'The best feeling ever': Indigenous woman takes to the skies with the Manitoba 99s

Kim Ballantyne said she remembers being a five-year-old kid in The Pas looking up into a clear, blue sky and seeing something in the air.

"I looked at my grandfather and said, 'What is that?' and he said, 'That's a plane.' I said, 'I want to do that when I grow up,'" Ballantyne said.

While she could see herself as an Indigenous woman pilot, she said there weren't a lot of clear opportunities to learn to fly in the northern Manitoba community, more than 500 kilometres from Winnipeg, at the time.

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Now, at 31, Ballantyne has started pursuing that dream. She's studying for her pilot's licence and flying with the help of the Manitoba Ninety-Nines, a group of female pilots who offer mentorship and support.

"It's the best feeling ever. The best experience, I still can't believe this is all happening," she said.

The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots was founded in 1929 and named for the 99 female pilots who helped start the group. In 1931, Amelia Earhart was elected the first president.

The Ninety-Nines Manitoba chapter began in the 1970s, said Jill Oakes, a pilot and member of the group, who is also an aviation geography professor at the University of Manitoba.

"It's really wonderful to be able to have other women to share our senses of accomplishments with," Oakes said.

"It's really neat to have a woman right there beside you as well to sort of share that special experience with."

Ballantyne found out about the Ninety-Nines after meeting a pilot through her job at the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development. After going on a discovery flight with Harv's Aviation in Steinbach, Man, — where you go up with a flight instructor and are allowed to fly the plane — Ballantyne reached out to the Ninety-Nines.

Not long after, Ballantyne was in a two-seater plane that Oakes had actually built herself.

"Once we took off, we were flying just off in the country and I asked if she wanted to hold the controls," Oakes said.

"She was just natural. She was so comfortable."

Cruising through the air brought a different feeling of freedom, Ballantyne said. That decades-old dream of being behind the controls of a plane became a reality.

"I've always been determined, but for this dream, I know that I'm going to be able to do it … Once I set my mind to something I will do whatever I can to complete that goal," she said.

Working with the Ninety-Nines, Ballantyne is applying for scholarships and taking to the air to prepare for the next step in her pilot's licence.

"It is super rewarding. It's so rewarding to share what we love to do with others," Oakes said.

On June 3, the group is part of the Women Fly 2017: Family Air Fair event at St. Andrews Airport, just northeast of Winnipeg. Women are encouraged to come take a flight, meet pilots and get started on a pilot learners permit. For more information visit the website.