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Campbell River Flight School In The Forefront Of Electric Aviation History

Sealand Flight and its new plane will be part of trial for electric passenger aircraft

Campbell River may be the point of take-off for the future of commercial electric aircraft in Canada.

Sealand Flight, a flight school based in Campbell River, took possession of an all-electric Velis Electro from Slovenian-Italian manufacturer, Pipistel, on the weekend of Feb. 20. The Velis Electro will be used as part of a pilot program called the Electric Airplane Trial Program created by Transport Canada in 2022. That year, proposals were sent to flight schools interested in adopting electric aircraft and evaluating their capabilities and limitations. Sealand Flight answered the call and was approved in 2023.

"They're interested in learning how these aircraft are going to be implemented into commercial aviation," says Mike Andrews, a professional pilot and spokesperson for Sealand Flight. "At the moment, there are electric aircraft that are flying in Canada but there aren't any that are flying in any commercial capacity that they can charge passengers to fly on them."

Harbour Air's Electric Beaver is one of those, making its maiden (test) voyage in 2022 between Richmond and the Saanich Peninsula.

Sealand Flight is working on getting to this stage.

The Velis Electro, and most electric aircraft, have limited battery life. It has a 50-minute charge, with a 10-minute reserve. Andrews estimates it would be enough to take the aircraft to Qualicum Beach, where there will be a charging station. Charging stations will also be in Courtenay and Powell River.

"They aren't going to be major cross-country machines," says Andrews. "So we're working on figuring out what's possible with them and what's not, and also what regulations need to change because right now there are regulations that exist on things like you need to have fuel gauges just like a car, or oil gauges … but that doesn't obviously apply to an electric aircraft just like it doesn't in an electric vehicle. So there are things that need to change in order to adopt these aircraft, especially in a commercial capacity."

The flight school bought the airplane roughly three months ago and will be given authority to fly the plane with their pilots for testing. Afterwards, they will be given an exception to take students and paying customers to start doing training flights, with the plan on developing a full-fledged training program in the future.

Sealand plans to fly the aircraft for the first time sometime in March. The flight school is just waiting for a week-long maintenance training course (hosted at the school) through Pipistrel, which will be attended by other flight schools as well as Transport Canada. The school is also waiting for fully developed charging infrastructure to be installed in its hangar as well.

"We're also hoping to inspire the airport management to create their own public charging infrastructure just like electric vehicle charging infrastructure. They're all over the place now and it's largely led by the provincial government too. They just mandated it to increase sustainable infrastructure in travel and that's what we're hoping to see with electric airplanes too."

Campbell River To Get 'village' Of Pre-fabricated Units For Homeless

Mayor Kermit Dahl said Friday that he hopes the pre-fabricated units will be up and running by May 1.

Forty temporary supportive housing units for those without homes will open in Campbell River as early as this spring through a partnership between the province and the city, which is supplying the land.

Mayor Kermit Dahl said Friday that he hopes the pre-fabricated units will be up and running by May 1, adding there's an urgent need to help those experiencing homelessness and address encampments and "associated challenges" in the community.

The city has dealt with encampments at Nunns Creek Park and in the downtown area.

The collection of units, which will give up to 40 people a place to sleep and store belongings, will be called HEARTH Village and be located at 1299 Homewood Rd.

It will include a shared amenity space and washrooms, and a non-profit social agency will be hired to run the village.

As in other sheltered housing projects in the province, it will have staff on duty around the clock daily, a feature welcomed by Dahl.

Support services such as meals, skills training and referrals to health and other community services will be available.

Last year, a point-in-time count found 197 people in the city experiencing homelessness, up from 116 in 2021.

Dahl said a year ago, he visited The Village in Duncan, where previously unhoused people live in tiny individual units, and was sold on the concept.

Victoria had its own Tiny Town village of 30 shipping-container homes in the Royal Athletic Park parking lot, which closed last fall after operating for two years.

Campbell River made news last fall after it rejected two non-profit organizations' ­property-tax exemption requests for 2024, on the grounds that they were ­contributing to disorder downtown by assisting unhoused residents.

The Campbell River Art Gallery had raised the ire of some by allowing people to shelter under its awnings at night and holding art studio session for members of the street population, while the Vancouver Island Mental Health ­Society, which runs a supervised ­injection site downtown, was accused by a town councillor of having "significant negative effects on our downtown community."

At the time, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon urged the town's council to work with partners to find solutions.

B.C. Housing is covering the capital costs and ongoing funding for the HEARTH Village, which is currently being determined. As well as land, the city will pay for the civil works and site-preparation costs.

The new project is part of the province's HEARTH program — homelessness encampment action response temporary housing program.

The government will continue to work with Campbell River and other communities to develop more housing options so more people can move indoors, Kahlon said.

cjwilson@timescolonist.Com

Residents Displaced In Campbell River Due To Aggressive Condo Fire

Firefighters in Campbell River, B.C., were busy Saturday morning, battling an aggressive fire on the top floor of a condo building.

The fire at 155 Erickson Road ignited around 2:25 a.M. And quickly became an extremely active blaze.

Photos of the fire show an entire condo engulfed along with a large portion of the roof.

A photo taken by a resident of the fire in Campbell River. Brad Orr/ Submitted

Craig Burkitt, a resident in the building said it was a mad rush to try and get some of the vulnerable residents out.

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"I heard some fellas downstairs and all of a sudden the fire alarm (went off)," Burkitt said, an evacuee.

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"I saw some flickering (out my window). I started knocking on doors to get people out because some (neighbours) were in wheelchairs. Five of us in the stairwell for about 20 minutes (trying to get the wheelchairs out) then the firemen showed up and helped us."

Around 20 firefighters responded to the fire, with mutual aid from the Oyster River Fire Department.

All residents were evacuated and no serious injuries were reported.

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"We heard 'Get out, get out, get out!'," Torger Olsen said, another evacuated resident.

"It all went good because the (building) is very coordinated. We have a few fire marshals here. Everyone helped each other."

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Evacuated residents are encouraged to reach out for support and information on temporary access to the building at 250-203-1972.

The City of Campbell River is advising the public to avoid the area at this time.

The Strathcona Regional District Emergency Support Services program has been activated and a reception centre to support the evacuated residents is at the Campbell River Baptist Church.

More than 120 residents live in the building, according to the building's fire marshal.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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