After the change of command at the 15 Wing Air Force Base a few weeks ago, another ceremony occurred this morning, with the Commanding Officer of the 2 CFFTS Flight School changing from Lieutenant Colonel Jody McKinnon to Lieutenant Colonel Blair Springate. The departing Lieutenant Colonel McKinnon has served as the commanding officer for just over a year now and will be retiring from the military to work with Navigation Canada.

Lieutenant Colonel Springate is an alumnus of the Flight School in Moose Jaw from 1993, and spoke on taking over as commanding officer.

"Command is an important step in any officer's progression, but I can't imagine taking over a better or more prestigious unit as the Big 2, the premier flying school, in the Canadian Air Force," said Springate, who went on to speak on the importance of having having a background in the flight school when working in it, and how it should help with his change here.

"Training is so important because it's a foundational element to everybody. I think it's good to have an operational background to understand where the students are going, why do we do this training in the way that we do, and then what are we doing with the people next after this. So I think having some of that operational background is helpful in understanding where they're gonna go."

2 CFFTS has been training Canadian Airforce pilots since the Second World War, and today they have pilots from all over Canada, as well as pilots from the Hungarian and Singaporean air forces all training at the "Big 2".