By DEREK ROBERTS.
One of the first flights Bryan Webster ever took ended in an accident, ultimately setting the stage for his successful business, Aviation Egress Training Systems.
“The intense August sun was setting directly in our eyes and BC Hydro and Power Authority had just strung up 16 high-tension electrical wires,” he recalls. “They didn’t even have the balls on them yet. Long story short, to avoid the wires, he tried to go over them. That was not possible, so down we went nose pointed to the earth, nearly clipping the first vertical four wires. We rounded out underneath them and immediately hit the water at well over 100 mph, then flipped on our back. I came too first, got out and then went around to the other side and pulled the pilot out.”
That flight occurred in 1975 when Webster was just a high school student working on his private pilot certificate. A family friend who enjoyed flying low over British Columbia’s Fraser River in a Cessna 150 Aerobat had invited him along for a flight.
An accident like that may cause some teenagers to reconsider a career in aviation, let alone one that would for decades be centered around flying low and slow all over the country, including over water.
But for a young Webster, he had already made up his mind — he wanted to be a bush pilot.
Fortunately, he and his buddy were OK due, in part, to the airplane’s military style shoulder harnesses.
“After a quick stint in the hospital, I bought a little Cessna 150 and was back to learning to fly,” he says.
With his own airplane and an enthusiasm for flight, the young aviator quickly hit the 250-hour mark and earned his commercial ticket. With both his accident and high school graduation barely in the rearview mirror, Webster headed north to make good on his flying dream.
Arriving at the town of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories, he added a float endorsement and kicked off a 10-year stint flying all over the Canadian wilderness carrying supplies, sightseers, and backcountry outfitters.
Earning his charter license in 1980, he headed further north, this time to Dawson City, where he set up his own operation flying everything from Luscombes to Cessna 185s and 206s to deHavilland Beavers.
“We were hauling everybody from gold miners to tourists,” Webster says, adding with a laugh, “we had a ball, but there was absolutely no money in it.”
Newly married and searching for opportunities, Bryan and his wife moved to yet another Canadian outpost, landing in the Northwest Territories, in the town of Fort Smith.
According to Webster, the highlight of his airborne time in Fort Smith was “bird dogging” in Cessna 210s as part of airborne fire suppression.
“What a bird dog does is act as the eyes for a water bomber,” he explains. “You strafe the fire, give the altitude of the highest tree and where you want the retardant laid. Basically, you’re flying aerobatics, just like a crop duster does all day long, and it’s just a blast.”
But with a growing family and eventually more than 12,000 hours of flight time, the now seasoned pilot knew it was time to advance his career and to take on a steadier role in the world of corporate aviation.
Relocating first to the Edmonton, Alberta, area, Bryan started flying Beechcraft 90s, 100s and 200s, then Cessna Caravans on contract routes for FedEx. He then moved to Victoria BC, where he ultimately advanced to the role of check captain in the province he continues to call home.
A Career Change
Known for its fog, high winds and cloudy weather, it was on a marginal day in southern British Columbia that a tragedy all too personal to Webster and the aviation community struck.
“I was doing a flight from Vancouver to Victoria and I ended up going IFR,” he recalls. “Another guy had gone into Active Pass, a strait separating Mayne Island and Galiano Island in British Columbia, and this poor guy got into the fog and eventually ended upside down in the water with numerous fatalities.”
Because of Webster’s aviation experience and the fact that he had been flying nearby in similar conditions, authorities called on him to take part in the post-crash investigation.
In conversation with one of the investigators, he wondered aloud why there was no ditch training available for seaplane pilots.
Knowing of Webster’s close call in his youth, the investigator said that while he and his agency couldn’t undertake such a task, he would certainly endorse Webster should he take the initiative and start training pilots on his own.
That conversation proved to be all the impetus Webster needed. Seizing the opportunity to educate pilots on the procedures required in a water-based emergency, he immediately went to work developing a curriculum, gathering equipment, and ultimately founding Aviation Egress Training Systems.
Local pilots and floatplane companies responded with resounding support. In the first year, the founder recalls that demand was so high from local carriers that he started planning to give up his flying job to focus full time in egress training. By the second year, it was a full-fledged training enterprise.
Fast forward to today and the trend continues. Having now been in business for more than 20 years, Aviation Egress Training Systems has trained 6,800 pilots and passengers in the necessary skills to survive in the event of an emergency water landing.
During the standard eight-hour training course, students complete modules on preflight briefings, how landing gear configurations impact a crash, evacuating passengers, and survival procedures. They also participate in five hours of actual water-based scenarios at the training site’s pool.
The company also offers a comprehensive and inexpensive three-hour online course for those pilots who might not be able to attend an in-person seminar.
The results speak for themselves. Since the founding of the company in 1998, Webster proudly notes that he’s trained thousands of flyers, 12 at a time, and that the company has “had 21 successes stories — 21 people who have taken our course have ended up upside down in the water and everyone of them has gotten out.”
“On top of that, they’ve brought out 21 of their passengers,” he continues. “That makes 21 pilots, 21 passengers, and we’ve entered 21 years in business.”
And that’s 21 thankful phone calls that the longtime pilot says all start the same way: “Bryan, you won’t believe what just happened.”
What I Fly
My 1947 Luscombe AE on floats, with an O-235 engine.
Why I Fly It
I found it in an ad and it looked so pretty I couldn’t say no. I’d been looking for a two-seat aircraft. Previously we had a Luscombe 8A with the rag wings on it, a 1940. We had several challenges trying to get them replaced or patched up. There are so few people who do repairs on rag wings these days, my wife said the next airplane you buy cannot have rags — it’s got to be all metal.
The Luscombe is a terrific airplane. The lift you get out of the aircraft for the amount of speed and horsepower required to do it…it was so far ahead of its time. Still there’s not much out there that will do what it does, for what you invest.
How I Fly It
A buddy of mine has a float home on one of the Vancouver Island lakes and it’s exactly an hour to the minute away. It’s remote and it’s quiet. For me to get away from the computer and the cell phone, I find it’s really beautiful to fly to a pristine lake in the middle of nowhere. You’re totally on your own. As a rule, you’ll find us thinking life’s too grand because there’s not anyone within 30 miles.
Flying Advice
If you’re going to fly a float plane, take it seriously. You have to do more than what’s required for the endorsement.
You’re not in any way safe to fly a floatplane until you have at least a thorough understanding of moving water, rough water, glassy water, and high altitude lakes.
It doesn’t happen on a weekend course. You’ve got to get an instructor who knows what they’re doing, and you have to get trained properly. In some cases, it can take 25 hours, even if they’re really on the ball. Some 40. I’ve done as many as 50 with one individual.
I’ve had three of my buddies go upside down in the water and I’ve trained them all in underwater egress and every one of them got out.
And they all said the same thing: “Wow, I didn’t see that coming!”