Cader’s Childhood Dream Comes to Fruition

Back in August, Rayan had the opportunity to fly his mother on one of the planes he was flying for the first time – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

At the age of around four, Rayan Cader knew what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to become an airplane pilot.

Now, fast forward some 34 years, Cader is living out his dream working for a Canadian airline company, Flair Airlines.

“I’m pretty lucky to have seen it through,” Cader said about his dream job.

This is the type of plane Rayan flies

When it came time for Cader to graduate high school, he was lucky enough to start in a newly created program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

“BCIT created a brand-new program for those who wanted to become airline pilots. They partnered up with a couple of flying schools and integrated flight training with the academic studies,” Cader said.

The first airplane Cader ever learned to fly, was a six-seater Piper Navajo.

When he was first looking for a job for the first time after graduation, 9/11 had recently happened.

“It was very challenging getting in when aviation was hit hard,” Cader said.

Rayan in the cockpit with his copilot and one of the flight attendants – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

Cader officially started his pilot career in northern Saskatchewan with a charter company called Courtesy Air, following that, he moved back to Vancouver and joined another charter company, Northern Thunderbird Air. He would later go to Air Georgian for the Air Canada regional flying, and then in 2017, he joined Flair.

Cader joined Flair as a first officer, and after working there for a year and a half, he became a captain.

For Flair, Cader currently flies the Boeing 737 Max airplane.

Currently, as a part of Flair, Cader flies to Canadian cities of Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Montréal, Quebec, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Regina, Saskatchewan, and Kelowna and Victoria, British Columbia.

“We’ll begin US and Mexico flights starting in November,” Cader said.

Rayan in the cockpit as a young boy – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

So far, his favourite Canadian city to fly into is Kelowna.

“It’s so beautiful in the summer with the mountains and lake, and in the winter when everything is snow covered,” Cader said.

Due to the fact that Flair is a low-cost airline, the company minimizes hotel costs, so instead of staying overnight in cities they fly to, Cader flies into and out of cities the same day.

When they do have the odd overnight though, they usually only have 24 hours in that city.

“Depending on what time we land, we’d go to the hotel, get changed and go grab food or drinks. Sometimes we’ll get tickets to a sports game or concert if we were really lucky. Then the next day I would normally go to the gym, have a nice meal, relax then fly out,” Cader said.

Rayan has been working as a pilot for 14 years – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

So far, Cader’s favourite thing about working as a pilot is the fact that every day can be different.

“I also love the challenges that we might face in a day, like for example challenging weather, or dealing with abnormal situations. It keeps the job interesting,” Cader said.

When he has had a layover, Cader has had the opportunity to go to a Toronto Raptors game, a Toronto Maple Leafs game, a Toronto Blue Jays game and a Calgary Flames game.

“They usually make for some really fun nights with the crew,” Cader said.

As the captain, Cader is in charge of briefing the crew on any flight information as soon as he gets into the plane.

“After that’s done my first officer and I perform a pre-flight check, discuss the flight and then board passengers,” Cader said.

“After everyone is on board, we get our load information report which tells us how many passengers are on board, the overall weight of them plus the baggage and then enter that into the flight computer which dictates our take off speeds. We then get pushed out of the gate, start the engines then taxi out for takeoff,” he added.

As part of his job, Rayan or one of his copilots has to conduct a walk-around of the plane before each flight – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

Throughout his pilot career, Cader has had many challenges. One of the biggest was when COVID-19 hit in March of 2020.

“I was laid off, fortunately only for 5 weeks but there was a lot of uncertainty in this industry, let alone for a new airline. I’m so lucky we survived and are even thriving now,” Cader said.

Cader has also experienced a medical emergency on board an airplane he was flying.

“I’ve had one serious medical emergency flying from Edmonton to Toronto. A passenger travelling with his elderly father overdosed on drugs and there happened to be a paramedic on board who tended to him,” Cader recalled.

“He advised us we needed to land ASAP and fortunately we were over Winnipeg so it only took us 15 mins to get the plane on the ground where the medics met him at the gate. He was seizing on the stretcher and to be honest I’m not sure if he made it or not. His poor father. It was quite heartbreaking to see,” he added.

Rayan taking a selfie of himself while the plane is on the tarmac – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

In that moment, Cader knew he had to remain calm and get the plane in for the emergency landing.

“I knew that I had to get that airplane on the ground as quickly and safely as possible and every decision I was going to make would affect the amount of time taken to land, both positively and negatively,” Cader explained.

“I didn’t want to compromise safety to save a minute or two, but that minute or two might have been the life or death to him. It was tough but usually we are so focused on flying that aircraft safely that those thoughts kind of get sidelined until you’re on the ground and have time to process everything,” he added.

In terms of his future, Cader would one day like to join the training department and try simulator instruction.

“There’s something rewarding in training and teaching other pilots. Especially ones who are young and inexperienced like I once was,” Cader said.

Rayan with the much needed sustenance of Tim Hortons – Photo provided by Rayan Cader

He would also love to one day fly the Boeing 787 or the Airbus A350.

But right now, Cader is enjoying his time with Flair and really enjoys all the people he works with.

“I started at the beginning when there were maybe 20 pilots and about 60 flight attendants so it had a tight family feel. We now have 160 pilots, 300 flight attendants and are growing for the foreseeable future and while it isn’t the same small company it was in the beginning, there is a lot of excitement and we are all feeling it together. Pretty cool to share that with everyone.”

Cader now flies for Air Canada.

Rayan loves the different days flying can give him – Photo provided by Rayan Cader