The winner of the 2017 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition was Liam Cohen from the Eastern Ontario Region. Cohen is currently a student at Seneca College in Peterborough, Ontario.  Liam had the highest aggregate score across the flight assessment, simulator assessment, written examination, and interview. He was also the recipient of the NavCanada Trophy for Excellence by achieving the highest score among all regional competitors on the NavCanada written examination.

The runner-up was Owen Titerle, of the British Columbia Region. Owen is currently flying at Coastal Pacific Aviation in Abbotsford, B.C.

This year saw a dramatic shift in the way the finalists were assessed on the flight and simulator portions of the competition. In past years, the marking was exercise based and also based on the Private Pilot Licence Flight Test Guide. This year the assessment was scenario based.  Several scenarios were given to the candidates throughout the flight and based on how the candidate handled the scenario, an assessment was made.

With a scenario based approach, the candidates were all on a level playing field, as they did not know what the scenarios were going to be until flight time. “The feedback from the finalists was extremely positive and we thank them for providing us with their ideas so next years scenarios can be improved upon and made even more challenging,” said  Webster coordinator Brenda Reid.

COPA volunteers played a key role in staging the event, which was held at Mitchinson Flight Services in Saskatoon. Organizers praised the school for its hosting of the event.