Last February, on a cold day in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason lifted off in a working replica of the legendary Silver Dart to commemorate the centennial of flight in Canada. July 2009 will mark the journey of 100 aircraft from the west coast to the east coast so that as a mass the Century Flight may congregate on the historic maritime site to celebrate the time when 100 years ago J.A. McCurdy mounted the original Silver Dart and embarked upon the very first flight ever to take place in Canada. It was on February 23, 1909 on the property of inventor Alexander Graham Bell in Baddeck. Of course, several years earlier on December 17, 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright made history in Kitty Hawk, NC when THE first flight occurred opening the era of powered flight.

The past 100 years (or 106 for our American cousins) has seen some previously unimaginable achievements. As incredible as flight itself is, we’ve since broken the sound barrier, been to the moon, and are arguably within a generation of some form of commercial space travel. Generally, flight is somewhat less mystical on the whole now as it was even 30 or 40 years ago since today flying is as much a contemporary norm as is driving a car.

This sentiment relates mostly, however, to commercial travel as we, the relative few who take command of the flight controls in GA aircraft, know that sitting in seat 26B of an A320 is nothing at all like sitting in the left seat of a C172! But whether you fly the bigs, buzz around in something smaller, aspire to do either, or simply fashion yourself an enthusiast, 100 years of flight will without a doubt mean something very special to you.

The Century Flight is one of many celebrations planned across Canada throughout 2009 – some large and some small. This includes dedicated portions of major annual events such as the COPA Convention from July 17th to 19th in Calgary and EAA’s AirVenture from July 27th to August 2nd at Oshkosh. Both events will commemorate the Canadian centennial and between these two aviation celebrations will be other parties from coast to coast in places like Boundary Bay, Brandon, Marathon, Sault Ste. Marie, Brampton, Fredericton, Sydney, and Baddeck itself – all welcoming the arrival of the Century Flight with pomp and circumstance.

Our acclaimed host, television pilot John Lovelace, will be leading the charge across the country in his Piper Navajo attending the COPA Convention as well as all of the specially selected official venues already mentioned. The plan was to get 100 pilots to accompany him (your writer included) but we now have greater than number in aircraft count alone! The entire journey will be filmed for a television special airing across North America late in 2009 with footage also being used for “The Aviators,” a new weekly television series that will premiere in the fall of 2010. The 100+ aircraft from various official launch points across Canada will take part in some or all of the historic coast to coast journey making stops at venues along the way until arriving at Baddeck for the grand closing ceremonies. Participants will be welcomed as celebrities at each of the official venues. Community members, pilots, and enthusiasts of all ages will be invited to join in on the many celebrations that will be planned.

We’d like to extend our thanks to all Century Flight participants, volunteers across the country, and well- wishers everywhere as we embark on this journey of a lifetime!

Fly safe(r).