Jill Oakes (Canada)

Dec 2013 Jill Oakes (Canada)

Jill Oakes is based at CJL5, Winnipeg/Lyncrest Airport, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Cam Harrod’s Finch – he gave me my first Finch check out in the Finch owned by the “Tiger Boys” at Guelph Airport in Ontario – they would love to have some gals flying their amazing antique collection www.tigerboys.com

The first plane I owned was a Citabaria 7ECA on skis, traded it for a C170B with retractable skis, which I flew while building my AcroSport II, C-GGOJ, a plans-built biplane designed by the late Paul Poberezny.

Me flying my Acrosport II – taken with Tom Stoyka in his Ercoupe over the Prairies near Winnipeg-Lyncrest Airport, Manitoba.

A couple of years ago I was honoured to fly Vintage Wings of Canada’s antique Finch from Manitoba to Oshkosh and then in to the Edenvale Classic Aircraft airshow in Ontario. Was fabulous to be able to fly an aircraft with a radial engine – a dream come true. Check out TigerMothRestorationBlogspot for photos of a Tiger Moth restored to flying condition for the national Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum. My most recent initiative has been to work with the Manitoba and Canadian aviation industry to identify why women in aviation are still only 6% of the aviation population. Bill Vandenberg has kindly donated a C150 C-FLUG to the Recreational Aircraft Association (RAA) for women pilots only to fly for $20/hour. A local pilot donated $10,000 to make it happen! Established pilots have donated fuel, licenced services and parts; aviation industry has provided parts and services, including Goulet Aircraft Supply, Airparts-Gregorash-AeroRecip, Keystone Avionics, ICOM, Orbit Instruments. So far 10 women pilots have completed their Private Pilots Licences and begun building hours on C-FLUG, 11 more are completing their flight training at local flight schools: Harv’s Air and Winnipeg Aviation. Check out photos at http://c-flug.blogspot.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/WomenFlyFree 

Ladieslovetaildraggers provides a fantastic service of connecting women pilots with a common interest!

Happy Flying

Jill