Speaking of Nanaimo

[AlaskaProf]

I arrived late afternoon, passing yellow bouy well to my right; spent the night at Newcastle island and moved to the NYC this morning, where I discovered the RCAF Snowbirds will perform this evening. I'm on the outer dock, about 200 yards...er...meters from the West boundary of the show "box."

 

[dhays]

Very cool. I haven't seen them in a while, but they put on a great show!

 

[AlaskaProf]

Very cool. I haven't seen them in a while, but they put on a great show!

My first opportunity. Pretty excited.

 

[Ken E.]

I'm envious. We did watch the Blue Angels on TV at Seafair in Seattle. A good show and about an hour in length, flying F18's. I'd be curious what aircraft the Canadians use. They fly F18's out of Comox. Saw them at low altitude near Desolation Sound a few years ago and they hit the afterburners....very cool!

 

[syjos]

We were anchored over by Newcastle - Dinghy Pub a few years ago when the Snowbirds did a show. It was spectacular!. Some passes were so low that I could see the pilot!

 

[Doug]

The Snowbirds use the Canadiar CT-114 Tutor jet

CT-114 Tutor | Aircraft | Royal Canadian Air Force

 

[Ken E.]

Thanks Doug.

Bill, forgot to mention my favorite segment the Blues did in Seattle, that you would appreciate as a pilot. They did some stunts 'dirty', gear and tailhook down, slow flight. Nothing so remarkable about that in itself, but they did it synchronized with four planes close together in aerobatic attitudes. Very impressive.

 

[rsn48]

Their spring training is done out of Comox every year. I have blanked out as to when the Vancouver air show is, but I suspect they are really here for that, they attend every year.

 

[dhays]

The Snowbirds use the Canadiar CT-114 Tutor jet

CT-114 Tutor | Aircraft | Royal Canadian Air Force

Exactly. It is a trainer that is much better suited to aerobatic shows than the fighters that the Blue Angles have used over the years. It means that the Snowbirds can confine their show to a smaller block of airspace and do more aerobatic maneuvers. Both types of shows are fantastic and exhilarating, but are different.

 

[syjos]

They seem to be able to fly lower and over all the anchored boats.

Can Blue Angeles fly over spectators?

 

[AlaskaProf]

My knowledge is thirty years out of date, but I was the air traffic rep for two years at Seafair and the basic rule is that any time they are outside the "waiver box" they are bound by all the standard restrictions regarding flight over "persons, vehicles, structures" on the ground. I'd be surprised if Canadian rules are much different.

Mounties are out right now, bouying the box.

 

[rsn48]

Airshow rules changed, at least in Canada, not sure about the States. In the "old" days, stealth aircraft would come low over the crowds from behind and scare the crap out of them. Now the aircraft are restricted to the landing area and can't fly over the crowds. When I went to a couple of shows at Whidby Island Naval Station, they were still scaring the crap out of the crowds.

 

[soin2la]

I have blanked out as to when the Vancouver air show is, but I suspect they are really here for that

The Abbotsford International Air Show was last weekend and the low clouds took much of the show away, including the Birds.

 

[dhays]

The Abbotsford International Air Show was last weekend and the low clouds took much of the show away, including the Birds.

Almost 40 years ago I flew to the Abbotsford airshow from Oregon with a classmate of mine in graduate school. He insisted on flying left seat since he counted his hours in the tens of thousands and I counted mine in the hundreds (can’t blame him).

However, I seriously was rethinking that decision as we flew into Abbotsford. I decided that never again would I fly right seat to a Navy Vietnam vet. A Cessna 172 is just not the same as a F-4 or F14. Landing and taking off on a nice long airfield is NOT the same as landing on a carrier, and civilian traffic patterns are there for a reason!

 

[Bigsfish]

Those who cruise the west coast of Florida know the navy has many towers built of shore (hint the hold fish, trophy fish) and while fishing those towers or flyboys thought it would be great sport to approach us at supersonic speed and blast our ear drums. You never saw them coming until they hit the afterburners. I’m sure it game them great folly.