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l a n o i g Re VOLUME 13 NUMBER 42
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015
Conquering fear of heights has Stettler man soaring for 30 years STACEY LAVALLIE WEEKENDER REPORTER For a fellow who admits to having had a fear of heights, John Wittwer’s passions took him far above the ground. Wittwer, who was recognized this summer by the Stettler Flying Club for his long years of volunteer service at the Stettler Airport, said flying wasn’t something he always “wanted to do.� In fact, heights made him rather uncomfortable. He came to Canada in 1927 at the age of four, following his father, who had immigrated a yearand-a-half earlier. His mother brought him and his siblings along, and then across the prairies, to join his father on the farm. “Canada was new then,� Wittwer, now 92, said. “Some of these pioneers put up with real hardships, especially the girls.� Wittwer grew up on the prairies, becoming Canadian through-andthrough, and a prairie boy to boot. He farmed, he ranched, alongside his family and then, as he grew older, on his own and with his own family. “I started flying in 1960, at the age of 57,� Wittwer
recalled. “We had pastureland, we had cattle. It was a way to check on them. Then, I started crop-dusting my crops. A lot of farmers would ask me to come do theirs.� That’s how Wittwer found his second career, as a crop-duster. “I did flight training right here in Stettler,� he said. “We had 25 hours of instruction, then we’d write an exam.� There was a flight school in the community, with an instructor who would come down from Wetaskiwin to teach, he remembered. “The instructor died in an accident when the wing of a self-built plane sheared off during a loop,� Wittwer said, explaining that the flight maneuver performed by the pilot had simply stressed the plane beyond its ability. “He was a character. He really was.� It took Wittwer several years to make the decision to fly. “Height bothered me,� he admitted. “But it wasn’t so bad with wings beneath me. I didn’t learn to fly for fun, I decided to do it just for the need ot it.� At a certain point, height stopped bothering Wittwer.
Stacey Lavallie/Weekender reporter
Stettler Flying Club president Cam Andres, left, shakes hand with long-time member John Wittwer. The club recognized Wittwer’s long volunteer efforts with the club at the annual Fly-in Breakfast by presenting a plaque unofficially renaming the airport to the John Wittwer Field. “I respect heights,� he explained. “But as time went on, I got over it. But I just flew. I never got into acrobatics or fancy flying.� After getting his flying licence, it took several years to get a plane. At first, he was in a partnership, owning a plane along with three other
people. As his crops and herd sold, and he made money from crop-dusting, Wittwer was able to buy his own plane, then planes. One of those planes was a Piper Cub, which he just recently sold, parting with it for the first time since he purchased it. The plane
featured prominently in his life — two of his grandsons are now pilots, and took some of their earliest flights in that plane. “I chose to sell because I quit flying,� Wittwer explained. “I gave up my licence on Dec. 17, 2011.� He said he gave up his licence when he did be-
cause he didn’t want to come to a point where it had to be taken away from him. He doesn’t regret giving it up, or miss flying very much, though he still enjoys time at the airport. When the Stettler Flying Club formed, Wittwer joined up. As he got older and retired more and more from farming, he was able to dedicate more time to volunteering at the airport, helping keeping the grass mowed, the runway lights in working order and the snow and ice cleared away. “I started with the club right at the start, even before it was an official club,� he recalled. “No one seems to remember when it became official. The air strip was in the area of the RCMP building then.� Eventually the airport moved to its current location, and since then has been operated by a board of volunteers, which includes people from both the County of Stettler and Town of Stettler. Wittwer is part of the board, though he noted the time has come to step down, as his hearing has continued to worsen and he can’t hear very well nowadays. continued on page 2