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.

Chris Brake is the 704 Chief Pilot at KAL. He has been with the company since June 2012 and has worked in numerous roles in his time here. In joining the company, he brought with him several years of experience in working with other operators in Ontario, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador.

Chris came to KAL with some diverse flying experience in remote locations in Northwestern Ontario, as well as the challenging weather conditions of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Eastern Quebec.

During his employment at KAL, Chris has continued to diversify his experience by operating as Captain in all aircraft that the company flies, joining the training department and having a fundamental role in the training of company pilot, becoming a Transport Canada Approved Check Pilot, as well as serving as Chief Pilot of the 703 and 704 Flight Operations.

Chris’s total flight time is currently just in excess of 10,600 hours. This has been gained in many unique and challenging areas of Canada. He has experience and understands the unique challenges and requirements of operating in remote areas flying in and out of smaller, isolated communities, as well as the challenges of operating out of larger Centers, major airports, dense IFR airspace and operations south of the border into the United States of America.

Chris has seen and been a part numerous positive growths and changes at the company in his time here and continues to be an eager part of its safe and effective operation. He enjoys being an effective member of the management team and greatly values the positive team aspect at KAL.

Walter Mendela has had held historic positions with Keewatin Air which include Chief PIlot (1986), Vice President of Operations, Chief PIlot 703 and 704 from 1995 to 2000 inclusive and has returned in 2023 as our CAR 703 Chief PIlot. Walter started his career in aircraft maintenance in 1978 and transitioned to full time flying positions in 1980. His flight experience is in both Public and private sectors and has been continuously employed as either Chief PIlot or Director of Flight operations for several carriers since 1983. In addition, Walter has extensive experience in Pilot Human Resource Management, Risk Management, and SMS programs relating to CAR 604, 703 and 704 operations. In addition to his management experience, he holds Transport Canada Approved Check Pilot accreditation for several aircraft types.

With a flight background that includes qualification on eleven medium sized jet aircraft types, he has been instrumental in the development of several aircraft Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) manuals, including the operation of turbo jet aircraft on gravel runways. Walter has over 23,000 hours of flying experience. Walter has years of experience flying in the northern airports of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and Nunavut. He has worldwide flying experience into both the high-density airspace environments of Europe, Canada and the US as well as the remote low density, underserviced airports of remote Africa and Canada’s north. This background has helped him develop a strong understanding on how to provide the best customer service possible, regardless of the associated challenges.

Walter welcomes new challenges and brings a focus and drive to everything he does. He has a strong understanding of the pilot role and provides support, an open-door, and an attitude of "how can I help you succeed".

With his extensive well-rounded background and skill set, his management style is one that leads by example and coaching. He believes in safety first, company loyalty, hard work and a “get it done” attitude. He brings a natural leadership ability to the team.

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.