Gladys Bowditch

Gladys has been flying since childhood with her father owning several single-engine aircraft over the years. She first earned her Private Pilot Licence then Commercial Pilot Licence, and finally a Glider Licence at Namao CFB Edmonton. She then went on to achieve her Instructor Rating and worked for the Namao Flying Club until moving to Great International Biplane Flight at Villeneuve Airport flying and teaching on tailwheel aircraft. Gladys was able to accomplish this all while being able to win a coveted and highly competitive scholarship through the 99’s for the funding of her Single Engine IFR rating. 

22 years ago Gladys joined the Calgary Flying Club as a flight instructor where she achieved her Class I Instructor rating and Multi-IFR. Gladys is able to celebrate the fact that she has been able to guide and train so many pilots and that her trainees have left to work in every area of aviation imaginable. She herself worked in many environments beyond instructing; such as a First Officer on a C510 Citation, a Dash8, and many more over the years flying for private charter, commercial charter, scheduled services, and more. 

Her skills and significant experience led her to be one of the very few trained by Transport Canada as a Pilot Examiner and as a delegate of Transport Canada to conduct Flight Tests over a range of licenses, including the delegation as an Aviation Language Proficiency Tester.

Though retirement is calling to her, she continues to keep her hand in aviation as a highly in-demand Pilot Examiner in the Calgary area and a flight training SME for Level Flight; the latter allowing her to reach students all over Canada. It’s likely, however, that Calgary as a population would revolt if Gladys ever stopped flight testing the trainees there.