Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

In NetLetter #1444 we published details of the commemorative stamps issued by the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines in order to celebrate Canadian women pilots representing various flying careers.

Please note that these stamps cannot be purchased at Canada Postal outlets but are available at:

www.canadian99s.com/stamps

Honouring Air Inuit’s first Inuk female Captain on the anniversary of her promotion August 15, 2016,

Melissa Haney has been blazing the way for Inuit women while serving her northern community.

Melissa began her career with Air Inuit as a flight attendant. She learned the vagaries of weather in the north and became familiar with the route up the coast of Hudson Bay. But she knew she wanted to fly the plane!

She learned to fly in southern Canada in a comparatively moderate climate. There were several airports available, often within a few miles of each other – with much longer runways than required. She now flies a Dash 8 Combi-300, which can carry 45 passengers and 4000 pounds of cargo, requiring a runway of at least 3,280 feet.

She frequently lands on 3,500 ft. runways! Winters on her routes, with storms, blustery winds and poor visibilities, last longer than in southern Canada. But she loves it, “Seeing Nunavik from that angle, I am able to see all the villages, the wildlife, the icebergs.”