Q: Tell me about your role at Ornge
A: I work as a mid-term planner with Ornge. My portfolio includes the pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs). On the pilot side, I’m responsible for initial training, ongoing training, vacation backfill and extended leaves like STD or PAT. On the AME side, I deal with more day-to-day schedule management. The pandemic has brought new challenges and recently I have had the chance to work on two special projects. At the beginning of April 2021, GTA ICUs saw a rapid increase in COVID patients. To alleviate that surge we brought in extra paramedic crews, in critical care land units to decant these patients to ICUs with greater capacity at hospitals around Ontario. The first iteration was a smashing success so now that. Pfizer has been approved for youth 12-17 years of age we are starting up ORI 2.0. Needless to say, both these projects are very important and have allowed me to work alongside Ornge employees I might not normally be interacting with.
Q: What are some differences you’ve experienced working for commercial operation versus an air ambulance company?
A: I find I’m much less stressed. There is certainly pressure in my role, and I need to ensure I’m thorough and got my I’s and cross my T’s but it is much different than the pressure of a commercial operations control center. It’s a mini-miracle that commercial flights depart and arrive on time. So many factors can affect commercial operation weather, GDP, holding for connection, catering and about a hundred other reasons. Ornge on the other hand I need to schedule the staff to be there and depending on the time of year they might not ever leave the base that day. If I’m unable to get staff at a given base I can also try and combine them up with other staff to mitigate the issue. For example in Ottawa Ornge have both air and land base. Another aspect of my job that I love is that there are no overnights. I’m engaged and intend on starting a family after my wedding. Knowing that I will be home every evening means a lot to me.
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in aviation?
A: To be honest I kind of fell into aviation and never left.. I have a BA in Psychology but when I graduated in late 2010 the ripples of the 2008 financial crisis were still being felt. It was a wretched job market. A friend from high school was working as an Operations Coordinator with Porter and encouraged me to apply. My first role at Porter was as a Catering Representative/Driver. Within 8 months I had become a crew scheduler. Since 2012 I have been involved in scheduling in some capacity. My favourite part of working in commercial operation was staff travel. I had the opportunity to visit friends who were living in England, Germany and South Korea. Seeing a friend thousands of miles from where you first met is always a good time!
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: I’m kind of boring to be honest. During lockdown, my fiancee and I binged 14 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries. A show definitely not aimed at the 18-34 demographic that I fall into. Our wedding date is planned for June 30th, 2022, it is wonderful to have something to look forward to post lockdown/pandemic. I suspect a lot of my free time will soon be taken up with wedding planning. I like to gold and watch Jeopardy. I’m a 32-year-old who has the habit of a retiree lol.
Q: What advice do you have for those who want to pursue a career in aviation?
A: My advice to those wanting to pursue a career in aviation where you are in a non-flying role is to go for it! I have no formal aviation education and I really think nothing can prepare you for the speed of a busy operation. In September 2017 I left Sky Regional for Air Canada mainline. I tried my best as a pilot scheduler for 6 months at Air Canada. I was let go three days before my probation ended. Failure was hard, but it was an important lesson for me to learn that Air Canada mainline was not where I belonged. I thankfully was able to rebuild my career and am so happy and thankful to be working at Ornge. Ornge and I are a great marriage, they needed an experienced scheduler and I was the right person for the job. The organization and my own career have continued to grow. I hope to retire an Ornge employee in about 28 years.
