In Toronto, Ontario there is the Canadian National Exhibition held at the end of the summer and one of the highlights is the airshow. Per the website about it:
Canadian International Air Show
Sat. Sun. & Mon. September 3rd, 4th & 5th
Time: 12:30 - 4:30 pm
At the waterfront, south of Bandshell Park
The 62nd annual Canadian International Air Show (CIAS) soars over Lake Ontario Labour Day weekend for another awe-inspiring show. Highlights of this year's show include appearances by Toronto's own internationally renowned glider pilot Manfred Radius, the vintage Avro Lancaster Bomber, the US Navy /Marine Corps' V-22 OSPREY in its CIAS debut, the United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt, the new US Jet Team HEAVY METAL, the CF-18 HORNET, aerial acrobat Mike Wiskus the Lucas Oil Pitts, Canadian Forces Jump Masters: the SKYHAWKS, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, the Misty Blues Parachute Jump Team, the ever popular Canadian Forces Snowbirds, and much more!
website:
http://www.cias.org/ The article below is an interview with one of the RCAF Snowbird pilots.
How do you become a Snowbird?
Prior to this weekend's CNE Air Show, we spoke to Canadian Forces Captain Yanick Gregoire about what it takes to pull off stunts in the sky. (Yes, it requires more than repeated viewings of Top Gun.)
BY: Jacob Rutka
As far as dangerous jobs go, it’s hard to top being a fighter pilot. Along with the obvious risks associated with flying into a warzone, you have to be confident enough to manoeuvre several tons of speeding metal through the air and possess the coordination to fly in formation with other planes. And, if you’re good enough at what you do and are lucky enough to become a Snowbird, flying in formation with eight other planes and routinely undertaking dangerous moves like barrel rolls and other aerial acrobatics are all just part of a days work.
A Canadian institution since the late 1970s, the Snowbirds are the Canadian Forces airshow team that perform death-defying stunts at shows across the country. This weekend, the nine-plane team will be performing at the Canadian International Air Show as part of the CNE. Along with the Snowbirds, teams from across North America will be making noise and taking up airspace over the GTA, including a stealthy looking CF-18 Hornet, aerial parachute formations courtesy the Skyhawks and a badass sounding collective of fighter jets that go by the moniker Team Heavy Metal.
The Air Show has become synonymous with ringing in the end of the Ex and, in turn, the end of the summer. We talked to Snowbird and Canadian Forces Captain Yanick Gregoire about the training involved in becoming a fighter pilot, what it’s like to have one of Canada’s most prestigious aviation gigs and why he doesn’t consider this a dangerous job.
When did you decide you wanted to become a fighter pilot?
Oh, I was very young. As a family we used to travel around to air shows for entertainment. When I was eight years old, my father took us to a show in London, Ontario and I saw a big fighter jet go by, a F101 Voodoo, and basically the rest is history. That gave me the focus in life and everything I did from that moment onwards was with the ultimate goal of becoming a fighter pilot for the Canadian Forces.
What kind of training is involved in becoming a Snowbird?
Everyone on the Snowbirds comes from a different background, whether they were instructors, fighter jet pilots like myself or even helicopter pilots. For us, the training is flying and we love to fly so it never really feels like we’re working. People are selected for the snowbirds from all different paths, but if you make it in, training starts in October. From October to May, we do bare-bones training, just general formation manoeuvring, and as the months progress we start looping and rolling and eventually get tight enough by May that we can put on a show for the public.
So obviously to become a Snowbird you need to have an aviation background?
Yes, of course. You also have to be a military pilot and have some kind of tour under your belt. You don’t just join the military to be a Snowbird pilot and that’s your first job. You need to have at least three to four years of experience with a particular flying job, and there are other prerequisites you must have—like 1,300 hours of ejection-seat aircraft experience—before you can consider putting your name in for a tryout.
Does the training itself consist of a lot of simulation or is it more hands-on?
We actually start the training with formation work. You have to understand, every military pilot has some experience with formations—it’s part of the syllabus to get your military wings. The Snowbirds just take it to the next level. With training, we start off with more general two-ship and three-ship formations and then start piecing everything together in a building block approach. After we’re happy with the quality of the smaller formations, then we start putting them together until all nine of us are flying together.
I noticed that there are two seats in the aircrafts. Why is that?
Two reasons: when we start training new guys we’ll have two pilots in a plane together, with the more senior one teaching the new guy manoeuvres and formations. Once we think the new guys are ready they can go out solo and practice the formations. Also, when we are flying from show to show we have one pilot in the plane and a technician with us. In total, we have 24 people that travel with us at all times, including a truck and supply technician who follow us on the ground.
It seems like a pretty dangerous job. How do you ensure you stay safe?
It’s all in the training. For the military, training is the basis of everything we do. There’s an expression: you train like you fight, and training with the building-block approach really works. During a show, if someone feels unsafe we have mechanisms in place to increase safety. For example, we are able to spread our formations out to keep up the level of safety. You say it’s dangerous but I don’t think it’s dangerous. If you think about it, when you drive down the highway a yellow line is the only thing separating you from a car speeding the other way. You have no idea what mental condition the person driving the other car is in and you’re gonna pass him at the same distance that we fly next to each other. We trust each other and we rely on our training. It’s all relative though. Obviously there is an element of risk but it’s a calculated risk. At all times though, our number one priority is the safety of the spectators.
Lastly, and most importantly: what effect did the film Top Gun have on your decision to become a fighter pilot.
[Laughs] Oh, we all love Top Gun. We know it all by heart. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I’m not gonna lie, I’ve probably seen it 100 times, easy. Now that I’ve done the real thing, I know [the movie is] totally Hollywood, but it was the bible back when I was 10 years old.
Do you guys have code names like Maverick and Iceman?
Yeah, my call sign is Crank.
Like the Jason Statham film?
Exactly!
The Canadian International Airshow runs September 3-5, from 12:30-4:30 p.m. each day. Head down to the CNE for a good view.
Posted:
http://www.thegridto.com/city/people/ho ... -snowbird/
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