Town CAO heads skyward to escape daily grind

Town CAO heads skyward to escape daily grind

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By: Sandra Bolan

Put Jay Currier in the cockpit of a single engine Cessna, 10,000 feet up in the sky and he’s a man in control.

But make Bradford West Gwillimbury’s chief administrative officer climb 30 feet up a ladder and it’s a different story.

“I cling to it for dear life,” he said jokingly.

For Mr. Currier, flying and running a municipality are strangely similar.

“When you’re flying, you’re in a very turbulent environment and I work in a very turbulent environment because of all the changes with policies and funding,” he said.

Long before The Bucket List became a box office sensation that spurred North Americans to compile ‘to-do-before-I-die’ lists, Mr. Currier had his own bucket list. He made it when he was a kid, but it had just one thing on it become a licensed pilot.

Mr. Currier’s to-do list remained unfinished until 1998, when, as a management consultant on assignment in Georgia, he flew home every other weekend on a commercial aircraft.

On the other weekends, he had a lot of time to spare and, as fate would have it, not far from where he was staying in Georgia was a small airport that offered flying lessons.

“If ever there was a chance to get up in the air to fly, that would be a good time,” he said. “The opportunity was staring me in the face.”

After a few months of flying lessons, Mr. Currier headed back to Canada.

“I fell out of flying because of work commitments and family commitments,” he said. “Flying is something you have to do on a regular basis to maintain the skill level.”

In 2001, Mr. Currier and his family moved from Aurora to Collingwood, which has its own regional airport that offered flying lessons.

Itching to complete what he started, Mr. Currier once again signed up for flight school. This time, he was able to complete it and, in 2002, he earned his private pilot’s license.

As a condition of obtaining the licence, Mr. Currier needed to complete a solo flight.

“I now have no instructor to rely on. If I blow the next landing, I have no one to save me,” Mr. Currier said of his first solo circuit.

A circuit consists of taking off, flying downwind, approaching and landing, all of which are the busiest times for pilots.

For Mr. Currier, flying solo provides a sense of peace and a greater appreciation of nature.

“It has instilled in me an ever-greater affection for the natural world, because I get to see it from a different perspective,” he said.

People often ask Mr. Currier if he can take them up for a flight.

Sometimes he will oblige, but for the most part, he likes to fly solo or with his five-year-old yellow lab, Copper, who watches the world fly by from a secure place in the cargo area.

One person you will rarely find in the air with Mr. Currier is his wife.

“She’s a nail-biter. She doesn’t even like to fly in commercial planes because she has yet to figure out what keeps them up in the air,” he said.

Mr. Currier may have crossed off his one and only bucket list item, but it looks like he may be adding an item to it — learning to fly a helicopter.

“I keep eyeing up the Bradford airfield (where helicopter lessons are offered).
 
I haven’t followed up with that yet, but one day I will drive in there and find out what it’s all about.”

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