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The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition

A Great Way to Tune Up For The Spring Flying Season

The 2009 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition is already active and running and looking for interested pilots to compete in this year’s program.  There are now two ways in which you may enter the competition: first, if you have received a Canadian Private or Commercial Pilot Licence between July 16th, 2008 and July 15th, 2009, you may submit a copy of your Transport Canada Flight Test Report along with the associated required fee and documentation and you are a competitor; or second,  regardless of when you received your licence, you may elect to take a Webster flight test with any Transport Canada authorized Pilot Examiner across Canada. 

For those pilots who basically put their aircraft and/or skills away during the winter and wait for better weather, what better way to tune up your flying abilities in preparation for the Spring flying season than to consider competing in Webster?

This year, we have endured one of the most intense and coldest winters experienced in decades with minimal days available for any sort of comfortable flying. Now with better conditions anticipated, everyone is beginning to think of getting back into the air and how they are going to do it safely.

It is likely that a couple of flights are in order with a qualified flight instructor to get that rust out and hone those skills once again. It is also likely that your selected flight instructor will insist on putting you through practically all the exercises your licence qualifies you for in order to ensure that you are once again comfortable in an aeroplane and safe to fly – – but what has all this to do with the Webster competition?

The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition is a national event and exciting not only for those who become regional winners, but for those who also compete.  It is an opportunity to challenge yourself, become part of Canadian aviation history, have some fun and have your skills evaluated. 

There is a mindset out there that Webster is designed for young pilots fresh off their training courses with sparkling new licences and anyone else doesn’t stand a chance.  That is not the case and we encourage you, the weekend flier or the private owner, to get involved.  In fact our recent 2008 Webster winner entered the competition as a rental pilot with no confirmed intention of proceeding into commercial aviation. Upon entering the competition and enjoying all the experiences associated with it, he ultimately elected to proceed further with advanced training and is now training to become a flight instructor with his home school, Brampton Flight Centre.

Webster was initially designed over seventy-five years ago to be a competition for ALL amateur pilots and it still is to this day. So if you are going to take those two or three hours with a flight instructor this Spring to bring yourself back up to a high standard, then why not consider one more flight with an authorized Pilot Examiner to become a competitor in the 2009 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition. You just might become one of the next regional winners and from that point on it is a very exciting time with some very nice prizes attached, the forming of new and long-term friendships and the opportunity to meet interesting and high profile people in aviation.

In order to find out more about the competition and access the application forms, please visit www.webstertrophy.ca.