On a mission of relief: Hybrid aircraft maker looks to connect the Far North.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Thunder Bay

The founder and chief executive of a solar-powered hybrid aircraft manufacturing firm is looking to make a big landing in Northern Ontario next year.

And Thunder Bay may serve as its regional base to connect remote communities to the rest of the world.

Frustrated by past unsuccessful attempts to break through in Canada's Far North, Jay Godsall of Solar Ship is using Africa as a launching pad and a proving ground for his disruptive brand of aviation technology that, he hopes, will speak volumes for what they provide at home.

"Our favourite place in the world would be Northern Ontario to start, by far," said Godsall, describing the area as "900,000 square kilometres of opportunity."

On its website, the Toronto and Brantford-based manufacturer has announced ambitious plans to launch into Canada's North in 2017.

Of all the regional economies to work in, Godsall said, "Northern Ontario is by far the most robust and busiest."

But Africa offers an immediate opportunity and the space to make a life-changing difference in a large market.

Solar Ship has been billing their aircraft as the latest iteration of the Canadian bush plane that's cheaper than chartering a Hercules and is capable of carrying more payload than a Twin Otter.

At its assembly hangar at the Brantford airport, the 50-employee firm has three models of aircraft in various stages of development, of which two models will be deployed shortly in Africa for disaster relief.

Solar Ship aircraft have a bush plane-like fuselage with a helium-filled extended : overhead wing that's flattened out to accommodate solar panels. It has both a combustion engine plus an electric motor to run off solar energy.

Though it resembles an airship, Godsall prefers to distance the company from that category.

"We're registered (with Transport Canada) as a bush plane. We use the buoyancy to make us lighter on our wheels, which makes us fatter and slower, but we are definitely a bush plane, not an airship."

The company made headlines in September with an agreement to sell four aircraft to Manaf Freighters, a Burundi air cargo carrier, that will deliver food, clothing, medical supplies and basic amenities to isolated communities in East and Central Africa through their Peace & Freedom Services joint venture.

Two of Solar Ship's nimble Caracal aircraft --which can take off and land in a soccer field--and two of its larger Wolverines --capable of carrying a 20-foot shipping container--are expected to be deployed in...