May
2023
Riei Iwamoto
Airline: Air Canada
Crew Position: First Officer
Aircraft: B-787
Domicile: Toronto, Canada (CYYZ)
Where did you do your flight training?
Riei:
Boundary Bay Airport (CZBB), near Vancouver, BC, Canada
How did you get interested in aviation?
Riei:
I have always wanted to become a pilot since I was very young. My oldest memory is of being on my father’s shoulders, crying due to the noise created by five single-engine fighter jets flying a low path with trailing colored smoke. I was only two years old at that time, and I believe my interest in aviation started then.
What airplanes have you flown during your career?
Riei:
- Cessna 152/172: Instructing
- Piper Navajo Chieftain PA31-325: Air Taxi
- Kingair 200: MEDEVAC
- ATR42/72: Regional flight for cargo and passengers
- Embraer 175: Air Canada Express (Regional Airline)
- Airbus 319/320/321: Air Canada
- Boeing 787: Air Canada
Have you had any mentors throughout the years?
Riei:
I have met many pilots who were already flying commercially when I was a student at flight school, and I received various opinions and advice throughout my career. However, I haven’t had one person mentoring me consistently throughout this journey.
What have been some recent challenges you’ve faced?
Riei:
One of the challenges I’ve faced is carrying on a good conversation on non-aviation related topics in depth with colleagues in the flight deck during long cruises, as English is my second language. There have been moments sometimes that I wish I had more vocabulary on various topics to express with the details of my opinions or what is in my mind.
Riei:
I am currently enjoying where I am at in my career. I am flying for a company I had dreamed of since my first day at flight school, and I am now flying my dream airplane.
What has been your favorite flight or aviation memory?
Riei:
My favorite memory must be my very first flight into Tokyo Narita in Japan, which happened in March 2022. I asked my sister to bring my mother to Narita Airport and have her at the observation deck to see me land the B787. After 20 years since I started flight school, it was an incredibly emotional and the best moment of my entire aviation career.
What has ISA+21 meant to you in your aviation journey?
Riei:
I didn’t learn about ISA+21 until last year. I met Kyoko through a community for Japanese pilots flying overseas, and she introduced me to ISA+21. But even in the small amount of time I’ve been part of ISA+21, I have loved being part of the camaraderie we share.
