Inuvik pilot-in-waiting wins $1K award
For Inuvik's KJ Allen, flying is a family business.
When she was growing up her father worked at the Inuvik Mike Zubko Airport, and her mom worked in the travel industry. Piloting, Allen said, "just felt right."
Now, Allen has received a $1,000 bursary to study flying at Yukon University.
Allen, 20, was at work when she got the call that she had won the bursary. "I was ecstatic," she told Wanda McLeod on CBC's Northwind. "I did not expect to win anything, really."
The bursary is from Elevate Aviation, a non-profit organization founded in 2015 in Edmonton, that aims to close the gender gap in the aviation industry.
Allen was one of only four women to receive the bursary, which required two references and an essay about "what flying means to you."
Allen will move to Whitehorse this August. She's studying to earn a diploma in aviation management as well as a pilot's license. COVID-19 has closed the university campus, so business classes will be online. During hands-on training to fly planes, she'll be wearing a mask.
Allen says after her program, she's not sure what will happen. She'd like to be a medic pilot or fly planes on Canada's East Coast.
"Any chance I get to fly I take it. I get excited to play with planes," she said. "I can't contain my excitement to travel and ... accomplish my dreams."
