Episode 30- Anna Pangrazzi

08/13/21 • 49 min

Anna Pangrazzi received her Private Pilot Licence in 1977, later completing her commercial licence, and instrument, multi-engine and float ratings. She graduated from York University with a B.A. in Economics in 1985 and completed a degree in Humanities in 2002.

All of this she has done in addition to accumulating extensive flying experience all over Canada and North America as the President and Founder of Apex Aircraft Sales, founded in 1988. Anna also became an agent for the sale of new Cessna Aircraft for Leggat Aviation Inc. in 1996 and would go on to receive the Robert Ames Gold CSTAR Award from Cessna, for Excellence in Retail Sales in 2000 and 2001. More recently, she and Leggat Aviation Ltd. were named the Eastern Canada Sales Representative for the Cessna Caravan.

Anna is a long-time member of the International Organization of Women Pilot’s and The Ninety Nines, continuing to be active in the First Canadian Chapter having held various offices over the years. She has previously been the Governor of the East Canada Section and also the head of Operation Skywatch: a joint program encompassing the flight monitoring and photographing of land, water and air pollution in Ontario by volunteer pilots of the Ninety-Nines in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment from 1985-1988.

In addition to her numerous professional roles, Anna volunteers her time as Vice-President of the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, an organization formed in 2009 to recognize women who have made significant contributions to Aviation and Aerospace in Canada.

In 2013, Anna received the Governor’s Service Award from the East Canada Section of the Ninety-Nines. In 2014, she was inducted into the Ninety-Nines International Forest of Friendship. She has also been recognized by the 2013 Women’s Courage Awards in the Amelia Earhart category and has been recognized by the Women of Influence organization as a Diversity Champion for her work on the Northern Lights Aero Foundation. She has also previously been Director for the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

A member of AOPA, COPA, WIA (Women in Aviation International), WOAW (Women of Aviation Week) and WIA-C (Women in Aerospace – Canada), a Director on the Board for Hope Air, and the current co-chair of Rally for the Cure for the Ewings Cancer Foundation, Anna is busy coordinating events and air rallies across Canada. She lives in Toronto and has one son, Jesse.

The Northern Lights Aero Foundation can be found on their website (https://northernlightsaerofoundation.com/), Instagram @northernlightsaero, and Facebook @northernlightsaero. Apex Aircraft Sales can be found on their website (www.apexaircraft.com), Instagram @apexaircraft and Facebook @apexaircraftsales. Anna can be found on LinkedIn.

Previous Episode

Episode 29- Reilly Henri of Flare Aviation

Reilly Henri is a 21 year-old pilot from Kitchener, Ontario who just completed his CPL out of Waterloo Int airport. Reilly began dreaming of being a pilot at age 8 and by 12 years old he joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. After his three years in the cadet program he knew that flying was something he wanted to pursue professionally. He started his flight training at Sault College in 2018 and after a year ended up returning back to Waterloo where he continued his training. Reilly currently works for a medevac operator as an aircraft groomer and hopes to start his career with them before pursuing a flying role at an airline.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Reilly created the “Flare Aviation” podcast which allowed him to stay connected with the aviation community and continue to learn and grow as an aviator. As he moves forward with his training his main goal is to continue learning as much as possible and taking every opportunity to grow into the best pilot he can be.

Reilly and The Flare Aviation Podcast can be found on Instagram @flare_aviation or through his link page (https://instabio.cc/20603OmX59h).

Next Episode

Episode 31- Renée Dupont-Adam

Entering the world in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Renée Dupont-Adam had her first flight over the mountain ranges with her dad at the age of 3 weeks old and from there, she was hooked! Always being a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl, she wanted to follow in his footsteps. Her father, Gordon Dupont, is the inventor of the Dirty Dozen and lovingly known as “the father of the Dirty Dozen”; as such, Renée takes great pride in being the “sister of the Dirty Dozen”.

The Dirty Dozen is a list of preconditions that can cause any of us to make the error(s) we never intend to make. They are: Complacency, Distraction, Fatigue, Pressure, Stress, Norms, Lack of Communication, Lack of Knowledge, Lack of Teamwork, Lack of Resources, Lack of Assertiveness, and Lack of Awareness.

Renée spent her whole life involved in aviation, from holding a private pilot licence to presenting the First World Conference on Maintenance Errors and Their Prevention. She held the position of Editor for “Ground Effects” on behalf of MARSS (Maintenance and Ramp Safety Society), ran PAMEA (Pacific Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Association) and in 2008 joined her father at System Safety Services, becoming their CEO in 2020.

Currently Renée continues to facilitate workshops all over the world in the interest of furthering safety awareness, and helping engineers and companies develop “Safety Nets” to lessen the occurrence of making the mistakes they don’t intend to make. Renée and the team at System Safety are best contacted through their website at https://www.system-safety.com/.