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TRAINING / Pilot Career Pathways Flight path to Success Students are the big winners as aviation schools partner with industry to offer new pilots a clearly defined career track. By Lisa Gordon t was foggy and unseasonably warm on Feb. 23, 2017, as a Sunwing Boeing 737-800 landed at the Region of Waterloo International Airport and taxied up to the terminal. Inside the building, a large group of people was eagerly anticipating the plane’s I arrival. On hand were representatives from the University of Waterloo (UW), Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre (WWFC), airport staff and members of the media—all there to celebrate four brand new Sunwing first officers who are among the first direct-entry cadets the leisure airline has ever hired. As First Officer Chelsea Anne Edwards descended the airstairs to the wet tarmac, she was joined by three of her fellow gradu- ates from the four-year aviation program offered by the University of Waterloo (UW) and Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre (WWFC). Founded in 2007, the program— which leads to an Honours Bachelor of A celebration on the tarmac at the Region of Waterloo International Airport on Feb. 23 included, from left to right, Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre General Manager Bob Connors, newly-minted Sunwing First Officers Cameron Fuchs, Chelsea Anne Edwards, Siobhan O’Hanlon and Spencer Leckie, and Dr. Ian McKenzie, Director of Aviation, Faculties of Science and Environment, University of Waterloo. Mike Reyno Photo 44 SKIES Magazine | March/April 2017