Three generations of Calgary pilots, one family legacy

Maclean Little was just 15 years old when he learned to fly, about the same age as his dad and grandfather before him. This March, Maclean joined his father Doug as a WestJet pilot, continuing the aviation career tradition started by grandfather Les, an Alberta and Canadian industry legend who started flying 71 years ago.

For Maclean, now 27 and flying with WestJet Encore, the legacy means everything. "I take great pride in our name and reputation. It's what we were born and bred into."

That tradition began with Les, who turns 87 later this month and still works teaching ground school at his Medicine Hat flight training school and charter company, Super T Aviation Academy. He remembers, age six, getting into an airplane with his own dad when a barnstormer came to town, offering rides. "My interest was piqued; I craved more and more. The thrill of being in the air is like a disease. The urge goes on forever."

While he continued flying, Les taught high school and college business and math for 15 years in Medicine Hat. But when a local flight charter company went broke, "I couldn't stay away." What started as flight training grew to include light charter and pipeline inspection with the oil patch. In 1996, Air Canada asked Little's company, Bar XH Air Inc., to be the country's first Tier Three air carrier, Alberta CityLink, feeding into Calgary and Edmonton from Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Cranbrook, Grande Prairie, Lloydminster, and Cold Lake.

More than 200 pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers trained by Super T have been hired by Air Canada, WestJet, and other majors. "My dad and his company have the reputation of producing the best pilots in Canada," says son Doug, 58, and that includes Donald Bell, one of the founders of WestJet.

All five of Les' children helped at the family business from day one, growing up around the airport cleaning floors, pumping gas, and hanging around the flying community. While four got private pilot licenses, only one, Doug, made aviation a career.

But he didn't start out that way. "I never wanted to be a pilot when I was young: I wanted to be an aircraft maintenance engineer. I was always adept at fixing things." With a three-year waitlist for the program, "my dad said no good would come to me doing nothing for three years, and I should just become a pilot."

Once started down that path, "I realized I had hit the lottery. I can't imagine doing anything else." He started working charter, cargo, and passenger flights into the north, then in Ontario and then with Air Canada's Alberta CityLink. In the late 1990s, Doug was offered an opportunity at WestJet. "I always wanted to fly a commercial jetliner; dad said follow your passion."

The family business extends beyond Maclean — Doug's youngest son Garrett is an aircraft maintenance engineer in Yellowknife, the same career Doug originally thought of pursuing. Middle son O'Brien is a computer programmer but also designed Super T's billing system. Numerous nieces and nephews have their private pilots' licenses, and it was a cousin that taught Doug to fly. "Gatherings celebrate not only family but the aviation bond."

Like his father Doug, Maclean didn't see flying as a career. Instead, like his grandfather, he hoped to become a teacher. But after a year and a half at university, he decided teaching wasn't for him, returning to Medicine Hat "to figure out life." He had half his pilot's license. He decided to finish it — and the rest, as they say, followed.