Flying the environmentally friendly skies

Researcher Suzanne Kearns pioneers the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics . For as long as she can remember University of Waterloo Aviation professor Suzanne Kearns dreamed of flying, and at the age of 15, she began training for a career as a pilot. On her 16th birthday - the first day she could legally drive a car - she flew solo for the first time. If it could fly, Kearns was determined to master it. At 17 she slept for months in a Toronto hangar just to get her helicopter license, becoming a wunderkind in her hometown of Wiarton, Ontario. The local paper joked, "Imagine that, flying helicopters and still wearing braces," she says. For as long as she can remember University of Waterloo Aviation professor Suzanne Kearns dreamed of flying, and at the age of 15, she began training for a career as a pilot. On her 16th birthday - the first day she could legally drive a car - she flew solo for the first time. If it could fly, Kearns was determined to master it.