The James C. Floyd Award is an annual award that recognizes an individual or team that has made an exceptional contribution to Canada’s aerospace industry.

AWARD OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS

The James C. Floyd Award acknowledges individuals or a team that has made an outstanding contribution to the Canadian aerospace industry. This contribution may be a technological, political, entrepreneurial, research-based, policy-based or student accomplishment, of which the significance and impact warrants an exceptional level of recognition.

Eligibility

Any individual or team from an AIAC member company, Canadian university, college or research institution, or government department may be nominated for this award. Nominees of all ages and experience levels — including students and individuals that have recently entered the workforce — will be considered.

Nomination Requirements

Nominees must demonstrate at least one of the following achievements:

  • The successful completion of a program or research project that has had a significant, positive impact on the Canadian aerospace industry within the last five years
  • An outstanding act, effort, contribution or demonstration of service to the Canadian aerospace industry that has occurred within the last five years

Additional factors that may be considered include the nominee’s initiative, perseverance, creative problem-solving skills, contribution to the public perception of the industry at home and abroad, creation of partnerships, involvement in the broader aerospace community, and the nominee’s people management and leadership abilities.

To nominate a candidate or sponsor an award, please contact Bill Yetman at byetman@aiac.ca .

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Applications must include:

  • Name of Nominee; Nominee Organization; Nominee Bio information
  • A minimum of two letters of support, in either official language, from an employee of an AIAC member company, Canadian university, college or research institution. These letters should not exceed one page in length and should reinforce or expand upon the summary of achievement. The letters should be submitted with the rest of the nomination documentation.
  • A comprehensive narrative (between 500 and 2,000 words) in either official language, describing in non-technical terms the nature of the achievement and the extent of its benefit, significance and effects. This narrative should focus on those attributes of the nominee that were especially instrumental in contributing to the successful outcome of the activity/achievement in question.

AWARD PRESENTATION

The James C. Floyd Award is presented annually at the Annual Aerospace Dinner, which takes place during the Canadian Aerospace Summit. This event gathers attendees from all segments of the Canadian aerospace industry, other leading aerospace nations, various levels of government, the financial and investment community, and international and trade press.

This year’s Summit is October 28-29, at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

2025 WINNER

  • Jake Trainor, PAL Aerospace 
    Appointed President in August 2025, Jake Trainor spent the prior 16 years at EIC member company PAL Aerospace, most recently as CEO of the PAL Group. During his tenure, PAL Aerospace became the Canadian in-service support partner with Airbus for the RCAF’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue program to sustain the CC-295 Kingfisher fleet, the team launched and expanded export surveillance programs that include the Netherlands Coastguard, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, and the UK Home Office, while maturing contractor-owned ISR capabilities on the Force Multiplier fleet. Today PAL Aerospace boasts over 350,000 special-mission flight hours and 600+ mission-software installations across 60+ countries. At EIC, Trainor is scaling that operating discipline across a national network: sovereign Arctic mobility; a coast-to-coast-to-coast air-ambulance footprint, recently including Newfoundland and Labrador; Indigenous-led airlift; in-country defence manufacturing and sustainment; and the defence-enabling infrastructure that ties it together. These capabilities support federal and provincial missions, connect remote communities, and deliver daily safety, security, economic, and environmental outcomes in Canada and with allies around the world.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

  • Gilles Labbé (2024)
  • Maria Della Posta (2023)
  • Tracy Medve (2022)
  • Marc Parent (2019)
  • Viking Air Ltd. (2018)
  • Benoit Beaudoin and the Pratt & Whitney Canada Operations Team (2017)
  • Rob Dewar and the CSeries Aircraft Program Team (2016)
  • The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (2015)
  • Ronald Holdway and Dave Caddey (2014)
  • Marinvent Corporation (2013)
  • Hany Moustapha (2012)
  • Maurice Guitton (2011)
  • Wagdi Habashi (2010)

JAMES C. FLOYD’S LEGACY

James C. Floyd is one of the great figures in Canada’s aviation history. As chief designer for Avro Canada, Mr. Floyd played a central role in the development of some of the greatest planes ever produced in Canada, including the C-102 Jetliner, the CF-100 fighter and the Avro Arrow. Members of his design and engineering team later played key roles in America’s Apollo project to put a man on the Moon.

After the cancellation of the Avro Arrow project, Mr. Floyd established his own international aviation consulting company and made contributions to a number of state-of-the-art projects around the world.

In 1950, Mr. Floyd became the first non-American recipient of the Wright Bros. Medal for his work on jet transport technology, specifically the design of the Avro Canada Jetliner, the world’s first regional jet passenger aircraft. He was consultant to the British Ministry of Technology on the Concorde project from 1965 to 1972.

Mr. Floyd was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 1993.