Wish of a lifetime

Cindy Rogers describes herself as an aviation nut and has always dreamed of flying in a fighter jet.

She’s spent years photographing the Kelowna Rockets and marvelling at jets and aircrafts. Her best friend and fellow photographer Marissa Baecker told her they were going to work on a commercial shoot in Ontario. They flew into Toronto and were to be briefed at a hangar in Waterloo.

“There were these beautiful old-school fighter jets, and I am thinking ‘this is awesome, I hope I can sneak some time away to get some photos of those,’” she said.

Little did she know, there was a T-33 fighter waiting on the tarmac just for her.

“All these people lined up and they were clapping away, and I was looking around all confused and I was like what the heck,” she recalls.

That’s when Marissa turned to her and said ‘you get to go flying in that.”

It was in that moment that Rogers' dream came true.

As part of BMO’s celebration of 200 years, the bank is recognizing customers and communities across North America. Rogers, a commercial account manager for the company, was the fourth recipient to have her wish granted.

“It was everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more,” she said. “My only complaint is the flight went way too quickly."

She added that having the video where she is grinning ear to ear and giggling like she did when she was a little girl, reminds her that her dream really did come true.

Roger’s earned a national medal of bravery in 2014 for being the first on scene to an accident where a woman lost control of her car and went into the middle of a lake in winter weather. Rogers jumped in and attempted to free the woman.