LS Airways Flight Academy in Gimli celebrated the achievements of its students who earned their wings in a number of flying programs.
The flight school held a ceremony last Saturday to congratulate their students for mastering solo flights and earning their private and commercial pilot licenses.
Laphatsanan Youngtrong, who is from Thailand and goes by the nickname Bowy, completed a solo flight – a takeoff, circuit and landing – without an instructor on board.
Bowy, who has already landed two part-time jobs in Gimli, said she plans to continue on to earn her private pilot licence. After that she plans to earn her commercial pilot licence.
“I want to become a flight instructor first to [get] more flying hours and then I will apply for a pilot job,” said Bowy, who has been in Canada for only a month and a half and will be experiencing her first Manitoba winter.
LS Airways is a Transport Canada-designated school that provides commercial and private flight training to Canadian and international students out of its hangar at the Gimli Airport, which has a 6,800-foot runway. Students are trained in a Cessna aircraft and on a flight simulator. The school also provides training in ratings such as instrument, night, multi-engine, instructor and float.
In addition to flight training, LS offers passenger and cargo service to and from northern Manitoba communities such as Berens River, Poplar River, Little Grand Rapids, Island Lake and Norway House, as well as to Winnipeg. It also provides aerial sightseeing tours around Gimli and fishing/wilderness charters to the Bennett Lake Lodge in northeastern Manitoba.
LS Airways is owned and operated by Noura Gharib, who moved to Gimli from Egypt several years ago. She is also the school’s chief flight instructor.
For more information about the flight school, passenger or sightseeing charters, contact LS Airways at (204) 642-4799.
Express Photo by Brett Mitchell
