All posts by YYZAPW Administrator

Obituary

Peter Ivakitsch

By Andy Cline

Peter Ivakitsch. Photo by Andrew H. Cline.

One of the three founding directors of YYZ Airport Watch, our friend Peter Ivakitsch has sadly passed away.  He jointly created Toronto’s Airport Watch chapter along with Brian Dunn and Andy Cline in 2004.  Before that he and Brian worked hard on a petition to get GTAA to establish official spotting areas at Pearson. His organizational skills and imagination were a driving force for the formation of YYZ Airport Watch, and he was the administrator and a board member until passing the torch in 2010. 

Peter was a pioneer in another area, he built an impressive website called Canadian Aeronautical Communications (canairadio.com) which is an authoritative site covering many aspects of airband radio locally as well as nationally.  Pete was a radio expert and spent endless hours listening. 

He was very passionate about his aviation hobbies: airband radio, aircraft spotting, and collecting diecast DC-8 models. He was also a very talented musician, playing bass with several cover bands over the years.  His favorite bands were Rush, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden as the below image by Tom Kim will attest.  

Peter Ivakitsch (left) with Don McKay in front of Iron Maiden’s Ed Force One.
Photo by Tom Kim.

Although he didn’t visit Pearson much in recent years, his sense of humour and laugh will be missed from the spotting scene. Pete was easily recognizable with his trademark pony tail (he’s in the band!), and usually wearing Arsenal Football Club gear. 

Peter tragically suffered a heart attack in his sleep on May 17, 2020, and never awakened. We must thank him for his selfless efforts to improve spotting at YYZ. Rock On and Blue Skies Pete!

Obituary

Brian Dunn, 72

The YYZ aviation enthusiast community has lost one of its best known and most inspiring spotters. Brian Dunn passed away on July 23rd at the age of 72 after a long illness.

(c) copyyright Andrew H. Cline 2013

Brian was an Air Canada passenger services / operations employee from 1969-2003.  He subsequently became a gate planner with GTAA until 2010 and later a GTAA Welcome Team volunteer. Brian went to great lengths to bring the YYZ spotting community together for as long as any of us can remember. Many will remember him as one of the three founding Directors of YYZ Airport Watch and for many years Brian maintained the YYZ News blog / web page, a treasure trove of aviation news and fleet information, and perhaps the first online gallery of local enthusiast photographs.

In 1973 he spearheaded the creation of the Ontario Aviation Enthusiasts’ Society, putting together and distributing the OAES newsletter with other local spotters, often assembling it with the help of his young son Rob in the kitchen. It became North American Aviation News (NAAN) in 1976 as interest and subscriptions grew and movement reports came in from other enthusiasts across the continent.

These outlets helped Brian spread the word about Toronto aviation, bringing countless people into the hobby over the years. He gained the nickname ‘The Colonel’ for his leadership and drive to get things done, though he was never in the military.

Brian can be credited with selflessly connecting a nucleus of Pearson enthusiasts, which snowballed over the years, and which will hopefully perpetuate his efforts and memory for many years into the future. Blue skies, Brian.