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A first step toward the pilot’s seat

Declan MacLean is dreaming of one day taking to the skies. And the 13-year-old Corporal with Yorkton squadron of the Air Cadet League of Canada took a step toward that dream in August taking a three-week basic aviation course at Cold Lake, AB.
cadet

Declan MacLean is dreaming of one day taking to the skies.

And the 13-year-old Corporal with Yorkton squadron of the Air Cadet League of Canada took a step toward that dream in August taking a three-week basic aviation course at Cold Lake, AB.

MacLean said he was in a flight of 27, and there were three flights on course, with Cadets from Manitoba west taking part. Having Cadets from all over taking part was an added bonus of the course.

“Learning what they get to do with their squadrons was really cool,” he said.

But the real focus of the course was to provide participants with some basic principles of flying.

“It was the basic principle of flight,” said MacLean, “a bit about the controls inside the plane, and the controls outside the plane and about how they link up.”

The course also gave some basics about what impacts flying.

“It was about how different forces act on a plane,” said MacLean.

MacLean said in the future he can take more advanced courses, learn how to fly a glider, and ultimately earn his wings.

“This course (the one in August), is a prerequisite,” he said, adding, “I want to get my pilot’s license through Cadets.”

MacLean said he became interested in becoming a pilot when he took a trip to Ontario with his grandmother.

“We took a plane and I thought it was really cool,” he said.

Then when he was 12 he saw an F18 firsthand.

“I started to think I might join the military one day,” he said.

But the course itself was at times a bit challenging for a youth on summer holidays.

“When it first started it was lots of learning,” he said.

Then the Cadets were taken up in a Cessna 172.

“The pilot let me fly the plane a little bit when we were in the air, and I thought ‘this is definitely worth it’,” he said.

While MacLean has his sights set on a longer term target, the summer course will help in Cadets in Yorkton immediately too.

“We do classes within the squadron and I can apply the knowledge of the camp to those courses,” he said.