WILLIAMS, Joan Leona (nee INWOOD)

After fighting a truly courageous battle, Joan passed away peacefully on July 3, 2017. Joan was born on June 11, 1941 in Toronto where she grew up with her 8 siblings. She attended the University of Toronto where she graduated with an Honours BA (Philosophy and English), Master of Arts (Philosophy) and a Master of Social Work.

Joan's overwhelming passion in life was aviation. For over 30 years Joan worked at Toronto Airways, one of the largest flight schools in Canada as the Chief Flight Instructor and then as Business Development Manager. More recently she was Chair of the Board and Vice President of Quality with Ottawa Aviation Services. At the national level, Joan was a longtime member and Director of the Air Transportation Association of Canada and recently received an ATAC Lifetime Honouree Award. She served as Chair of the ATAC National Flight Training Committee. Joan was also a member of Royal Aeronautical Society and the International Pilot Training & Qualifications Consortium. She held a Canadian Commercial Pilot Licence and Multi Rating and has held a Class I Flight Instructor Rating and Multi-IFR Rating; and has been a Designated Flight Test Examiner for Transport Canada with over 5,000 hours of piloting experience.

In June of this year, in recognition of her illustrious aviation career, Joan was selected to receive the Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award in the Education category for her very significant contribution to the flight training community.

One of Joan's great strengths was her ability to discuss any subject from aviation to philosophy to the current state of her Toronto Blue Jays baseball club. Joan had a brilliant wit and sense of humour, was a well-read scholar (as evidenced by her prized membership in the Anthony Powell Society) and was a binding force to her entire family. But more importantly, Joan was a devoted mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and friend to many.

Joan is survived by her son Andrew and his children Ryan and Katie, her son Patrick and his partner Claudia. She will be sadly missed by her many nephews and nieces: Mary Elizabeth and her husband Brian, Christopher and his wife Mila, Nik, Patrick (Carol) and Stephanie (Frank), Alison and Mathew, Katherine, Jennifer and Sarah, and Beverly, Stephen, Chris and Jennifer. Joan was predeceased by her two sisters: Shelagh (and Shelagh's husband Les) and Eileen and will be fondly remembered by her surviving brothers and sisters Mary Martha (Gary), Michael, Millar (Susan), Janine, Gregory (Tish) and her former spouse Paul (Dianne), father of Andrew and Patrick and their half-brothers Alexander and Keith.

A celebration of life will be held for Joan Williams on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Balmy Beach Club, 360 Lake Front (foot of Beech Avenue) in Toronto.

On July 1^st the Government of Canada published their latest proposal for new Flight Crew Fatigue regulations in Canada Gazette Part 1 for comment. Some changes that ATAC had been seeking during our prolonged advocacy have been incorporated in this latest proposal however overall ATAC is not pleased with this latest proposal. Many of the specific new requirements penalize our industry that already has one of the best safety records in the world. The Government’s ”one size fits all” approach isn’t justifiable nor practical! ATAC will continue to work closely with our members, and our other industry colleagues, over the 90 day comment period to ensure the Government understands our concerns and hopefully listens to us prior to proceeding to Canada Gazette Part 2 in 2018.

Please refer to the following link for copies of the gazette proposed regulations and associated documents: http://www.canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2017/2017-07-01/html/reg2-eng.php.

Please refer to the following link for the associated draft proposed standards http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/npa-apm/actr.aspx?id=13&aType=1&lang=eng.

Please be advised that ATAC Vice President Bernard Champagne has given us notice that he will be leaving ATAC at the end of August.  Bernard will continue with all of his current responsibilities until the end of summer, or until a replacement is found, and can be reached at his current email and phone numbers.

ATAC has hired the recruiting firm Odgers Berndtson to conduct a national search for a Director of Flight Training.  For more information see attached job posting.