“Dynamic” and “effervescent” fall far short of describing Vancouver’s Air Patrol Reporter Kim Seale. Every morning and afternoon, thousands of CKWX listeners count on her advice about traffic tie-ups as she flies l500 feet (457 metres) above them on her rounds. She tells drivers from the ‘burbs how to avoid accidents including fires, overturned semis, vehicles in ditches, cars hitting poles or any other major or minor disaster, and then she gives them alternate routes to follow to avoid delays on their way to and from work.
“I wouldn’t think of driving to work without listening to Kim’s reports,” says Paul, a Richmond resident, who crosses three bridges in his daily commute to West Vancouver. “She’s right on.”
  
Kim, 52, who lives in Cloverdale with her son, Troy, and a large ginger rescue cat called Gingin, hops out of bed at 4 a.m. five days a week, breakfasts, and then drives to Boundary Bay Airport (a half-hour away). There, she boards a reliable Cessna 172 and starts her rounds at 6 a.m. 

The Cessna 172, to which Kim trusts her life six hours a day, is reputed to be the safest general aviation craft ever built. First flown in l955, it is still in production today.

Kim isn’t bothered that her pilots are fresh out of aviation school. They are students who want to increase their air miles, so they can move on to bigger commercial aircraft.

Weather is important to her job. “Inclement weather isn’t usually a factor with only fog and snowstorms keeping the plane grounded, so we fly in fair weather and foul, and sometimes it can be foul. I have been thrown against the dash with a black eye to prove it. A small plane sideslips in a high wind just as a car hydroplanes in a deep puddle but soon is under control again, it can be rough.”

In the 1990s, she worked for the Ministry of Transportation at their emergency office in Burnaby. There, she developed a broad general knowledge of the highway system in B.C. because all changes - flooding, rock slides and accidents - were reported to the emergency room. Kim issued warnings to travellers, changed the wording on highway signs, and did what she could to help traffic move safely on B.C. roads. That job prepared her for her current career.

Reporting for radio station CKWX and sister station Jack FM, Kim is on-air with traffic reports every 10 minutes from 6-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. Her knowledge of the highways and byways’ traffic patterns on the Lower Mainland is second nature, as she reports on their immediate condition from her bird’s eye view.

Loaded with the latest electronic devices, Kim can take aerial pictures of a mishap on the ground; and e-mail them to her studio, where they are shown on CityTV within seconds.

“I love my job because every day is different,” she says. “I have all sorts of equipment to e-mail stories and pictures, and microphones to juggle. I constantly receive on-the-spot reports from commuters for me to investigate. There is always something new going on - the weather, road conditions; I’m never bored.”

Her articulate, rapid traffic reporting isn’t haphazard. She monitors a daily route that starts at Boundary Bay Airport and follows Vancouver’s many bridges.

“During the huge salmon run a couple of years ago, I saw thousands of salmon trying to swim upstream over the Massey Tunnel and, often, I’ve seen grey whales cavorting in the water off the coast - what a treat!”

Kim isn’t always “up in the air’ and flying isn’t her only interest; she adores animals “sometimes more than people” and is known by some as the “Bird Blanket Lady” at her Boundary Bay Airport Terminal.

“They have even closed a runway to allow me to capture an injured bird,” she says. “Birds and airports don’t mix, and large birds like cranes and herons that live in the marshes adjacent to the airport are sometimes injured in one way or another. I always try to capture them by throwing a blanket over them and then drive them to Critter Care or OWL where they are taken care of. I’ve even had a sick seagull in my son’s bedroom overnight (away from my cat) when care facilities were closed.”

After her morning run ends, Kim drives home to Cloverdale for a nap and starts all over again at 2 p.m. for her afternoon shift. Back and forth, twice daily, she drives 100km, so she understands the plight of fellow commuters when there are traffic tie-ups.

Kim also loves meeting her listening audience.
“I always take the opportunity to attend promotions in which my radio station is involved, so I can meet and enjoy the people who come to say hi to me in person.”

Because Kim is so well known, she is often invited to act as MC at celebrity events. She proudly shows off pictures of herself with Dame Edna and Bob Newhart.

Kim’s latest recognition was her nomination for the prestigious Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Breaking News for her story of witnessing two small planes colliding. The award, however, went to the story of the slaughtered sled dogs near Whistler.

Outspoken by nature, Kim doesn’t pull any punches either in the air or on the ground. So, despite spending much of her life in the clouds, Kim Seale is very down to earth.

FEBRUARY 2012 SENIOR LIVING MAGAZINE VANCOUVER & LOWER MAINLAND