Andrea Kuciak (BASc ’00) has a different idea of what a hobby looks like. A mechanical engineer, Kuciak is humble about her passion for gliders and powered aircraft, and about being one of the few women pilots in the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA) in Tillsonburg, Ontario.
“I have always been involved in male-dominated activities by coincidence, from engineering to flying aerobatics,” Kuciak says. “I decide I want to try something, and then I make it happen."
“I didn’t have a lot growing up, and my parents sacrificed a lot for my brother, sister and I. They taught us that if there was something we wanted to do, if we worked hard enough for it, anything was within reach.”
Kuciak began flying at age 18 when she visited a gliding club with her brother. After watching and speaking with pilots, she was hooked.
She signed up at the Southern Ontario Soaring Association (SOSA). At SOSA, Kuciak earned her glider licence, glider instructor rating, and glider aerobatic instructor rating.
“Gliding is about being in the moment — nothing else matters,” Kuciak says. “It is just you and the plane. You can see for miles, fly with the birds, and feel the thermals. It is a free feeling and a great way for young people to start in flying.”
Kuciak met her husband Scott McMaster, a glider instructor and tow pilot, at SOSA. McMaster introduced her to aerobatic flying, and she went on to obtain her glider aerobatics instructor rating in her fourth year at SOSA.
Kuciak now helps run the Glider Aerobatic Program at SOSA, which attracts pilots from across Canada and around the world.
While people might regard aerobatic flight as dangerous and risky, Kuciak says the craft is very controlled.
“People think it’s crazy, but it is very much about precision and learning the aircraft’s limits and staying within those limits,” she says.
Kuciak has advice for people who manage busy careers but want to take up a highly technical hobby: “Just decide what you want to try and do it. Don’t waste time making excuses about why you can’t do something.”
