Celebrating the airport’s 60th year

Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

Slave Lake got an airport upgrade in 1965. That must have been the year it moved to where it is now. Prior to that it had been in a field, more or less, east of the Forestry offices on Main St. at what is now 6th Ave. NE. The oil boom was in full swing in 1965, and the town – and region – needed something bigger and better.

The result was the landing strip that’s there now – or at least an early version of it. A big improvement, but one price that had to be paid was Main St. getting cut in half. To get to the northern part of it, you had to drive around the east end of the new runway, reconnecting with the road going north out of town. This was before Hwy. 88 was constructed.

In some ways, having a good airport put Slave Lake on the map, and it’s still an important feature for all sorts of reasons. One is the air tanker base, central to wildfire fighting efforts every year, for a large section of the north central part of the province.

The Slave Lake Airport Commission decided the 60th was worth celebrating, and Airport Manager Pierre Gauthier and his team have been putting together a special event for Aug. 16. They’re calling it the Slave Lake Airport Fly-In Air Fair.

“Come join us in celebrating aviation,” says the poster, “with kids’ activities, food trucks, live music and booths.” Musical performers will be Tommy Charles, Social Fiction and Jared Sowan.

A special feature of the event is the visit of Alberta Air Tours, which is a group of pilots in their private planes, some of which will likely be antiques, or at least unusual in one way or another.

Also available for touring and viewing will be aircraft based locally, including air tankers, helicopters, medevac planes and other equipment related to aviation.

“We’re expecting about 50 private aircraft, with a total of around 60 aircraft to view,” says Gauthier.

Aircraft are due to start arriving at the airport at 10:30 a.m., says Gauthier. One of them will be the 1943 Canso bomber that a group in Fairview rescued in 2001 from where it had been abandoned in a lake near Inuvik, hauled home and restored.

The event is being held “in special memory of Jodi Broadhead,’ says the new poster. She was the Slave Lake resident and pilot who died, tragically in a plane crash near Vermilion back in June.

“We will forever cherish her contributions and the positive impact she had on our aviation community,” says the poster.

A bit of airport history
Airport Manager Pierre Gauthier provided the following snippets of Slave Lake Airport history:

· Original airport from the 50’s early 60’s was actually where Vanderwell Lodge is located. It was a grass strip used by Forestry. Their buildings just got torn down a few years ago that were north of Slave Lake Dental – according to locals.

· This airport was built in 1965 through funds made available by The Northern Development Council. I actually have the original sign

· The airport was operated by AB Transportation from 1965 – 1995. Then the government ‘’handed’’ over the airports to municipalities.

· It was handed over to the Town initially then shortly after the airport was made into the Slave Lake Airport Services Commission. With its members being the Town and the MD

· The Commission is made up of three Town councilors and three MD councilors and one director at large

· In 2010 Transport Canada required the airport to become certified due to being located in a buildup area.

· Ken Skahl was the first manager/employee of the Commission and retired in 2019 – 24yrs

· I started in 2012 and became manager in 2016.

· Josh Broad – assistant manager was hired in 2019

· The airport has had a few part time and casual employees over the years, however Ambrose (Jake) Jacobs has been a casual employee for the airport for 20 yrs.

· Main purpose of the airport is an AHS air ambulance base and Forestry base but also supports general aviation, charters, oil & gas industry, tourism. No scheduled service available.

· On average the airport has roughly 7500 movements annually and busy wildfire years it can increase to 10,000

· Air Ambulance movements = 1,800 – 2,200 annually

· The airport has been successful in recent years getting grants to help maintain the vital infrastructure

2016 ACP Grant to upgrade airfield lighting – we became the first Canadian airport to be 100% LED and first airport on the newest version of TP 312 standards

2018 CAP Grant (STIP) for runway overlay

2023 ACP grant to complete an Airport Master Plan

2025 Drought and Flood Grant to protect the shoreline from further erosion, which is threatening the safety area of the runway