From Transport Canada
The Canadian Coast Guard provides important maritime services to Canadians and works to help make Canada's waters safer, and more accessible and secure. Transport Canada helps, through its Aircraft Services directorate, which operates and maintains the Coast Guard's safe and reliable fleet of iconic red helicopters.
Roughly seven-million Canadians live in coastal areas, where communities depend on the ocean's resources and tourism to make a living. To protect and serve these Canadians, the Canadian Coast Guard relies on helicopters to respond in a rugged and harsh environment.
Transport Canada pilot Trevor Devine works with Aircraft Services in Victoria. He's a seasoned helicopter pilot with nearly 30 years flying experience. After receiving his pilot license in 1988, he flew commercially for a number of companies in northern British Columbia until he joined Transport Canada in 2005.
As a regional Supervisory Helicopter Pilot, Mr. Devine does more than fly people around. For example, he:
- Schedules and assigns duties to Transport Canada pilots based in Victoria
- Serves as the Pilot-in-Command of Canadian Coast Guard helicopters, working closely with the department's Regional Operations Centre
- Works with his team to fly technicians and equipment to maintain aids to marine navigation, including communications and radar sites, and lighthouses.
You may have seen Mr. Devine with comedian Rick Mercer on a recent episode of the Mercer Report as they went behind the scenes of the Canadian Coast Guard's tracking and communications systems on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Devine flew Rick and his crew in a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter to different locations for filming. The day included watching Rick rappel down the tower at Mount Parke to inspect an antennae.
Mr. Devine has had many other memorable experiences during his career at Transport Canada. His favourite was flying on the south end of Banks Island in the Arctic in 2007, and spotting a heard of Muskox forming a circle to protect one of their young from a hungry wolf pack.
Mr. Devine loves his job. It allows him to follow his lifelong passion— flying— while serving Canadians and protecting some of our nation's most important natural resources.