'He landed perfectly’: Sask. Aviation Museum hopes to inspire future pilots

(Stacey Hein / CTV News)

The Saskatchewan Aviation Museum is hoping to inspire the next generation of pilots.

The museum brought some exhibits to the 71st annual Sports and Leisure Show in Saskatoon on Saturday.

“There’s so many people in Saskatoon, and the Province of Saskatchewan, who do not know that we exist,” said Shelley Jensen, a museum board member and volunteer.

“The Sports and Leisure Show is a wonderful way for us to get exposure.”

Three exhibits were on display including an interactive “tracker nose” that gives the illusion of being in the cockpit.

Jensen said the “gyrocopter”—which looks like a helicopter but flies like a plane—was made in Kindersley.

For the final exhibit, the museum partnered with the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies to bring in a flight simulator.

The goal is to help future careers in aviation ‘take off’.

“We got a lot of kids say, ‘I want to be a pilot when I grow up’,” Jensen said.

“We had a young gentleman in the flight simulator today, six years old, and he landed perfectly.”

The aviation museum is open in Saskatoon from 9-4 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday.