CAF Story | Trailblazer in the skies
Video / October 29, 2024
Transcript
About 20 minutes after we got there, the boat was gone. It's hard to believe how an ocean can just swallow things up so quickly.
We were doing a northern patrol and after take off we had a phone call from RCC, the Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax. RCC said there's a fishing boat in distress up towards Iqaluit. We diverted there, we found the boat, the nine members were in the life raft. We stayed with them all night. They were about 12 hours in that raft, a fishing vessel came by and they had a dory, so they were able to pick up the members and bring them back into the boat.
There's a bunch of Newfoundlanders, right? And you've got to get that accent and he says, "Boys, I've got all me catch. They're all in good shape." That was very rewarding to know that everybody made it home safe and sound.
I am Captain Mary Cameron-Kelly, I'm with the Royal Canadian Air Force and I am a pilot on the Aurora aircraft.
I was a tech for about 7 years. I tried to join as a pilot, didn't make the selection, so I became an airframe technician. I did get my private license when I first arrived here on the wing, inspired me to push and get a pilot in the military. So I was able to get to aircrew selection and there was an Aurora slot available and I kind of pushed for that because I felt very comfortable with being a tech coming back and flying the airplane.
That first take off. It's so vivid in my mind, it was a mid January day. It was cold out, there was snow, but it was very cool and crisp. And I remember pushing the power up, watching the acceleration and going down the runway. And you know, saying that, and this is cool. I'm glad I pushed so hard to get where I'm at. Being in that cockpit and doing my job and love doing what I'm doing. Otherwise I wouldn't be here, is my happy place. Your adrenaline going, you're taking off. Just the thought of that, you know, getting up there, you just concentrate on your job, what you're doing and you kind of forget about everything else.
The exciting part is going flying, of course, taking a crew and getting a briefing to go do a mission to go do something maybe rewarding. It could be, go try to… drug interdiction. You could search and rescue, maybe hunt submarines or go practice training with them, with the ships and the helicopters to work as a, you know, integral part of the community. I got accepted in this year for the Aviation Hall of Fame and never thought to this day. it's very overwhelming, very humble to be part of that.
There's not a lot of women that are in there and to have the support to make it there and do that is very, very emotional.
I'm hoping for other women. I'm able to open the doors a lot easier for them. If you make a little goals and you're able to sustain that, then the other goals will come. Go give it a try. It may not be for you, it might be for you.
So I think definitely give it a go.