It’s coming up to the timewhen 100 years ago J.A. McCurdy mounted the now legendary Silver Dart andembarked upon the very first flight ever to take place in Canada. It was onFebruary 23, 1909 on the property of inventor Alexander Graham Bell in Baddeck,Nova Scotia. Of course, several years earlier on December 17, 1903 Orville andWilbur Wright made history in Kitty Hawk, NC when THE first flight occurred openingthe era of powered flight. 

The past 100 years (or 106 for our American cousins) hasseen some previously unimaginable achievements. As incredible as flight itselfis, we’ve since broken the sound barrier, been to the moon, and are arguablywithin a generation of some form of commercial space travel. Generally, flight issomewhat less mystical on the whole now as it was even 30 or 40 years ago sincetoday flying is as much a contemporary norm as is driving a car.

This sentiment relates mostly, however, to commercial travelas we, the relative few who take command of the flight controls in GA aircraft,know that sitting in seat 26B of an A320 is nothing at all like sitting in theleft seat of a C172! But whether you fly the bigs, buzz around in somethingsmaller, aspire to do either, or simply fashion yourself an enthusiast, 100 yearsof flight will without a doubt mean something very special to you.

Across the country there will be numerous festivitiesplanned throughout 2009 to celebrate a century of flight in Canada – some largeand some small. This includes dedicated portions of major annual events such asthe COPA Convention from July 17^th to 19^th in Calgary andEAA’s AirVenture from July 27^th to August 2^nd at Oshkosh.Both events will commemorate the Canadian centennial and between these twoaviation celebrations will be other parties from coast to coast in places likeBoundary Bay, Winnipeg, Brampton, Gatineau, Fredericton, and Baddeck itself.

Acclaimed television pilot John Lovelace will be flyingacross the country in his Piper Navajo attending both the COPA Convention and AirVentureand many other specially selected venues in between  The plan is to get 100 pilots to accompany him (your writerincluded) and judging from the early response the  number could be easily double that! The whole thing is being billed as a 12 day celebration andit will be filmed for a television special airing across North America late in2009.

One of the goals is to have the 100 aircraft (or more) fromvarious official launch points take part in some or all of the historic coastto coast journey making stops at other venues until our arrival at Baddeck forthe grand closing ceremonies. Participants will be welcomed as celebrities ateach of the official venues. At one venue alone organizers are estimatingseveral thousand spectators! Community members, pilots, and enthusiasts of allages will be invited to join in on the many celebrations that will beplanned.  Moreover, the “CenturyFlight” is working jointly with several other 100th Anniversary teams tomaximize public awareness and help make each event just as big and successfulas it can be.

You are all invited to take part. If any of you know John orhave worked with him before you will know everyone usually has a fun andrelaxed time on his adventures. So everyone is welcomed – whether you’d like tojoin the Flight, attend a local celebration, contribute to the national effort,or watch the broadcast when it airs next year. Details for the adventure, knownas “John Lovelace’s Century Flight,” and the related production can be found atwww.JohnLovelace.com. The registrar is Dave Fitzpatrick and he can be reachedat This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it For venue and promotional enquiries you can reach meat This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it