Harbour Air pilot hands controls to Prince George for pretend flight

In a farewell fit for a future king, Prince George said goodbye to Canada on Saturday with a royal double-hand wave to the crowd in Victoria’s Inner Harbour.

The three-year old Royal couldn’t wait to get on board Harbour Air pilot Shawn Stewart’s float plane – “He had his face right up against the window and he was pretty much like that as far as I could tell for most of the flight. He was quite enthralled looking out the window”, recalled Stewart.

A photo of Prince George wearing headphones with his face glued to the float plane window was captured by a Royal photographer. Young George was sitting right behind the 17-year pilot and when Stewart landed at Victoria International Airport after giving the royal family a final aerial tour, the prince jumped into the cockpit.

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“We brought the control yoke back for him to play with and he pretended he was flying the plane. Kate asked if he was going to fly us to Canada and he piped right back that he was going to fly us to England,” said Stewart.

It was the young Prince and Princess’ third public appearance during the eight day tour. The financial impact is still being calculated but with the Royals boosting ‘Beautiful B.C.’ on social media, the advertising is priceless – “We could never afford that same level of promotion on an international scale if we were to pay for it ourselves”, said Maya Lange of Destination BC.

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Tourism officials say the Royal Visit could push our province past a record five million international visits. On the streets of Vancouver, several people told Global News they felt that hosting the Royal family was well worth it and that the long term benefits would far outweigh what’s expected to be a hefty price tag for taxpayers.

Shawn Stewart can’t put a price on his close encounter with the Royal family, especially Prince George. “It was fun to see him being a kid up there, getting him to have fun. It was neat to be a part of that,” the pilot said.