May 20, 2009 — Montréal - On
May 6, 2009, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI)
awarded Larry Dufraimont, Director of Flight Test and Flight Operations
at Bombardier’s Flight Test Centre in Wichita, Kansas, the prestigious
Trans-Canada Trophy, the oldest aviation award in Canada.
Dufraimont received this award for his outstanding achievements in the
field of air operations.
At Bombardier Aerospace, Mr.
Dufraimont leads a multi-discipline team in the modification and
instrumentation of test aircraft and in the planning and execution of
flight testing for all Bombardier Aerospace business jets and regional
aircraft. He worked at the company from 1993 (then de Havilland) to
1997, returning in 2000.
Dufraimont began his career with
the Canadian Air Force, where he had the opportunity to fly 36 aircraft
types as a T-33 and CF-5 Instructor Pilot, VIP Transport Pilot and
Qualified Test Pilot. Highlights from his 23-year career in the
military were his graduation from the UK Empire Test Pilot School and
the ten years he spent as a Qualified Test Pilot with the Canadian
Military Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) flying
numerous fighter and transport aircraft including the de Havilland
Augmentor Wing Powered Lift Research aircraft which he flew for NASA.
He retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel having served in several
leadership positions over his career.
Dufraimont moved on
to civil aviation, where he has spent 19 years in the Canadian and U.S.
aerospace industry. He has held many leadership positions in Flight
Test, Ground Test, Program Management and Engineering for Bombardier
Aerospace, Rockwell Collins and Boeing.
The Trans-Canada
Trophy, also known as the McKee Trophy, was established in 1927 by
Captain J. Dalzell McKee. In 1926, Mr. McKee, of Pittsburgh, Penn.,
accompanied by Squadron Leader Earl Godfrey of the RCAF, flew from
Montreal to Vancouver in a Douglas MO-2B seaplane. McKee was so
impressed by the services provided by the RCAF and the Ontario
Provincial Air Service, that he set up an endowment by means of which
the greatly coveted McKee Trophy is awarded to the Canadian whose
achievements were most outstanding in promoting aviation in Canada.
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