Wallace Watts spent his 38-year career as a commercial pilot for United Airlines travelling the globe visiting countless places every week. The Tseshaht First Nation member, one of the first Indigenous pilots to be hired by a major commercial airline, received two awards for preventing a plane crash on two different occasions.
From hiking Mount Huashan in China, deemed the world’s deadliest hike, to biking in the jungles of Singapore, to his countless visits to Paris and Rome, his career — which combined his love for aviation with a passion for travel — has been memorable. “It’s pretty much allowed me to do everything I’ve ever wanted to do, see everything I’ve wanted to see, taste everything I wanted to eat,” said Watts, 65. “Looking back, I was really thoroughly blessed to be able to fly that much and see the entire world.” Flying commercially was the realization of a dream that began when he was a teenager growing up in Port Albern