Member Profile: Hal Rainsforth and His Flying Career
A Life of Adventure by Jean Dueck
They call it "hangar flying" except that, in Hal's case, it really happened. Here are some of the photos that Hal preserved documenting his exceptional flying career. As with many career pilots, flying started early for Hal. As a preschooler, he recalls restoring a discarded wooden model aircraft that his brother brought home from school. Building models and kites, Cub Scouts, Air Cadets all shaped Hal’s skills and interests and his interest in aviation.
Hal achieved his PPL (private pilot license) during high school, continued training at SAIT and Red Deer Flight School, achieving his Maintenance Engineer’s License and his Commercial Pilot’s License. In 1968-69 Hal obtained his Twin and Instrument rating at Chinook Flying Service and began his dauntless flying career as a commercial pilot with Hudson Bay Oil & Gas Co.
Typical flights were to the far north to barren windswept strips carved in the snow and ice , muddy cut-lines in the Yukon forest or breath-takingly beautiful flights through mountain passes and isolated airstrips along the British Columbia Coast. Some of the airplanes were a DC-3, a Stinson 108, a Beechcraft Baron and a Twin Otter.
Later in his career as Chief Operating Office for the Petro Canada Fleet, Hal flew the biz jets with luminaries such as Marc Lalonde and PC CEO, Hoffer. However, the adventure of the north was clearly a part of Hal’s happiest flying years. The independence and the challenge were the best return on a life invested in a great aviation adventure.
| Hal with friends and Stinson 108 | A true bushplane: Norseman CF-INN |
|
 |
| The workhorse: 312 DC-3 CF-HBX | Young Hal at Great Bear Lake |
 |
 |
| Hal with Widgeon at Sawmill Bay | One of Hal's later planes: Hawker BH125 400 C-FPPN |
 |
 |
| Easier planes in the North: Jet Commander | Hal and his wife in a Harvard in Jasper , Alberta |
 |
 |
