15 to 20 pilots.

The annual free COPA for Kids event is designed to introduce local young people to the thrill of flight and inspire youngsters to consider careers in flight or flight-related occupations.

“We’re going to try and fly 150 kids, and we’ve got about 25 to 30 already signed up,” Mortimore said.

“We’re going to hold it at the same location as last year, outside the Sault Academy of Flight building which is just north of the airport’s main terminal. That site worked well for us last year, and there will be free parking there for parents.”

The event will be held from 8:30 a.m. and wrap up at 4:30 p.m.

“Once parents have registered their kids we’ll compile a spreadsheet and email them the time slots as to when to come out for their flight,” Mortimore said.

Eight local pilots will be taking children and youth up for flights, joined by one pilot each from Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins, for a total of 11.

The planes will be a mix of two-seat and four-seat aircraft, Mortimore flying his own RV-6A two-seat plane.

“There’ll be airplanes on static display for the kids to look at, along with a ground school with an instructor giving a five or 10 minute talk about airplanes, then once they’re done that, they go for their flight and if the weather is good it’ll last about 20 minutes,” Mortimore said.

“We usually go fly over Second Line, down to the east end of the city toward the golf club, back up the river and back to the airport...it’s about 20 minutes.”

“It’s fun,” Mortimore said.

“Some of the kids are just hopping and jumping with excitement when they get here.”

“Last year, there was a young guy, and because of the bad weather we couldn’t fly him and my wife said ‘you’ve got to take him flying,’ so about a week later we tried to take a half a dozen kids to make it up to them. I took that one fellow up for a flight, and it was sheer joy for him,” Mortimore said.