Jeff Faulkner climbs into the cockpit of his De Havilland single-engine Otter. He lays out his map, runs through his check list and scans the grid of meters on the instrument panel of his plane. Then he fiddles with some buttons and knobs and the propeller starts to spin and he taxis down the runway until the nose of the plane lifts up and soars into the air. Faulkner’s heart skips a beat, knowing that even after 15 years of flying, the feeling of taking off never gets old.
“It’s my sandbox. I’m in control of what I do as soon as I close that door,” says Faulkner, who flies for Yukon-based Alkan Air. “I like flying over the Yukon scenery. I like going to remote places.”