Ken Johnson has always wanted to own an airplane.
His love for planes started when he was young, thanks to the old planes that were located on the Johnson family farm. His father took some of the parts from those old planes, and used them for the farm’s operations.
“The airplanes that my dad owned, those were our playhouses when we were kids,” said Ken, laughing.
Johnson’s sister was a pilot who would give airplane rides to him and other members of the family. And Johnson’s father went up for flights in Vancouver when he was in the army.
So a passion for flying runs in the family.
But Johnson has muscular dystrophy, and now lives in long-term care at St. Joseph’s Hospital. It makes flying difficult. But that wasn’t going to keep him from living a dream of owning his own plane.
“I thought it would be nice to have my own airplane, and do local flying here,” said Johnson.
That dream materialized when he purchased a plane last January. On Feb. 13, 2017, Dwight Monteyne, whose family farmed close to the Johnsons, flew the plane in from Calgary. Five days later, Johnson went up in the aircraft for the first time.
Monteyne and John Erickson have been the pilots when Johnson has gone for his flights.
“John took me up a couple of times, and Dwight took me up probably 10 times,” said Johnson. “They are one hour or hour-and-a-half flights.”
Monteyne is an experienced pilot who has more than 6,000 hours of flying, Johnson said. He is also part of the Flying Farmers organization. Erickson, meanwhile, used to be the manager and a flight trainer at the Estevan Regional Airport, and Johnson said Erickson has just as many hours of experience.
“John Erickson even flew me over the farm where he grew up as a boy, and Dwight Monteyne flew me over his yard, and I saw his landing strip, the grass landing strip they have on their farm yard, that his dad used to start with, and now he uses it,” said Johnson.
There have been flights over Rafferty Dam, the Grant Devine Lake (formerly Alameda Dam) and local farmland.
“There were different places that were interesting to see by air,” said Johnson. “And I took quite a few aerial photos as well.”
A vantage point from several thousand feet in the air allows Johnson to see many things he wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.
“If you see any animals or stuff like that, you go closer to see what they are,” said Johnson. “You see the … Souris River, and I flew over the power plant, and things like that.”
He took some pictures while flying over the farm where he grew up, as well as the hospital, the long-term care area and other locations.
And it’s nice to be able to get out.
“It’s like a sport for me, and just an adventure thing,” said Johnson. “And when you’re at the Estevan Airport, you get to look at all the other planes that are there, too.”
A flight to Yorkton was a highlight, he said. He met up with a couple of cousins for lunch before returning to the airport and heading back to Estevan.
“They had fun looking at my plane and taking pictures,” said Johnson. “There were 20 people that I met when I got to Yorkton, cousins on my mother’s side of the family.”
He was planning to go to Saskatoon last summer to visit with his sister, but that didn’t work out. Johnson hopes to make the journey this year.
His plane can exceed 200 kilometres per hour, and during the trip to Yorkton, the plane reached an elevation of 5,000 feet.
In all, Johnson estimates he has spent about 20 hours flying in his plane.
Getting into the plane has been fairly easy, he said.
“This chair raises 11 inches, and I use a slide board to go in the plane,” said Johnson. “Then I take my travel chair with me. It lays in the back seat of the plane. It’s only 70 pounds.
“And then they have to make up two ramps that were 11 inches high, so that when I get to a destination, I can still get out and get back in. But I just enjoy flying, so they make it very nice.”
Johnson said he always knew it would be possible to own a plane. He just needed the pilots who could fly it.
“With the pilots that I’ve been using, they’ve been offering, with no charge, to fly me around,” said Johnson.
Johnson said it’s nice to have an airplane that is there when he wants to use it. And he is now familiar with the process of getting in and out of the plane.
“If you’re going to get into a plane that you’ve never been in, you don’t know if you can get in easily,” said Johnson.
The muscular dystrophy will likely prevent him from flying the plane. At this time, he can’t run the rudders and the yoke. If adjustments were made to the rudders, and if the seat was elevated to the height needed, then he might be able run the yoke, and allow him to pilot it while it’s in the air. But he’s not sure if he would be able to land the plane.
Johnson noted he has another aviation project in the works. Using parts that he already has from an aircraft, he wants to create a plane that could be towed behind a vehicle in a parade.
“I’d put about an eight-foot wide wing on it,” said Johnson. “I have all of that in storage to work on when I get around to it, with the help of friends and welding shops.”
