Holding Short

John studied Economics in University. After working in the financial industry for 3 years, he decided to enroll in flight school at the Brampton Flight College. After graduating from flight school, John moved to Yellowknife to try to find work as a pilot, and ended up flying the Twin Otter on floats, skis and tundra tires throughout Canada’s arctic.

From there, John joined Porter Airlines in the first group of pilots hired when the company was founded in the summer of 2006. At Porter, John has worked as a First Officer, Captain, Training Captain, Manager of Pilot Training, and finally, Director of Flight Operations. He participates in several industry committees, including sitting as the current Chair of the De Havilland Flight Operations Steering Committee.

Among his accomplishments at Porter, John led an effort to improve stable approaches using operating procedures that challenge industry norms. This has led to speaking engagements at the Flight Safety Foundation, World Aviation Training Summit, and at the Boeing factory in Seattle.

Emily Wood is an AQP (Advanced Qualification Program) Training Specialist at Air Canada. In her current role she works with a team to ensure all pilots, when passing through their airline training program, obtain training that is responsive to continuous industry change so they can achieve the highest levels of both individual and crew performance.

Emily has her Master’s of Aviation Management from Griffith University where she wrote her final thesis on Human Factors in Flightdeck Automation. This research worked to determine if the advanced technology of flightdeck automation continues to be an effective, beneficial safety tool when increased sophistication of the relationship between the human operator and the technology has, on multiple occasions, proven responsible for aircraft incidents and accidents. 

Outside of work, Emily volunteers as Elevate Aviation’s Mentorship Lead for their Ontario Wing and is passionate about giving those who want a career in aviation the resources and support they need to find success. 

What could be better than one mentor? Two mentors!

Join us as I chat with Kate Speer and David Maertens about mentorship and what it has meant for their careers! 

Kate began her aviation career as a flight instructor in 2002 and went on to spend ten years as a low-level survey pilot for Fugro Airborne Surveys (now CGG). Currently flying as a Captain for Porter Airlines, Kate is also a Training Captain and a Technical Writer. 

Kate actively participates in multiple mentorship programs, believing that there is always room to be kind and that being a mentor is one of the most rewarding things for both your personal and professional life. 

David started flying professionally as a traffic patrol and banner tow pilot after completing a flight college program in 1997. In 2005 he started flying as a First Officer at Fugro Airborne Surveys (now CGG), ultimately working his way up through the ranks to become the Chief Pilot. After survey flying, David flew for Porter Airlines for four years and also worked as the Manager of Flight Technical. Today, David is flying maritime surveillance for Transport Canada on the Dash 7 that he originally learned to fly with Fugro.  

With his head turned skywards from a young age and still there, Drohn Bhandari has always dreamed of being a pilot. After getting inspired during his time learning about aviation through the Air Cadets program, he began his career learning to fly out of the Ottawa International Airport. 

Since graduation, he has worked as a Class II Flight Instructor in an Integrated CPL program along with his role as a Check Instructor. For the past year, Drohn has been flying the PC-12NG completing medevac operations under the direction of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. 

Drohn holds a Canadian CPL and is working towards his ATPL. He hopes to gain a variety of industry experience to reach his goal of becoming a Training Captain where he can combine his love for flying and teaching to inspire the next generation of pilots. 

Ben has been interested in aviation his whole life, and spent his teenage years researching and photographing aircraft, which only increased his passion for the industry. 

After completing high school, he attended Algonquin College's Aviation Management program, from which he graduated in 2017.  He then pursued an instructor rating and began teaching at the Ottawa Flying Club, where he worked for a year and a half. 

In April of 2019, he was hired by Perimeter Aviation as a First Officer on the Metroliner for scheduled passenger flights, transitioning to a full time medevac First Officer role in 2020.

Ben can be found on instagram @BenSenior97 and on Flickr by searching Ben_Senior

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