By Andy Cline | August 27, 2018 Estimated reading time 5 minutes, 36 seconds.
A Seneca College student has won the Webster Memorial Trophy Competition yet again, taking first place in a contest that determines the top amateur pilot in Canada.
The school, which hosted the 2018 event at its Peterborough, Ont., aviation campus, has taken the top spot in four of the last five years.
The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition was created in 1932.
Dr. J.C. Webster started it off by creating a trophy in memory of his son John, who was killed in an accident while training for an aerobatic competition.
The Webster Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to a pilot who has not recently been employed in commercial aviation.
Applicants are assessed on the fundamental knowledge and skills required by a visual flight rules (VFR) pilot.
There are no limitations on competitors’ flight experience, and flying time varied from 60 to 300 hours amongst this year’s finalists. The earliest began flight training in 2004, and the latest in 2016.
Competitors can come from private flight schools, or from college and university backgrounds. Four finalists hold private pilot’s licences, five hold commercial licences, six are night-rated, three are multi-engine-rated, one is instrument flight rules (IFR) rated, and one is seaplane-endorsed.
Two of the finalists are instructors and two are Air Cadets.
The competition takes place in two stages.
The first stage is a regional competition, with Canada divided into nine separate regions. Webster regions generally coincide with provincial boundaries, with two exceptions: all Atlantic provinces are included in one region, and Ontario is divided into three regions.
The nine regional finalists from across Canada descended on Peterborough Airport for the week of Aug. 20 to 24 for an intense competition that consisted to two written tests, a Redbird flight simulator session, and a flight test. Four judges evaluated contestants in the final competition.
The nine finalists, representing the regions across Canada, were:
Joo Sung (Daniel) Shim, representing British Columbia; Carolyn Spence of Alberta; Sara Voth of Saskatchewan; Mark Dizon of Manitoba; Natalie Smith of Western Ontario; Jonathan Littler of Central Ontario; Carter Simpson of Eastern Ontario; Gregoire Carlesimo of Quebec; and Mihar Raouf for the Atlantic region.
The 2018 Webster competition celebrated several firsts. It was the first time with three finalists who were born outside Canada–from Jordan, the Philippines and South Korea.
It was also the first time the competition had four female finalists, more than any previous competition. They each received an award from the Northern Lights Aero Foundation for women in aviation.
This year’s Webster contest winner was Carter Simpson, a fourth-year student at Seneca College. The Webster runner-up was Jonathan Littler, who did his flight training at Brampton Flying Club in Ontario.
All finalists received numerous prizes from sponsors, including a $1,000 flight training grant from Moncton Flight College in New Brunswick.
The winner and runner up each received a beautiful pilot’s watch from Hamilton Watches. Simpson also won a pair of passes from Air Canada to anywhere in North America. He also took the Nav Canada Trophy for the top score on the pilot knowledge test, presented by Chris Stevens.
The event is extensively sponsored by a multitude of aviation businesses, organizations and individuals from across the country, providing not only funding for the event, but prizes for the participants.
The gala awards banquet was held Saturday, Aug. 25,in the Seneca hangar at Peterborough. Also attending the banquet were winners from the previous two years, both Seneca graduates: Mark Crha (2016) and Liam Cohen (2017).
Both were grateful for the opportunities the Webster victory afforded them. They were roommates at Seneca, and both were recently hired by Sunwing Airlines and will be flying the Boeing 737.
“The Webster Memorial Trophy Competition was a wonderful experience that helped shape me both as a person and a pilot,” said Cohen. “I am grateful to have met so many wonderful people.”
Seneca College was honoured to host the Webster Memorial Trophy Competition, another milestone in its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2018.
The victory of another of its students in the Webster is a testament to the education it provides in its aviation programs. The Webster competitors left with an incredible experience under their belts, but also with many new friends and contacts.
The 2019 competition will take place at Moncton Flight College.
