Cross Canada Century Flight 2013

Boundary Bay Airport (CZBB), July 16,2013 – The sound of airplanes filled the air over this suburban Vancouver airport as several aircraft and their crews departed CZBB in the early morning hours. This was the beginning of the 5th Annual Cross Canada Century Flight, organized by Century Flight Club founder and President, John Lovelace. John created and produced the longest running aviation TV series in Canada “Wings Over Canada”. He also created the “Aviators TV’ series currently in production for PBS. John has logged flights to over 250 Canadian airports and towns in every province and territory in Canada.

The planes that departed here on that beautiful sunny and warm morning met up with a very large group of pilots in Swift Current, and flew in a convoy of 100 aircraft, with their final destination being Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Accompanying John in his lovely ‘Navajo’ was Alexis Edmands and Luke Howard, John’s co-pilot for the Maritimes Adventure. Alexis is a new pilot who does have some ‘Navajo’ time under her belt, and did some of the piloting during the journey. The Century Flight committee has worked tirelessly with municipal, provincial, and airport officials as well as with the aviation community to ensure that this was to be a wonderful adventure, and Nav Canada graciously assigned two of their personnel to work alongside the convoy every step of the way to ensure their safety and assisted the pilots with their respective flight plans.

Their daily schedules included overnight stops at the airports of Swift Current (CYYN), Dryden (CYHD), Elliot Lake (CYEL), Gatineau (CYND), and finally to Charlottetown (CYYG), a city steeped in heritage, culture, music, seafood, architecture, tourism and so much more. John Lovelace and his ‘Century Navajo’ crew arrived in YYG on July 20th, with most of the remaining convoy aircraft arriving the following day. The Maritimers picked up the challenge and rolled out the red carpet, welcoming them to Canada’s jewel island.

The Century Flight Club began in 2009 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada, again with a regiment of over one hundred aircraft flying from Vancouver, BC. to Baddeck, Nova Scotia, where the first powered aircraft took flight in Canada on a frozen lake surface. The purpose of the annual treks are to promote Canadian aviation and to encourage pilots of all skill levels to get out and explore this beautiful, vast country that we call home. The Century Flight Club travels to a different region of Canada each year.

Canada’s aviation legend, John Lovelace is proud to be of Maritime stock, proud to be a pilot, and proud of all those that made this visit a huge success. We congratulate John and his committee members, as well as the pilots and crews for another successful and enjoyable Cross Canada Century Flight. You can follow the Century Flight Club at www.crosscanadaflight.com