St. Theresa Point pilot takes his family on sightseeing flight

Zack Wood took his family sightseeing around southern Manitoba for the first time recently, except Zack was able to take his family by air.

Wood, 26, is a pilot from St. Theresa Point First Nation in northern Manitoba. He started flying in 2018.

"That was his goal when he was a little boy," said his grandmother Louise.

Zack's inspiration to fly was seeing a lack of representation.

"I wanted to try being somewhere where I haven't seen a Native person, and said 'I want to try flying,'" he said.

That's when he made the decision to attend an aviation school at St. Andrews Airport, outside of Winnipeg.

Another reason Zack chose flying is because of the feeling of being in the clouds.

"Something about flying with the birds," he said.

"You know what I mean? You never have that opportunity to feel the feeling of flying by yourself. It's just unreal."

Zack always wanted to take his grandmother with him on a flight to share that feeling.

"I wasn't even scared sitting beside him, I trusted him," Louise said. 

"He has a lot of support from us. I think that's why he made it, we pushed to keep going and not give up."

Zack flew northeast of Winnipeg over to one of Louise's favourite spots, South Beach Casino, and it was there he let his grandmother take control of the aircraft, "a good 10-15 minutes of letting her feel it out," he said.

"It was scary," she said.

"I didn't really trust myself; I was a little bit scared to go behind the wheel, but it was exciting."

Their flight took them from St. Andrews Airport, over the Brokenhead area and across to Gimli and the west side of Lake Winnipeg before returning to St. Andrews.

Zack said there were some emotional moments during the flight. 

"We were just reminiscing; she was crying," he said.

"She was just happy that I took her flying."