As the morning rush hour traffic comes to a standstill, one RRC Polytech Aircraft Maintenance Journeyperson (AMJ) apprentice is taking a more direct approach to getting to class — he’s flying his own plane to school.

Meet Jesse Rooks, who flies a PA22/20 Pacer to get to the Southport Campus, and he says it just makes sense for him to fly.

“With current gas prices, it’s more expensive than taking my car, sure, but it’s also much cheaper than driving my truck,” Jesse said. “So really, flying for me is the best way to go.”

The drive to RRC Polytech’s Stevenson Southport Campus is approximately two-hours from Steinbach, and by flying, Jesse cuts his commute down to thirty minutes. His weekly cost of flying is about $90 – about $20 more if he were to drive his car, and $60 less if he took his truck.

He says he joined the AMJ apprenticeship to further his applicability in the aviation industry, and because he wanted to get the credentials to be able to fix his own plane.

“It’s another ticket in my book of aviation,” Jesse said about the apprenticeship program. “I just love everything about flying and aviation.”

The Apprentice AMJ program is a four-year diploma program. Each year consists of about two months of in-class learning and 10 months of on-the-job training.

During those 10 months, Jesse apprentices under Wings Over Kississing as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) and also as one of their pilots. There, he flies and maintains DHC-3T Otters, DHC-2 Beavers, and C208 Caravans and provides air charter travel and tours to the Canadian Shield in northern Manitoba. In 2021, he rescued stranded canoers while working for Wings Over Kississing.

AMJ offers a unique way for maintainers to obtain the training and experience required to qualify for an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer “M” license. It is the only Transport Canada approved Aircraft Maintenance Engineer apprentice-model training program in Canada.