March 2018

• Upcoming Events:

o Air Traffic Controller Guest Talk

o UTIAS Flight Simulator Experience

• People in the Aviation Industry: Interview with Andrew North

In this issue:

‘Descending FL300’

Ladies and gentlemen,

We will be starting our descent shortly, and that means it’s the busiest part of the flight! Three

events are coming up this month, making it the most exciting month yet!

We are rapidly approaching the next waypoint, WGTLK, aka winter guest talk, presented on

Monday, March 5, by air traffic controller Stephen Newman. He is a radar controller at the

Toronto Area Control Centre, but also has experience as a tower controller. He devotes much

of his time off work to aviation as well, flying his own small aircraft. Come to LM123 on

March 5 at 6pm to hear his talk!

Then we will proceed towards FLSIM, two more simulator sessions at UTIAS, which will take

place on March 23 and either March 16, or April 6. Pre-registration is now open, so go

ahead and fill out the form.

March 24 will be an exciting day for all those participating in the Aviation Presentation

Competition. Thank you to everybody who submitted entries. If you have not already been

contacted, you will be very soon.

Unfortunately, NAV Canada has rejected our request for more ATC tours this semester. There

is currently construction going on at the Area Control Centre, and with construction workers

already there, they do not allow any non-staff at this time. Construction will not finish until the

end of the semester, so NAV Canada has suggested that we request more tours next

academic year. We apologise for this situation and invite you to join us on a tour next year.

Hope to see you at our events this month!

Regards,

UTAC executives

Website: www.utorontoac.org

E-mail: info.utorontoac@gmail.com

Facebook: University of Toronto Aviation Club

Twitter: @utorontoac

Instagram: @utorontoac

UPCOMING EVENTS

Air Traffic Controller Guest Talk

When: Monday, March 5, 2018, at 6pm

Where: LM123 (Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories Room 123)

UTAC’s winter guest talk is coming up on March 5! This semester’s speaker is air traffic controller Stephen

Newman who works at the Toronto Area Control Centre in the airports specialty. With over 20 years of

air traffic control experience, he has worked both as a radar controller and as a tower controller.

In his spare time, Stephen loves to fly his M20 (Mooney) aircraft. He also volunteers his time and aircraft

flying for an organization called Pilots N Paws Canada, which transports sick animals in need of medical

care and rescue animals being transported for re-homing.

Not only does Stephen have the ATC and pilot background, he is also an avid aviation enthusiast

himself! So come hear about his experiences in ATC, flying and elsewhere in aviation, ask questions and

learn about the world of those who keep our airspace safe round the clock!

UPCOMING EVENTS

UTIAS Flight Simulator Experience

This semester we will have two more simulator sessions at the University of Toronto Institute for

Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). One will take place on March 23, the other either on March 16, or

April 6, awaiting confirmation from UTIAS. Each participant will have 20-30 minutes in the

simulator.

No experience is required to participate. You will receive a PowerPoint file with useful information,

reading which ahead of time will let you have more time actually flying.

To register for the event, fill out the form at the link below. You will receive an e-mail assigning you a

specific time slot in the week prior to the event. All time slots are between 3-6pm.

https://goo.gl/forms/zRKsiSbS6WIa9S313

Fees: $15 for members, $20 for non-members

People in the Aviation Industry

Interview with Andrew North

This month we profile one of the less-well-known career options in aviation by speaking to flight

dispatcher Andrew North.

UTAC: How did you become interested in

aviation?

Andrew North: Not sure I have a distinct

memory of becoming interested in aviation;

some of my earliest memories are at air

shows or flying on an aeroplane. As a child,

I was an air cadet, which is just a fantastic

program, and not just for kids interested in

aviation. However, I took the controls of a

Cessna 152 at the age of sixteen when I

started training for my Private Pilot’s License

(PPL) and it really has been an addiction ever

since.

UTAC: Could you briefly describe your

career path? What made you choose to be

a dispatcher?

AN: I will try and be as brief as I can. I

started out as an Aircraft Groomer and Ramp

Agent for a charter airline in Edmonton while

I was in flight school. After I completed my

Commercial Pilot's License (CPL), I started a

ground handling company with a good

friend from flight school. We ran that for

three busy and exciting years before selling

it, with almost thirty employees and bases in

Edmonton and Yellowknife. After a short

break, I returned to the same charter airline

and worked in stores, purchasing and

technical records for a few months. Then I

moved into a new role overseeing the

logistics of a big workforce charter flight

program into Fort McMurray. A great

learning experience, but I felt I was missing

some operational knowledge, so I went

looking for jobs to fill the gap.

I stumbled across a Crew Scheduler posting

for a regional airline, which seemed to fill my

gap in operations, so I applied and was

lucky enough to be accepted. I worked as a

Crew Scheduler for 6 months before making

the move into the Flight Dispatcher role at the

same airline. After being licensed as a Flight

Dispatcher for 6 months, I was promoted to a

Chief Duty Dispatcher and eventually the

Chief Dispatcher, Training & Standards, for

the airline. I was also lucky enough to work

Flight Dispatcher Andrew North during his time

working in the UK.

People in the Aviation Industry

for a long-haul British airline last winter in

London, flight planning Airbus and Boeing

widebody aircraft around the world.

So I fell into the career but do not regret it, it

allows me to take my passion for aviation

and turn it into a career.

UTAC: What is a typical day like for a

dispatcher?

AN: I am not sure that actually exists, as

every day is different. At its most basic level,

we plan a flight and then monitor its progress

until safely at the destination gate, and

repeat that process for dozens of flights a

day. However, the weather, pilots, aircraft,

and the multitude of challenges you face

every day is always changing. It is what

makes it such a dynamic and interesting job.

UTAC: What do you enjoy the most about

your job? What is the most challenging part?

AN: As a flight dispatcher, you are given a

situation with a number of set variables. At

the end of the day, there are a lot of things

out of our control – the weather, high

demand into a busy airport, runway

conditions, etc. Our job is to make the most

out of every situation and ensure that every

flight is completed safely. It can be a

challenge but a very fulfilling one.

Being able to walk away after a long shift

and look back at all of the challenges you

were thrown and that you were a part of

getting all of your flights safely to their

destination. Flight dispatchers are an integral

part of the operation but we are only a piece

of a much larger team that makes the magic

happen, day in and day out.

UTAC: What was the funniest/most

interesting moment on the job?

AN: No one situation is jumping out at me

but I will say that you see a lot. When you

can be planning up to fifty flights in a twelve-

hour shift, you can see a lot in one shift,

never mind a career. I will say that the flight

crews and your coworkers in the operations

centre make the job as enjoyable and fun as

it is, especially on the bad weather days it

helps a lot to work with such great people.

UTAC: Do you have any advice for people

interested in a career as a dispatcher?

AN: Most people do not even realize we

exist and there are a lot of misconceptions

about what we do. So contact an airline you

know has a Flight Dispatch team and ask to

shadow a flight dispatcher for a few hours. It

is the best way to find out if flight dispatching

could be for you, ask lots of questions! It is

also a great way to introduce yourself to a

possible future employer.

A bit of a tangent, but I wanted to mention

that every flight dispatcher I have worked

with has a totally unique background. Some

have had a vast amount of previous aviation

experience and others have had very little, if

any, aviation exposure. At the end of the

day, a good dispatcher is a good

communicator, who is able to process a lot

of information and who can make decisions

very quickly.