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Press wins flight instructor safety award

Abbotsford resident named 13 recipient of DCAM award

An Abbotsford flight instructor was honoured earlier this month.

Catherine Press was named the 13th recipient of the annual David Charles Abramson Memorial Flight Instructor Safety Award in Montreal at the Air Transport Association of Canada conference.

Press holds both fixed wing and helicopter licences; was the first woman in Canada to hold a helicopter instructor rating and is the only Canadian helicopter pilot to hold a Chinese licence.

Her contributions to aviation over the years, especially in the helicopter training sector has been significant; in the capacity of Instructor, Pilot Examiner and Business Leader.

According to the award committee, it is felt by many that the good safety record in commercial helicopter operations throughout Western Canada is in many ways attributable to the high quality of training offered by Catherine Press and her team at Chinook Helicopters.

At the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, she has been given an entry in a pilot log book that gives a short bio of her in English and French.

Press is the owner of Abbotsford-based Chinook Helicopters, which began training operations at the Abbotsford Airport in 1982.