Bob Engle

midwingcrisis · Post by **midwingcrisis** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:29 am

Sad news, Bob Engle (founder NWT Air) passed away Friday Sept 19. A true aviation pioneer he was.

amraam · Post by **amraam** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:46 am

News article here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/rob ... -1.2774298

amraam

Liquid Charlie · Post by **Liquid Charlie** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:00 pm

Truly a pioneer in Canadian Aviation --helped bring the idea of big airplanes to the North which truly put the Arctic head and shoulders above the service to other parts of isolated Canada - not many left of this group of Canadian Aviation trail blazers - most pilots of my generation that have been in the north have sat in the big corner office of his at some point in their career.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:31 pm

Bob was really good to me for many years, whenever I needed a part time job all I had to do was phone him and he always had flying for me to do.

As well as owning the company he also flew the airplanes and was a pleasure to fly with.

In my minds eye I can still remember an approach we did into Coppermine in really crappy weather in the DC6.

Great mentor and person and he lived to a ripe old age as he so well deserved.

LuckyPilot · Post by **LuckyPilot** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:11 pm

To say Bob was astute businessmen woul be an under statement. How he played Air Canada was a thing to behold, and then they left him in charge for two years after he sold the company to them. It took another two years after that for AC to finally figure out how badly they had been played by him. PRICELESS! Still chuckle when I think about it. AC even left him in charge of writing his own lease agreements for two 737,s that Bob owned. Talk about a bunch of assclowns that ran AC back in the 80's. God rest his sole, he was a good man to work for, he worked us hard, but treated us well. The NWTA Christmas party was the social event of the year in YZF.

thirdtimecharm · Post by **thirdtimecharm** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:25 pm

When I was a 12 year old kid in Rankin Inlet I wrote to every airline in the NWT Explorer's Guide saying that I wanted to be pilot and asked if they had anything they could send me.

Most airlines responded, but I got a bunch of DC-3 and Electra posters, safety cards and an E6B from Mr. Engle. There was a handwritten note wishing me well.

I flew on NWT Air a lot as a kid and always enjoyed it. Everyone seemed like a family and worked really hard and were really open to talking to a pilot - wanna be.

Much later at life, working at First Air, I got to appreciate the company he built, as there was still a strong "Northwest Territorial" crew at First Air who continued to do an amazing job in his style.

Thank you very much, Mr. Engle!

swordfish · Post by **swordfish** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:10 pm

My very first job in Yellowknife was for NWT Air, and my first flight was to Fort Simpson return with Bob. He let me fly the whole way, both takeoffs & landings...I was stunned. I must have done ok because after that, I flew thousands of miles in the Exec (NWU I think it was) with him, did pretty well all the flying, all the court party trips, and went to all the neat places we never normally would on regular line work.

Went fishing at Talthelie numerous times, Kenora, Vancouver, Ottawa for meetings, and many other places I don't remember. Great memories.

AND, I was paid 400 a month and 4₵ a mile!!

took me a while to break out of THAT mold...

Anyways, I got some great flying, and lots of confidence flying with him.

Bob Engle

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