Serving the Aviation Community for over 25 Years
AES Has Been Pioneering Aviation Egress Training in Canada Since 1998
Aviation Egress Systems was founded in 1998 to provide safety training to all private and commercial pilots of both helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft. Over the years, we’ve grown to be the pioneers of egress training across Canada and have been accredited with saving numerous lives.
To date, AES has trained close to 10,000 students giving them the tools to work with should the unexpected happen as a pilot, passenger or crew member on board any aircraft. We constantly update our training syllabus and equipment to make sure that we are giving our students the best experience and skills possible.
Meet Your Instructors
Bryan Webster
After learning that many aircraft ditching incidents end in fatalities, and most of those fatalities are due to drowning incidents after the initial crash, Bryan recognized there was a lack of available egress training for both pilots and passengers.
Bryan's passion for aviation safety led him to create a groundbreaking system for egress training to help his students improve the odds of surviving an accident.
As a survivor of an accident in which the aircraft he was a passenger crashed into the Fraser River, Bryan personally understands the importance of underwater egress training.
Bry the Dunker Guy has been instructing our courses for more than 24 years, and today, AES travels Canada-wide, offering Egress Training to pilots and passengers throughout the year.
Patti Webster
Patti has been an integral part of Aviation Egress Systems since the conception of the company in 1998. She embraces our students in an exciting way, including creativity and humor, to assist our AES participants in achieving their full potential.
Patti is our AES Tunnel Simulator expert and puts our students through the paces in a variety of different scenarios, from rescues thru buoyancy and learning how to allow your fingers to be your eyes.
She has been involved in aviation alongside Bryan for over 35 years, including running his office for Klondike Air–which was their fixed-wing charter company at Dawson City Yukon back in the 1980s.
She's a certified scuba diver and the voice you hear on the phone when you call for information about egress training or to book a course.
Willy Burrows
Willy has been with Aviation Egress Systems almost since the company's inception, and he brings a wealth of experience to our team. As a retired military hull technician and diver, Willy is the jack of all trades for AES. You’ll see him in the pool during our wet egress training sessions, maintaining the equipment and making sure all our students stay safe.
"In my 18,000 + hours of commercial bush flying, I have had my share of less than ideal landings and takeoffs. All of them successful due in large part to the training I have received from AES. I cannot say enough good things about this course. Bryan and Patti are both very experienced and so well versed in what they do. I highly recommend them to anyone thinking about getting into an airplane, whether on wheels or floats, on a regular basis. The lessons learned will not only help you but also those around you."
St.Clair
In 2007, Bryan Was Honoured with the Transport Canada Aviation Safety Award
Mr. Bryan Webster of Victoria, B.C., has received the 2007 Transport Canada Aviation Safety Award for his exceptional commitment to underwater egress training for pilots and passengers. The award was presented to Mr. Webster on May 1 at the 19th annual Canadian Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) in Gatineau, Que.
Mr. Webster has accumulated over 12,000 hr. of flying time in 35 different aircraft types over a 40-year commercial pilot career that includes bush flying, air ambulance, corporate flying and single-pilot IFR cargo flights. Being a ditching survivor himself in 1977, as a passenger in a Cessna 150, Mr. Webster was instrumental in not only saving his own life but also the life of the unconscious pilot.
Bryan Webster (left) received his award from Marc Grégoire, Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security.
He understood early the dangers associated with such a life-threatening situation because he had experienced first-hand the cold rush of water, the panic of disorientation, and the extreme difficulty of evacuating a dark, inverted and sinking aircraft. After reading about a series of ditching fatalities across Canada in the mid-1990s, in which many had survived the initial impact, but later drowned, Mr. Webster took it upon himself to start an inexpensive underwater egress training program to help better prepare pilots and passengers on how to survive such a traumatic event. He designed specialized equipment to be effective and portable and travelled across Canada to reach those unable to attend his training program locally in Victoria.
Emergency underwater egress training has proven to dramatically improve survival rates, and Mr. Webster’s program has been featured in several prominent aviation magazines. With his recent book, Survival Guide to Ditching an Aircraft and his monthly column in COPA Flight magazine, he has been able to promote and demystify this field with such impact and effectiveness that other companies have followed his lead to provide this essential training to even more people. He is rewarded by countless letters of testimony from grateful aviation enthusiasts, both from the private and commercial worlds, who all confirm that 'Bry the Dunker Guy' has made an outstanding impact on Canadian aviation safety.
Article reprinted with permission from the Transport Canada Aviation Safety Newsletter TP 185E Issue 3/2007