Vern Rees, Ultralight Flight Instructor
1953 - 2009

Vern Rees flew ultralights out of Corman Air Park for about 20 years. As a boy Vern was fascinated by airplanes, but after high-school he went to university, earned a degree in commerce, and was building a career in the insurance business. He didn’t outgrow his passion for things with wings, however, and in 1981 he got his Private Pilot’s License. But, like so many freshly minted pilots, he quickly realized that conventional aviation was expensive – too expensive for a young man with a family.

However, several years later, after taking a flight in an ultralight aircraft called a Sylvaire Bushmaster, Vern had a hunch that more affordable ultralight aircraft would play a large part in the future of recreational aviation. 

He focused his flying energy on ultralights, and on a company called Husky Manufacturing which had just opened an ultralight aircraft manufacturing plant at a small country airstrip near Saskatoon called Corman Air Park. They were building a re-designed and improved version of the now out-of-production Bushmaster, called the Husky Norseman. In an auspicious beginning, the firm had a bulging order book, 35 busy employees, and a plant cranking out several planes per week.

In 1986 Vern became an ultralight instructor for the flight school associated with the factory, and soon was promoted to Test Pilot. But, when the company suddenly went out of business he found himself out of a job. Determined to find a way to keep flying, he picked up a camera and spent the next thirteen summers as an aerial photographer.

In 2003, an opportunity arose to purchase Corman Air Park,

Read a local newspaper profile about Vern (large photo download)

Vern accumulated more than 11000 hours of flying experience - mostly in ultralights, and mostly in the Husky Norseman. Since beginning instructing in 1986 he taught some 300 students to fly. He said, "When I see the grin on the face of my student who has just soloed, I get to relive the excitement that I felt when I first flew solo. Flying is an almost magical experience for a human being - to be able to go up in the sky and do what the birds do. I love it, and I never get tired of sharing that experience with others."

Corman Air Park ... it's a great place to fly!