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Flying high above Muskoka
Photograph: Don MacTavish
The view high above Muskoka is spectacular from Earle Robinson’s Cessna 172 as he comes in for a landing at Muskoka Airport.
By James Waterman
Muskoka is home to a group of likeminded
individuals who keep a high
profile – literally. As the people of
Muskoka go about their lives, they
cruise the skies high above the towns
and villages below.
The Muskoka Flying Club took
flight seven years ago when pilot Earle
Robinson arrived in Muskoka and discovered
there were no rental aircraft
with which to enjoy his favourite pastime.
His original idea to form a club of
local pilots and aviation enthusiasts in
order to purchase an aircraft as a
group was fraught with difficulties
and never got off the ground.
“So,” says Robinson, “I went ahead
and bought my own airplane and
started flying it.”
His early experience as a civil pilot
in Muskoka taught Robinson there
was a need for a different type of flying
club than the one he had proposed
originally.
“There was no ability for these people
to get currency,” he says. “With
private pilot’s licenses there are currency
requirements every couple of
years. What that means is that they’ve
actually had exposure to safety seminars
or some recurrent training. They
take a flight instructor up and do
some stalls and steep turns and some
practice take-offs and landings.”
So, five years ago, Robinson began
to organize “a loose association of
pilots” as the Muskoka Flying Club.
The club now has approximately 65
casual members ranging from aspiring
pilots, commercial pilots and even war
veterans. Like Robinson, they love to
fly.
The Muskoka Flying Club organizes
one or two seminars per year to
update local pilots on new safety
regulations and refresh their knowledge.
Robinson notes that having
well-trained and well-informed pilots
in our skies is critically important for
public safety.
“That’s the whole objective,” he
says, “to make our pilots safe and
make sure the community is safe with
Muskoka Flying Club members Ron Tomlinson, Henry Longhurst, Glenn
Willoughby and Earle Robinson chat in a hangar.
Photograph: Don MacTavish
our pilots up there.”
The efforts of the Muskoka Flying
Club often involve collaboration with
Transport Canada, Nav Canada and
the Muskoka Airport. The safety seminars
are largely run by Transport
Canada and they deal mostly with air
safety, procedural issues and regulatory
changes.
“Another thing that we’re proactive
in is working with the airport to try to
give a civil aviation voice to the airport,”
he says. “So, if they have
changes that they’re planning, I try to
act as a point of contact on behalf of
the civil aviation pilots here.”
Robinson is a strong promoter of
the Muskoka Airport. A number of
the members of the club also use the
airport as a centre for their social
interaction with each other, congregating
at the shop where the site’s airplane
mechanic does his work.
“That airport is absolutely a jewel,”
he says. “And I don’t think it’s recognized
for its true character.”
Robinson wonders how the airport
could be used to add a formal social
component to the club’s activities,
both among the members of his group
and with the other similar clubs
throughout southern Ontario with
which he is frequently in contact. His
main focus, however, will continue to
be ensuring the safety of Muskoka’s
pilots and communities through programs
such as the safety seminars.
www.whatsupmuskoka.com May 2010 5