John started ‘Wings Over Canada’ in the late 1990’s as a small local TVshow combining wilderness adventures and flying. As the seasons passed,the show continued to grow. Today it can be seen in syndication on over60 broadcasters around the world and boasts a viewership of up to 65million. John has interviewed hundreds of pilots over the years and hasmet thousands more. He has even presented a coveted ‘Wings Over Canada’crew cap to world renowned diva Celine Dion! If there’s a great littlespot in the middle of “wilderness Canada” possessing otherwise untoldcharm, wonder, and beauty, odds are it’s been featured by JohnLovelace.

‘Wings’ was about to enter its tenth season and had plans for anaviation safety segment involving PCAS. Since a visit to Toronto couldyield an in-person PCAS interview with yours truly as well as separatecoverage of a worthy event, John and his ‘Wings’ crew accepted theinvitation.
Aside from a dozen or so Young Eagles flights, I spent most of thatweekend with John and his crew. John is naturally approachable. Andapproached he was… constantly! Each and every time he would turn onthat trademark smile and extend a warm and sincere handshake. And eachand every time it seemed to make the recipient’s day. I was beamingwith pride just standing next to such an obviously admired man.

We spent quite some time in conversation. We spoke about the trusty ol’Cessna 206 and our experiences with our respective birds. We alsodebated lean-of-peak versus rich-of peak (it was hard for me to arguewith “aircraft engines like fuel” from the RoP proponent). I even hadthe unique opportunity to fly low orbits over Pearson (CYYZ) to helpJohn’s crew obtain some great footage of Canada’s busiest airport (manythanks to the controllers for that one). We continued that flight toinclude some amazing shots of downtown Toronto. Shortly afterwards, theweekend came to an end as John and crew boarded their Navajo and wereoff to their next filming location.

A few weeks later, all had returned to the area to cover the CanadianAviation Expo in Oshawa, Ontario. We met again and immediately pickedup on a conversation from weeks earlier. John introduced me to hisengine expert and the two of them pelted me until I submitted to theirrich-of-peak conversion efforts (heck, I’m no engine specialist afterall!). I’ve never seen awe like I saw in “Awe”-shawa. John turned headsat the Expo with every step he took. One attractive older woman havingseen my wife Lisa and me earlier talking with John asked “Was that JohnLovelace?” When we responded in the affirmative, she blushed andconfessed “Oh, I just love him!” It’s quite evident… we all do!

After 10 seasons and 172 episodes, John Lovelace is leaving ‘Wings OverCanada’ to pursue other interests. John, you've accomplished so much,and have done so much for Canadian aviation internationally. You'll bemissed by every pilot in Canada, and particularly this southern Ontarioaviator. On behalf of your many fans, I’d like to thank you and wishyou blue skies forever.

Fly safe®.