The Royal Canadian Air Force welcomed nine new pilots with their wings on Friday. The pilots were given their wings by the Reviewing Officer, Colonel Jeannot Boucher, Commander of 1 Wing based in Kingston, Ontario. Boucher described what happens during Wing Ceremonies.

"What happened today, we have a lot of young folks who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force to become pilots," says Boucher "They go thorugh rigorous training and it's a lengthy process often taking a couple of years to get here, the moment they get their wings given to them. They'll go on to train in an Operational Training Unit and actually start serving Canadians as either helicoptor pilots or airplane pilots."

Boucher himself attended the 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Southport years ago and details why he enjoys coming back here to attend Wing Ceremonies.

"It's inspiring for me. For me as a person it's inspiring to see the youth because they're our future leaders, our future pilots. It's always good to come and remember how passionate, how in love with what we were doing. Seeing the pride of the family and friends because when you come live this moment you see the pride on the face of the graduates but you see the pride in the face of the parents."

Boucher adds there are 10 graduations a year with each consisting of six to ten pilots amounting to about 115 pilots a year.