‘Freddie the Flyer’ chronicles exploits of the North’s first Indigenous pilot

INUVIK, N.W.T.- Across the pages of a picture book, the northern lights dance over the Arctic landscape with brush strokes of bold colour, as caribou and muskox graze on the tundra and a bush pilot takes to the skies. As the pilot flies across the Mackenzie Delta, he rescues a stranded prospector from a blizzard, packs a team of smelly sled dogs on board and picks up a pregnant woman who gives birth as he lands. ` `Freddie the Flyer” chronicles the real exploits of Fred Carmichael, the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Canadian Arctic. Now 88 and living in Inuvik, N.W.T., Carmichael, who co-authored the book with Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, said he hopes it will help kids pursue their dreams. “If they want to be a pilot or anything…

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