Passionate aviator Joan Williams will be dearly missed

After fighting a truly courageous battle, Joan Williams passed away on July 3, 2017.

She attended the University of Toronto where she graduated with an Honours BA, Master of Arts, and a Master of Social Work.

Joan's overwhelming passion in life was aviation. For over 30 years Joan worked at Toronto Airways, one of the largest flight schools in Canada as the Chief Flight Instructor and then as Business Development Manager.

More recently she was Chair of the Board and Vice President of Quality with Ottawa Aviation Services. At the Canadian national level, Joan was a longtime member and Director of the Air Transportation Association of Canada and recently received their Lifetime Achievement Award. She served as Chair of the ATAC National Flight Training Committee.

Joan was also a member of Royal Aeronautical Society and the International Pilot Training & Qualifications Consortium. She held a Canadian Commercial Pilot Licence and Multi Rating and has held a Class I Flight Instructor Rating and Multi-IFR Rating; and has been a Designated Flight Test Examiner for Transport Canada with over 5,000 hours of piloting experience.

In June of this year, in recognition of her illustrious aviation career, Joan was selected to receive the Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award in the Education category. The foundation honours outstanding women who have made a significant contribution in their field and who continue to lay the groundwork to attract other women to enter or excel in these industries.

"It was my privilege to know Joan over several decades," said CAT Editor in Chief Chris Lehman. "Her last contribution to this industry was to come to Orlando in May and deliver a presentation at WATS. This couldn't have been easy for her, and I was very much moved by her determination. She will be greatly missed. Fair winds, Joan."