After 48 years in the skies, a Kelowna pilot recently hung up his wings for retired life on solid ground.
"It's been a wonderful career. I did so many different things," says Craig Thompson, who recently retired as a WestJet pilot.
Thompson was born and raised in Kelowna and got his private pilot licence in October of 1973. He got his commercial pilot licence just two years later and has been soaring above the clouds ever since.
"I would recommend flying as a career for any young person. Basically you're guaranteed a job once you graduate from flight school."
Thompson says one of the best jobs he had was flying as the chief pilot on a business jet for Tolko Industries from 2000 to 2009.
"I thought I was going to retire doing that job but it didn't work out when the lumber industry got hit hard and mills started closing, nobody was flying anymore," he added.
Thompson says he has been hit by lightning twice — three times if you count meeting his wife Jodi in the air — once in a private plane and once in a Boeing 737.
"Some pilots go their whole careers without being struck by lightning," he noted.
"That was an amazing experience. The first time we had to land and have the plane checked out. The second time we were flying from Toronto to Winnipeg when we got hit. It sounded like we were wacked with a big piece of plywood but the plane was fine so we just carried on to Winnipeg," says Thompson.
Despite the changes to aircraft over the course of his career, Thompson says new planes, including the Boeing 737 Max, "are fantastic machines, very reliable and safe."
"In 50 years of flying, I have only had to declare an emergency twice. Once for a very low-fuel approach into the Kelowna Airport on a very foggy night. And once while at WestJet for a flap malfunction," says Thompson.
Among his career highlights, Thompson says he flew Halle Berry from Vancouver to Los Angeles. During years of air ambulance flights he saw injuries to the human body, "that most people other than doctors, police and EMS will hopefully never see."
The other big moment was meeting and subsequently marrying his wife Jodi, who organized his retirement party after his last flight.
"She got this huge card and got all the passengers to sign it for me, it was very special."
Thompson says he still loves to fly and looks forward to spending his retirement years in exotic locations with Jodi.
