A FIGHT TO STAY ALOFT
The venerable Rockcliffe Flying Club has started a GoFundMe campaign to pay it bills and, president Nicole Harris says, faces `the hard decision' on its future this month.
With its 60th birthday barely a week away, Ottawa's venerable Rockcliffe Flying Club is fighting to stay aloft.
Buffeted by the COVID -19 pandemic, a harsh winter that drove up snow-clearing costs and a hot, humid summer that has limited the number of flying days, the club has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise the cash it needs to pay its bills.
“Basically within this month of August is going to be when we have to make the hard decision on what our future looks like,” club president Nicole Harris said.
“We came to the point where we can't continue in this cycle. That's why we're reaching out to our members and the community. We need help.”
Aircraft have been flying out of Rockcliffe since 1918, when pilots trained for the First World War on the grass field of a military base. It was recognized as an airport in 1920. The airport was a major training centre during the Second World War and a group of Royal Canadian Air Force pilots started the Rockcliffe Flying Club on Aug. 28, 1961. The military base closed in 1964 and Rockcliffe has operated as a civilian airport ever since.
The RFC has about 300 members, Harris said. It runs its own flight school and is also partnered to train pilots in Algonquin College's aviation program. Flight training brings in about 95 per cent of the club's revenue, she said.
But, as sole tenant of the airport, the club is responsible for all maintenance and operation costs: things like snow clearing, wildlife control, maintaining the runway and taxiway signs and lights, and keeping approach routes certified with Transport Canada.
“We still have to maintain the airport to the standards,” Harris said. “If we don't do that, then we lose the certificate. And if we lose the certificate, the airport closes. That would disable us as a flight school. We wouldn't be able to operate.”
Though the general aviation industry nosedived after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the demand for pilot training has surged in the past five years as a wave of retirements has led to a pilot shortage. Club membership is near an alltime high, she said.
But the pandemic crippled the club. Revenue dropped by 80 per cent when the club was closed during the lockdown and is still only about half of normal. Even when COVID-19 restrictions lifted, people were slow to return to the air. It's hard to maintain social distancing while squeezed into the cockpit of a Cessna.
“We weren't seeing the members return to the extent we had anticipated,” Harris said. “They just didn't have the comfort level, which is understandable. It's been a slower return than we expected.”
Lost flying days due to bad weather — an increasingly common occurrence in recent years, she said — haven't helped. And, although it's a certified training school, the RFC receives no government funding.
“The GoFundMe came out because we recognize that it's not just our members that recognize the importance of Rockcliffe,” Harris said.
“There are aviation enthusiasts. There are a lot of people who are very supportive of Rockcliffe, and we decided to reach out to them. I think it would be a loss to the area to lose this history.”
We still have to maintain the airport to the standards. If we don't do that, then we lose the certificate. And, if we lose the certificate, the airport closes.