Friday was an awesome day. My buddy Rhett (the old flying buddy who I flew out to visit in Moose Jaw a year and a half ago) had got me connected with Morgan Strachan, one of the current Snowbirds pilots. The Snowbirds are the RCAF Jet Demonstration Team that flies the Canadair CT-114 Tutor. The Snowbirds were in Tillsonburg for an airshow over the weekend weekend. My daughter Arya and I flew in a couple of days ahead, and made plans with Morgan to meet them out at the field on Friday (day before the airshow). Morgan was super - he met with us, showed us around the aircraft and introduced us to some of the other pilots. Some of the pilots were very interested in my RV-9A and loved the paint scheme (there is a direct historical lineage between the "Golden Centennaires" commemorated by my paint scheme, and the Snowbirds). One of them expressed interest in getting a ride, although unfortunately the timing did not work out for that. Unfortunately because of cutbacks the Snowbirds aren't doing any media rides this year so I wasn't able to get a Tutor ride. That'll have to stay on my bucket list for the future
The Snowbirds had a full practice show on Fri afternoon, and Morgan arranged for us to sit in on the team briefing before the practice. That was fascinating for me. One of the most interesting parts for me was the table-top simulation they did of an in-flight emergency (loss of Hydraulic pressure on one of the aircraft). They talked through exactly what everyone would do, in detail.
Later, we got to go out and watch the practice from right up by the runway - a closer view than you'd ever get at an airshow! Just after the Snowbirds practice, the CF-18 Hornet showed up to do his practice. The one CF-18 was louder than all the Tutors put together! He did passes and maneuvres for about 15 minutes (including a high-speed pass at about 0.98 Mach).
Front-row view of a private airshow! I got tonnes of amazing photos, including some great shots of the RV-9A with the Tutors. Here's a link? please have a look!
http://1drv.ms/1ltZshv
The Snowbirds had a full practice show on Fri afternoon, and Morgan arranged for us to sit in on the team briefing before the practice. That was fascinating for me. One of the most interesting parts for me was the table-top simulation they did of an in-flight emergency (loss of Hydraulic pressure on one of the aircraft). They talked through exactly what everyone would do, in detail.
Later, we got to go out and watch the practice from right up by the runway - a closer view than you'd ever get at an airshow! Just after the Snowbirds practice, the CF-18 Hornet showed up to do his practice. The one CF-18 was louder than all the Tutors put together! He did passes and maneuvres for about 15 minutes (including a high-speed pass at about 0.98 Mach).
Front-row view of a private airshow! I got tonnes of amazing photos, including some great shots of the RV-9A with the Tutors. Here's a link? please have a look!
http://1drv.ms/1ltZshv