TORONTO — For the first time in the 30-year history of the First Nations Technical Institute’s aviation program, a flight training crew is all female.
Rainbow Ford, who had her commercial flight test in December, told CTV’s Your Morning she didn’t think about the significance of having both a female instructor and examiner until a few days before her exam.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened before and at the time I was like, ‘I wonder if this has ever happened like ever in the country,’ because it’s pretty different,” Ford explained in an interview on Wednesday.
“We’re one of the only First Nations flight schools so it’s definitely a first for our school and I thought that was so cool,” she added.
The First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) is an Indigenous-owned and governed post-secondary school located in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ont. The FNTI’s First Peoples’ Aviation Technology program has been around since 1990 and is the “only post-secondary Indigenous aviation program of its kind in Canada,” according to its website.
The three-year program covers flight training, navigation, radio operations, flight and simulator training as well as private and commercial licence requirements.
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