episode 16: SARAH SMITH, BUSH PILOT

22 Dec 2022
Photo credits go to Christine Johnson, Pierce Lane and Burton Penner
I talk with Sarah Smith, Canadian bush pilot. She shares with us how she naturally gravitated towards bush flying; how it's more than a job but a way of life; and a surprising risk she had to take to keep her plane safe. Sarah candidly speaks not only about the upsides of her profession but what the challenges are on a day-to-day basis and has some great advice for anyone considering bush flying..

BEST PLACE TO FOLLOW SARAH AND LEARN MORE ABOUT HER:

SHOWNOTES:

* Music by AudioCoffee from Pixabay
* Featured in this podcast: Sarah Smith* Referenced:
  • Episode 9 with Sophie Nolan, Wilderness Guide and founder of Sidetracked Adventures
* Resource:* Complete our Audience Poll and help us get to know you, the listener, better.

​​TRANSCRIPT

I'm Charlaine Jannerfeldt, and you're listening to About that outdoor job.

​" Well, um, I don't know if you have looked at a map of Ontario recently, but it is absolutely massive and I mean, most of the population of Ontario and even Canada is in the southern parts of it. So the north of Ontario is all just very remote. So I've flown kind of all over the north of Ontario and it's just, there's, no one up there. "

This is Sarah Smith, a Bush pilot who flies in the remote north of Ontario, Canada.

Bush flying, also called backcountry, outback or off airport flying has been around for quite some time in Canada. Bush flying started back in 1919 for aerial forest surveys and recognaissance for spotting forest fires. Bush pilots were operating in remote and rough terrain where there's not much prepared landing strips or runways. They had to navigate landing on dirt roads or suitable clearings but what the Canadian Outback has lots of is water. So flying on floats became an important segment of bush flying and this is the type of bush flying Sarah does.

Sarah, you grew up in northern western Ontario, near the small town of Dryden?

" I was quite a bit outside of Dryden, like really in the middle of nowhere. It's about 40 minutes outside of Dryden and um, yeah, it's an unorganised town. "

 For those of you somewhat familiar with Canadian geography, Dryden is almost say 1'730 kilometer drive northwest of Toronto, near the 51st parallel. About 70% of Canadians, they live south of the 49th parallel. Just saying, Dryden's north and remote. 

What was it like growing up there? 

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