Economic deregulation was an
idea brought north from the U.S. It had the same effect south of the border as many of the legacy air carriers then went bankrupt. I recall working for one legacy carrier before deregulation. There wasn’t the same attention paid to costs, as the regulated fares were raised by the economic regulator to meet any increased costs. Once government regulated fares were eliminated the attention to basic costs increased drastically. One result that I saw in troubleshooting was not simply changing out components but making sure you actually had identified the correct malfunctioning component. A previous carrier I worked for had been meticulous in controlling maintenance costs by only changing out the malfunctioning component. The less cost-conscious carrier was easier on your time pressure but it was costlier as many serviceable components went to the shops either internally or externally.
GOVERNMENT’S ROLE One must take note of the huge amount of public money spent on expanding Canada’s air navigation system and airports. Beginning with enormous military investments
by Canada, the U.S. and even Great Britain in Canada’s aviation industry during WWII, additional investments were made during the 50 years of the Cold War. In the 1950s Transport Canada took over and continued to expand and improve both these systems. Government policy decisions
during the 1980s and early 1990s led to the not-for-profit, non- government operation of nearly all of Canada’s airports and the air navigation system. One reason given for doing this was the enormous capital costs which were difficult to raise. Another reason was the desire for operating efficiency that is difficult to achieve in government. All of this led to the creation of NavCanada and the many Airport Authorities that exist today. Transport Canada then became a policy and safety regulatory department with a large economic development component, but an operator of few facilities. Canada has gone full circle from private creation of aviation infrastructure through to large government control and involvement, back to mainly private operations and financing of aviation infrastructure.
KEY EVENTS FOR TECHNICIANS
AND AMES A few things stand out in history for those of us employed in the field of aircraft maintenance. The first was the issuance of the first Air Engineer licence in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Robert McCombie on May 19, 1919. The first successful cross-country flight in Saskatchewan occurs when aviator Roland Groome and mechanic Robert McCombie, after having taken delivery of a war- surplus Curtiss JN-4C Canuck, fly it to Regina, their home. They stopped in Davidson and Disley. Because they were carrying a letter from the mayor of Saskatoon, F.R. Ramsay, to his counterpart in Regina, Henry Black, this was Saskatchewan’s first airmail flight. So both aviation and AME history was made in my home province. Thanks to Gary Williams from the Canadian Aviation Historical Society for providing me this information. The faithfulness in which the
RCAF continued to support this licensing program during the 1920s and early 1930s right up until the creation of the Department of Transport was astounding. The Air Force itself had taken a much different model of training and certifying their maintenance technicians and inspectors.
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