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Buffalo pilot breaks boundaries

Yellowknife is home to the only female Curtiss C-46 aircraft pilot in the country.

Jamie MacDonald unknowingly made history earlier this week when she became the first Canadian female pilot to fly a vintage C-46 airplane in over 40 years.

Jamie MacDonald stands in front of a C-46 airplane. She is currently the only female pilot flying this particular model of plane in Canada. Photo Courtesy of Mikey McBryan

"It's quite amazing if that's the word I'm going to use, for what I've done without really knowing,”said MacDonald “I just came up here to fly planes and I found out that I'm the first (female pilot) for quite a while in Canada.”

MacDonald, who was born and raised in Toronto, only recently moved to Yellowknife to join the crew at Buffalo Airways. Now the company believes she may be the only female in the world piloting this wartime aircraft.

“Coming up here was a chance and something that I wanted, not a lot of people do it. A lot of the time, not only females, but males and females would prefer the airline life,” said MacDonald, “but now we think currently that I might be the only one in the world.”
MacDonald, is currently flying both the C-46 – also known as the Commando – and the DC-3 on freight runs for Buffalo, she says that both of those are change from the single engine Cessna planes she was flying down south.
“The C-46 is a hard plane, you have to be kind of suited for it. It's a big plane, so you have to show it who's boss. It's really heavy on the controls, its kind of like if you have a Honda Civic, and then you go to a 18-wheeler,” said MacDonald. “I was flying single engine aircraft, so it's very different and also I was the captain of my own ship back home but with this I'm a first officer and I work with a captain and a crew.”
The change to a heavier aircraft doesn't bother MacDonald – in fact she says she welcomes and even prefers it. MacDonald says the experience she is gaining on the two Buffalo models will serve her better in reaching her dream job.
“I'm a big war bird lover so it's my dream to fly the Lancaster at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum which is located (outside) Hamilton,” she said.
Those museum flights would be much different from the cargo trips she is currently completing North of 60. The larger Lancaster currently flies people over downtown Toronto on scenic trips starting at $3,500.

However, in the meantime MacDonald says she will just continue to enjoy the Northern flight routes she is currently running.
“I am checked out on both aircrafts, the DC-3 and C-46, basically I can fly both the planes. Personally I like them both, so I would take any kind, but personally I would prefer the 46 just because it's heavier,” she said.

Jamie MacDonald stands on the wing of a DC-3 wartime model airplane outside the Buffalo Hangar. Photo Courtesy of Robert Grant.