If you stop by Peterborough Airport in Peterborough, Ont., on any given day, odds are you’ll see Cathy Montgomery — that is, if you look up.
For more than two decades the pilot and flight instructor has been taking to the skies, and helping others do the same.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, teaching about 24,” Montgomery said.
“I have put a lot of students through here, but never any women. I am hoping before I retire to have at least one woman take and finish the course.”
Her aircraft of choice: an ultralight. And for this story, she is taking me up on a sightseeing mission.
“This is an Air Creation ultralight,” she said, showing me around our ride for the day.
“It is a little bit different than a fixed wing, in that it is a weight-shift ultralight, it is flown like a hang-glider, so you physically fly the wing itself, so to go right, we push left, and left, we push right.”
So, think hang-glider but with two seats and a motor.
“We are applying throttle to fly and descend but essentially the machine shifts under the weight of the wing and that is what does the turn,” Montgomery said.
“They are extremely safe. It is an aircraft engine, a 912-, 100-horsepower engine,” she said.
For this flight, we’re circling Peterborough at a circuit altitude of 1,000 feet.
“What we are doing today is an introductory flight, get used to the controls. I will let you fly it,” she said.
“The wing is about 32 feet. We can adjust our speed between 65 and 85 miles per hour. What happens with lessons is after about three hours, new students can take the front seat, but I still have full control from the back.”
With that, it’s take-off time. After letting the engine warm up, we hit the throttle and the runway. A pull on the wing and we are climbing, easily lifting off. There are no doors on the aircraft, though we are strapped in.
A brief drop in my stomach and I start to get used to the sensation, even enough to take in the beautiful view.
The rush, and the freedom, Montgomery said, is what she likes most about flying.
“You can go about seven hours without refuelling. I flew down to Napanee the other day, all over Ontario, last year up to Wiarton, Tobermory, Grand Bend — there are lots of great places to go.”
And while I don’t think I will be that first female to go through the course, I did control the wing (albeit briefly) and we made it back to the hangar safe and sound.
“I wasn’t scared at all,” Montgomery said.
That makes one of us.
For more information, or to book a flight or lesson, you can visit Montgomery’s website.
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