Bruce Aikenhead, a man whose name may not be entirely familiar to Canadians these days, passed away earlier this month in the town of Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

Aikenhead, an Officer of the Order of Canada, worked on the Avro Arrow, NASA’s Mercury and Gemini space programs, the Canadarm, NASA’s space shuttle and was the first director-general of the Canadian astronaut program, hiring Chris Hadfield, among others.

During his retirement years he volunteered with local schools and community centres, educating young people about both aeronautics and astronautics. One of the organizations Aikenhead collaborated with was the Okanagan Science Centre in Vernon, B.C., where he served as curator of the space and astronomy section. One of its projects was the transcribing of his recollections of his youth and career:

“One of my earliest memories, the view, looking straight up, of the enormous [Graf] Zeppelin as it flew overhead at quite a low altitude and it seemed to be very close. Because I was not quite six years old, it made a very lasting impression. I could see its gondola with many windows and there were faces in most of them, looking down at us. I could see and hear the engines and propellers suspended from the underside and also saw some coloured lights.”

Bruce Alexander Aikenhead, O.C., B.Sc., P.Eng., FBIS, was born on September  22, 1923 and died at the age of 95 on August 5, 2019. A celebration of his life will be held on September 22 at the Salmon Arm Gallery of Art.

Photo credit: Okanagan Science Centre

B.C. Corrections, the government agency that runs British Columbia’s provincial jails, has identified the illicit delivery of contraband by drones to their 10 prison compounds as a potential security threat.

In addition to illegal drugs, cellphones and other miscellaneous contraband items are finding their way into prisons using this novel means of transport. The agency says it is not yet “a significant concern”, but is monitoring the situation. In an email to the Victoria Times-Colonist, an agency spokesperson wrote, “To this end, B.C. Corrections is currently consulting with security advisers on drone detection options.”

The agency cited security concerns when asked for specific instances of drone-delivered contraband. It admitted, however, that it is interested in technology that can detect drones operating in close proximity to their facilities.

At the federal level, the Correction Service of Canada has budgeted $6 million for a three-year pilot program dedicated to the detection of drones. Forty-three prisons and jails make up the number of federal facilities.

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The Transportation Safety Board has issued an air transportation safety advisory ahead of the release of its investigation report into the crash of a ski-equipped Piper J3C-65 Cub on Snowshoe Lake on March 30 of this year.

The accident, which resulted in two fatalities, was caused by the separation of the left main spar wing lift strut assembly near the lower fork end attachment due to excessive corrosion.

In 2015 the U.S. FAA had released an airworthiness directive, AD 2015-08-04, requiring the inspection or replacement of potentially corroded strut assemblies on a number of different Piper models. However, the TSB did not find any evidence that the AD was complied with on the accident aircraft.

During the investigation, the TSB determined that one of the two methods that can be employed to test the wing spar for corrosion, the punch test method, did not return conclusive results when compared with results from an inspection using an electron microscope. This, says the TSB, could lead to an unsafe condition.

In a letter to the director-general of Transport Canada – Civil Aviation (TCCA), contained in the safety advisory, the TSB outlines the results of their tests and recommends that TCCA review the AD with a view to determining effective inspection methods.

The safety advisory can be viewed here.

Photos credit: TSB