Friends in high places

KIRSTEN MURPHY

John Graham slides behind the steering wheel of a white truck. A voice at the end of a two-way radio approves his request to drive down the runway. Graham, Iqaluit airport’s manger, wastes no time finding the gas pedal.

Speeding along the 9,000-foot strip of open road, the jovial Scotsman marvels at the acres of purple saxifrage lining the runway. Indeed, the flora is the reason for the drive.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” he asks, not waiting for a reply “It’s bloody beautiful.”

Graham’s enthusiasm for Nunavut’s official flower pales only in comparison to his love for his family and anything aviation-related.

His office is on the second floor of the airport’s yellow tower. The walls are a mixture of aerial photos, children’s artwork and space memorabilia. Unbeknownst to the thousands of people passing beneath him in the lobby each year, Graham’s office houses Iqaluit’s most extensive aviation and space collection.

Graham’s latest acquisition is an autographed model Bell-X1 – a replica of the plane Chuck Yeager flew in 1947 when he broke the sound barrier.

“Not even my family knows I have this one,” says the 46-year-old with childlike charm.

There are also hidden treasures, like a spongy tile from a shuttle and a commemorative coin made from scrap shuttle metal. Graham even has a letter from John W. Young, whom the movie Apollo 16 is based on. The letter, circa 1971, precedes the historic mission. “Many thanks for your kind letter of congratulations. Of course Ken [Mattingly], Charlie [Duke] and I are highly pleased with our assignment to crew the Apollo 16 mission and are most grateful for your thoughtfulness in writing.”

Graham and his family have made several trips to Cape Canaveral, Texas, home of the NASA launch site. In 1985, the year astronaut Marc Garneau became the first Canadian on a NASA mission, Graham provided lively, on-site commentary for CBC listeners in Iqaluit. His broadcasting debut was a hit.

“We heard about this space buff who gave a play-by-play of the launch,” says astronaut Robert Thrisk, in an interview from Houston, Texas. Thrisk was the stand-by astronaut had Garneau withdrew from the mission.

The two men were so impressed with Graham that a team of NASA astronauts have since visited Iqaluit three times, Thrisk says.

“He overwhelmed us with his hospitality and breadth of knowledge. He’s more nuts about space than Marc and I if you base it on enthusiasm,” says Thrisk, who is training for his next NASA mission.

During one of three visits to Iqaluit, the trio flew to Pangnirtung. Graham keeps a colour photo of the trip in his office. Thrisk, who took the photo, chuckles when reminded of the picture.

“We ran out of film after that one shot and so there’s no proof I was there. When you see John, tell him I need another Arctic Circle hike,” he says.

Graham arrived in Iqaluit 1976 at the age of 19 to work for the Hudsons Bay Company. Fellow Scotsman Euan Mackay arrived at the same time. To this day, the two are good friends who sit down to a Robbie Burns dinner once a year.

Mackay, now a lawyer in Iqaluit, says Graham hasn’t changed in 17 years.

“What you see is what you get with John. He juggles the fantastically demanding job of running the airport and has time for his family, the cadets and volunteer work. His days must have 48 hours,” Mackay says.

Graham is the past president of the Royal Canadian Legion branch No. 4. He is also an active cadet leader.

The Iqaluit airport was built as part of a military base in 1943. Today, the standout yellow terminal is the busiest airport in Nunavut. About 90,000 people, some celebrities and royalty, travel on board the 19,000 flights passing through Iqaluit each year.

As much as Graham loves his job and the opportunity to meet astronauts, pilots and the occasional celebrity, he’s particularly proud that the airport is a major employer of local labour.

“It’s like a small city within a city and a real team effort. There’s no one person who does it all,” says Graham who took over the top job in 1996.

The Government of Nunavut’s department of community government and transportation (CGT) owns the airport. About 20 people are employed by CGT at the airport, including the three members of the airport emergency and firefighting team.

Nav Canada, the federal agency responsible for air safety, employs another eight to 10 people who monitor the incoming and outgoing planes. The remaining 300 jobs are subcontracted to local business, like Narwhal Arctic Services, which provides snow removal in the winter and fence and runway repairs in the summer. Other area of employment are ground crews, caterers for in-flight meals, customs and cargo handlers.

After seven years running Nunavut’s biggest and busiest airport, Graham is still scouring the Internet looking for new acquisitions.

“It’s an all-consuming passion,” says fellow aviation enthusiast John Henderson, RCMP V Division commanding officer.

“He’s more into space and I’m more into aviation history but it feels very comfortable sitting with a kindred spirit. If I had more time, I’d spend it in his office.”