Free flights take kids to new heights (8 photos)

The Canadian Owners Pilots Association (COPA) Flight 66 was offering children and youth free flights in small aircraft during its COPA for Kids event Saturday. 

Eve Nicholson brought along her son, seven-year-old Kodiak Wabigwan, for his first-ever ride in a plane. 

“For his future knowledge of maybe being a pilot, or co-pilot,” said Nicholson, when asked about the reason for bringing her son to COPA for Kids. “Looking at different adventures for his future, and maybe what he wants to do in his adult life.” 

That’s one of the reasons why COPA Flight 66 Captain Terry Mortimore, along with a small army of volunteers, keep hosting this event each summer. 

COPA for Kids, now in its fifth year, usually sees about 150 kids take to the skies. 

“The general public, they think of flying airlines right away, but there is a whole sector called general aviation that we promote, we participate in,” said Mortimore. “We’d like to share that with the kids, just to show them that there’s another side to aviation that people can enjoy, and it could lead to a career for them - but it also could lead to a very pleasant pastime if they become a pilot and fly for the pure joy of flying.” 

For COPA for Kids volunteer Hugh Stanghetta, his first time attending the same event three years ago translated into not only a love for flying, but a future vocation as well. 

The recent high school graduate will be attending the flight school offered by MAG Aerospace in Sudbury this fall. 

“We went up for a flight in the Sault College Zlin 242L, and that flight really kind of opened my mind to aviation,” said Stanghetta. “It got me started looking into it as a career, and it just kind of snowballed from there.”

Stanghetta’s first small aircraft flight at COPA for Kids initally came as a surprise. 

“I know I woke up that day thinking that I just wanted to go to camp and have a fun weekend, but my parents and my grandparents pushed me to come,” he told SooToday. “I had feelings of anxiety because I had never been on a small aircraft before.”

“But once I got in the plane with the Sault College instructor and we took off, my mind was just blown at how awesome it is.”

While walking to the same Zlin aircraft he went for a ride in three years ago, Stanghetta told SooToday that he’ll be the first in his family to become a pilot. 

He hopes to one day fly a 737 Max 8 or an Airbus A320 for a commercial airline. 

“I don’t have any family that has a history in aviation, so I’m kind of paving my own path towards this career,” Stanghetta said.