Page 10 - March2020

Rockcliffe airport. …especially the one that says you should not
operate a drone within three nautical miles of an
The Human Factors team asked the pilot pertinent
questions like: airport.

 Had they eaten breakfast? (No!)
 Had they had enough sleep the night before?
(Probably not…)

 Had they consumed alcohol within 12 hours of the
flight (Absolutely not!)
 Did they know they were flying an uncertified
aircraft? (Whoops!)

 And why was there a book on the theory of flight left
open in the cockpit? (Did I mention “rusty”?)

PHOTO CREDIT Ingenium – Canada's Museums of
Science and Innovation
A white drone with broken propellers sits on the
grass beside an evidence marker.
Overall, the exercise was a great opportunity for
DFS to share the flight safety message and to
showcase our profession to our future
replacements. We would like to thank Jared Smith
and the museum staff, and Bev Harvey from the
TSB for this fun and educational opportunity.
Fly safe and eat your breakfast — our youth are
watching you!

Major Claire Maxwell

PHOTO CREDIT Col. John Alexander has served with the
Canadian Armed Forces
A group of children huddle around a collection of notes for 23 years and is the
on a whiteboard. editor of Flight
Comment, the flight
The Technical team even deduced that the engine was safety magazine for the
functioning because of the physical damage attributed to Royal Canadian Air
a turning propeller (their science teachers should be Force.
proud). They also wanted to know whether the missing A pilot by profession, Major Maxwell has flown the
wings had anything to do with the crash…post-accident Griffon helicopter in both a search and rescue and
over-zealous aircraft maintainers were assigned cause for tactical role
that one.

The discovery of a drone lodged in a nearby tree and the

arrival of the distraught drone operator always created a
bit of a buzz (pardon the pun). It also formed the basis of
an excellent conversation about safety and Transport

Canada’s drone operating rules