One of the perks of joining the Royal Canadian Air Cadets is everybody gets a chance to fly in a glider.
Sienna Friberg signed up for the Prince George 396 Squadron based at Connaught Youth Centre when she was 12 and she’s been involved ever since.
Now 17, Friberg never gets tired of going for a flight in a glider and the rush that comes once the motorless aircraft is released from the tow plane thousands of metres high in the sky.
With only the sound of the wind rushing over those broad wings she loves the feeling of taking over the controls as co-pilot and guiding their descent.
“I’ve been going gliding since I was 12, we usually do it about twice a year,” said Friberg.
”It’s nerve-wracking, it moves a lot, especially when you’re going through turbulence, it’s pretty scary, but it’s a lot of fun. You just hear the wind on the wings, no engine.”
Friberg, one of 61 air cadets from her squadron who participated in Saturday’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, says Prince George cadets have an advantage over some of their provincial counterparts because there is flatter terrain close by, which lends itself to safe glider flights.
“People in different cities, Kamloops for example, have to drive like four hours to go gliding,” she said.
The flight simulators they use on their third floor headquarters at Connaught Youth Centre are much more immersive and realistic and much more expensive than the latest Xbox or PlayStation video games.
Corey Dajko says he never gets tired of wearing the virtual reality headset and taking the controls in practice flights. He said his mom forced him to join air cadets when he was 12 but he’s certainly glad she did that.
“I fell in love with it and I really enjoy doing it, so I stayed, I really want to stay until I’m 19,” said the 17-year-old Dajko. “I’ve been in flight sim every since I joined and it’s very cool. We have VR headsets and it feel great to fly around. You get to learn how to fly and it makes you proud of yourself.”
The discipline he’s learned as a cadet has helped Dajko become a better student at Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary School and he wants to become a surgeon.
Dajko always looks forward to participating in Remembrance Day and joining up with his fellow air cadets in their blue uniforms for the parade to Veterans Plaza cenotaph.
“It’s really important to recognize our fallen soldiers and it feels great to lead an entire squadron,” said Dajko. “I feel super-proud to represent the squadron and represent the country. Your recognize you have that freedom and your grandparents and great-grandparents fought for that and you just feel very proud of them and happy that you don’t have to go through a war in your country.”
Now in his sixth year of air cadets, 17-year-old Spencer Pearen has been flying with his grandfather since he was five and that experience working the controls of a light plane combined with his air cadet training has opened up the possibility of getting his pilot’s licence.
“I don’t have mine right now but I’m working on it,” said Pearen.
All three 17-year-old have worked their way up the ranks to become warrant officers second-class. the air cadet program is open to applicants aged 12-19.
“I love the discipline in it, it teaches your to be a really good leader,” said Pearen, an aspiring carpenter who works at the airport as a ramp attendant.
“You become more responsible. Basically it just sets you up for life, there’s so many opportunities in it, like career paths and skills you can build, it’s the greatest program you can get into.”
The air cadets practice their Remembrance Day duties throughout the year and Pearen loves seeing all that time spent on drilling the troops come though on parade day.
“It makes me really proud to be able to come here and march in the parade and look really good as a squadron,” he said. “We’ve got them all ready, got their uniforms looking good and their drill pepped up. We have good numbers right now.”
