Press Release

When the 10th anniversary broadcast season ends this summer, John Lovelace will be stepping away from the series he created ten years ago.  The Wings Over Canada series that John wrote and hosted has grown from a Vancouver cable show into an international success story comprised of a 174-episode anthology of aviation in Canada . Today the series is owned by the Best Entertainment Group and it is aired by over 50 broadcasters in Canada , U.S.A. , Australia and New Zealand .  "I think the reason people grew to love the series is that we always tried to give it a West Coast down-to-earth style," said Lovelace. "We were always being told that Wings was a refreshing contrast to the programs that come out of Toronto .  Canada is, after all, a collection of regional identities. The national broadcaster brands Canada with the CN tower.

“We branded Canada with a loon and a float plane and people warmed to the feel of the show." Over the past ten years the series has been a mainstay of TV viewing for aviation buffs across Canada with its weekly dose of aviation and wilderness Canada.

"The ratings were always good and often in our Saturday evening prime time slot in Vancouver , we would beat out USA  productions with ten times our budget, " said Lovelace. "We shot everything on digital cameras and the tape stock will last for decades. I can't imagine what a future generation will think when they see us flying around in our Cessnas."

The flight plan that led John into TV wasn't direct. In the 1980s he was active in the Ontario donstruction industry b ut during the 1991 recession, health problems would dramatically curtail his business interests. A workaholic, he took his doctor's advice to "quit construction before construction quits you." Two years later he flew his Cessna Amphibian to Vancouver to adopt a new more relaxed lifestyle. There he reinvented himself, biking 100 kilometers a week, shedding 40 pounds and taking up residence in a floating home. As part of his relaxation therapy he would fly his float plane up and down the BC coast, falling in love with the province. Soon after, his wife and family moved out to join him and he has remained in Richmond BC , and in good health, ever since.

Aviation was always a cornerstone of John's life. He had first climbed into an airplane in 1971 and started his pilot training with the Brampton Flying Club. In 1980, he bought his first airplane, a Cessna 172 on floats, and got his float rating with Don Timlin and Mike Bishop in Kingston , Ontario . In 1984 John bought a Cessna 206 Amphibian and five years later he acquired  a turbo  206 amphibian that he flew for 1000 hours over the next six years.  Soon after arriving in BC, he bought an interest in a Cessna 185 with two airline pilots and today he owns a twin engine Piper Navajo.

In 1997, looking for something to fit his healthier lifestyle, John started "Wings Over Canada TV" and set about documenting wilderness Canada . The next ten years would see him flying coast to coast every year with a small camera crew turning up at small airports and remote lakes. In the process the company he founded to produce the series, ATV Ltd., became one of the leading independent production companies in Western Canada branching in several automotive and travel  productions. In June 2005, ATV Ltd. was sold to an American company and became part of the Best Entertainment Group.

With close to 200 flying shows, John has become one of the most recognized pilots in Canada . He has flown just about any aircraft in use in general aviation in Canada , from ultra-lights to a four-engine DC-6. He has also written for several aviation magazines and is a frequent guest speaker at aviation venues across Canada . He was picked out of a line boarding an airplane in Dallas , Texas by a security agent who wanted to talk about the show.   Soon after meeting Robert Milton in Vancouver , he was awarded a contract to film an Air Canada A340 flying over the BC coast.  But the highlight of the series he says was getting Celine Dion to wear a Wings Over Canada hat on camera at a press conference in Vancouver.

In 2008, John decided it was time to step down from ATV and concentrate on new challenges as President and CEO of his holding company, John Lovelace Corporation. "When I sold the production company back in 2005, the new ownership had asked me to stay on for three years to develop new personnel and productions," said Lovelace, "But now its time to step back and turn the stage over to other pilots"

So while Lovelace is quitting the series the 60-year-pilot is certainly is not thinking of slowing down. He maintains a physical lifestyle, having just completed an ocean swim in Sydney Australia and he has joined a team for a triathalon this June in Oliver , BC . He is ramping up a multimedia business that is developing a national real estate television business to handle rural and wilderness sales across Canada . In 2009, John will also be producing a one-hour documentary on the 100 year celebration of Flight in Canada , as well as two other productions now in development.

"Looking back on the series  I can only say that I could never have done it without the support of the aviation community," said Lovelace. Whether it was an offer of a pickup truck to run into town from the airport or to profile someone in his Cessna Caravan, the support has been awesome from start to finish. “My only hope is that people have enjoyed watching the series half as much as I did doing it."

John would always love to hear from friends and viewers across the country or to learn more about the 100 year anniversary flight celebrations in 2009. Please email him at  John@johnlovelace.com .