The plane truth

Where Diamonds are made
London, ON
June 2012

I often drive by the Diamond Aircraft facility in the east end of town, hard by London International Airport. I could just as easily take another route, but I somehow derive comfort from a quick glimpse of anything aviation-related.

This place has had a rough few years, with enough layoffs, cancelled programs and broken promises to fill the cargo hold of a large transport aircraft. After another round of job cuts a couple of months ago, the place is now barely functional, a ghost of what it once was. I feel a little twinge when I see the empty parking lot, and I wonder about the now-former employees and their families, and where they've gone and how they're doing.

The entire mess saddens me, because this is the kind of company that economies in mid-sized cities like London need. And if our civic leaders spent less time voting themselves pay raises, patting themselves on the back, fighting corruption charges or each other, maybe we'd be able to fill this assembly line again. Maybe we'd haul down our country-leading unemployment rate. Maybe we'd be able to compete against cities and regions that have already clued into the way things work in the 21st century.

One can always hope, right?

One more thing: what does this entry have to do with this week's Thematic theme, pairs? The DA20 and DA40 are a pair of aircraft. I know I'm stretching things a bit, but that's the whole point of exercise, after all. Click here to share yours.