Key Personnel

Ken Giesbrecht joined Keewatin Air in July of 2019 to assist with the Company’s Pilot training programs. Recently he has stepped into the Director of Flight Operations role. He brings 44 years of diverse Aviation and Governmental experience to Keewatin Air.

Ken has extensive experience in the roles of Director of Fight Operations, Chief Pilot, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Accountable Executive, Elected President/CEO of the Canadian State Air Operators Association, Aviation Risk Manager, Aviation Consultant/ Technical Writer, Line Pilot and Flight Instructor.

With an excess of 9600 hours Ken has had the opportunity to work for several aviation organizations including two of our sister companies, Perimeter and Calm Air. He has broad flight experience throughout North America from the Artic to southern Mexico.

In his previous position Ken had the opportunity assist Transport Canada and companies from Israel, Japan and United States with technology and regulatory advancement. His belief in the teamwork concept and out of the box thinking allowed him to be a recipient of the Manitoba Government 2009 Service Excellence Award for Innovation.

Ken hopes to promote this teamwork and innovation philosophy at Keewatin Air and knows that honesty, integrity and humour play an import role in a healthy workplace.

Samantha Fredette joined Keewatin Air LP in September of 2020 as a Flight Operations QA Manager. Samantha’s passion for aviation began as a teenager attending Air Cadet camps.

In 2015 she took her first steps into her aviation career and started working at the Winnipeg James Richardson International airport as a passenger service agent for Sunwing Airlines.

Samantha then transitioned to WestJet in 2016 in airports and in 2017 she decided to take her passion for aviation to the skies as a Cabin Crew Member for WestJet. Samantha was based out of Toronto Pearson International Airport for 3 years before being furloughed in 2020 due to COVID-19. Over the past 6 years she has gained experience in ground and inflight operations, which has given her the skills to be a valuable member of the Flight Operations department at Keewatin Air LP.

Samantha is an active member of Women in Aviation International, and volunteers for events to promote women of all roles in the industry with the goal to inspire younger girls to take part in aviation.

Greg Wheeler started with Keewatin Air LP in 2009 working in our charter reservations area to support our scheduled service in the Kivalliq, which Keewatin Air LP operated at the time. A short time later, Greg worked ground support at Keewatin Air LP's bases in Churchill, MB and Rankin Inlet, NU. When Keewatin Air constructed a new hangar facility in Iqaluit after being awarded a contract to conduct Medevac Flights for the Qikiqtaaluk Region (Baffin Region) of Nunavut, Greg was instrumental in setting up the new base. Greg then moved onto Keewatin Air LP’s Air Operations Team as a First Officer on the B200, flying our scheduled services out of Churchill. Over the next couple of years, he continued flying in support of both our scheduled and charter air services, as well as medevacs throughout Canada's North on both the B200 and Beech 1900 Aircraft.

In 2015, Greg moved to Keewatin Air LP's affiliated company Calm Air International Ltd., and began flying both the ATR42 and ATR72 based in Thompson, MB. In 2016 Greg returned to KAL as 703 Chief Pilot for two years, then moved back to Calm Air. In April 2020 Greg again returned to Keewatin Air, once again as the 703 Chief Pilot.

Darrell Grantham has been a commercial pilot for 17 years with 15 years of this experience exclusively working the Nunavut region. Darrell has worked the majority of his career within the EIC group including such companies as Calm Air, Keewatin Air, Perimeter and flying Bearskin routes on their behalf.

Darrell is very knowledgeable with the inner workings of Airline Operations, specifically focusing on Medevac and Arctic operations. He worked within Nav Canada for 10 months gaining valuable experience in the understanding of IFR operations and the impact of these operations on the Keewatin Air piloting group.

Darrell is currently working as the Flight Training Manager at Keewatin Air, primarily teaching ground schools in Winnipeg, disseminating his knowledge to new piloting groups working on the flight line.