Photo: Contributed

The founder of KF Aerospace has been inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

In a ceremony at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport, Barry Lapointe was recognized for his outstanding achievements in growing Kelowna Flightcraft from a fledgling start-up to an international aviation powerhouse, now known as KF Aerospace.

Lapointe, born in 1944, graduated with honours from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering in 1966. After two years in the aviation industry, he founded Kelowna Flightcraft.

He has been responsible for the development over 48 years of an aerospace engineering and flight services organization based in Kelowna. He built Kelowna Flightcraft into one of the largest maintenance, repair and overhaul operations in the world, with adjuncts dedicated to military training, charter operations and commercial delivery.

In 1974, he launched KF Air Charter and from 1976 to 2015 KF operated nearly 20 aircraft carrying cargo daily across Canada for Purolator and Canada Post.

Today, nearly 80 per cent of the pilots who obtain their air force wings pass through the doors of the KF training facility at Portage La Prairie, Man.

Lapointe earned his pilot’s licence at age 16, and by 21 held a commercial pilot’s licence. Chairman and CEO of KF Aerospace, Lapointe has 17,000 fixed wing flight hours, and in 2016 he added a helicopter licence to his qualifications.

Among his many awards, he received the Order of British Columbia in 2015.

Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alta. For more information on the hall click here