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Snowbirds

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
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This is a bad one. One dead and one seriously injured.

They were here only last week.

This follows so closely on the heel of the helicopter crash.
 

bazokajoe

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Nov 6, 2010
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I love watching them perform and they are great Ambassadors for Canada. But you have to wonder how long can they keep flying these 56 year old planes and putting them under so much stress?
 

bebe

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Aug 17, 2001
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The CF18s the RCAF fly are 30 plus years old. Time for an upgrade
 

james t kirk

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Aug 17, 2001
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I fear that we are in for another round of "is it worth it" from the leftists that control our government.

I've been watching the CBC on and off today and already the talking heads are spouting off about disbanding the snowbirds. I would think that if this were to happen it would be a tragedy. Our military is already shamefully under funded and I fear that Mr. Dressup will use this crash as an excuse to close down the program.
 

james t kirk

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Aug 17, 2001
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The CF18s the RCAF fly are 30 plus years old. Time for an upgrade
The current F18s were purchased in 1980 if I recall correctly.

It would seem to be mission impossible for the government (Harper or Trudeau) to actually do something and replace them.
 

bebe

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Aug 17, 2001
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I meant they should handover some of the F18s to the snowbirds. I know it’s 10% of what we have at least they are somewhat newer

Why should the blue angels be the only ones to use the F18 for aerobatics

The show should go on like it did when they crashed at the Ex when I was there
 

art van dele

Active member
Oct 6, 2004
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I’m sad and heartbroken for Canada. It hasn’t been a good year for this great country of ours. First the shot down of Ukrainian airliner, then dealing with Covid19, Nova Scotia mass shooting, army helicopter crash and now this.
 

wigglee

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Oct 13, 2010
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I fear that we are in for another round of "is it worth it" from the leftists that control our government.

I've been watching the CBC on and off today and already the talking heads are spouting off about disbanding the snowbirds. I would think that if this were to happen it would be a tragedy. Our military is already shamefully under funded and I fear that Mr. Dressup will use this crash as an excuse to close down the program.
and if he doesn't close it down will you dress up with soiled bumwad as the assclown you are?
 

Insidious Von

My head is my home
Sep 12, 2007
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The upgrade of our Air Force has been badly bungled by both Harper and Trudeau. The Snowbirds deserve better equipment, they are Canada's best Ambassadors.

I'm starting to resent Big Brother, barricading The Humber Trail makes no sense and now no Ex. The last time I attended the Air Show on the closing day of the Ex, it was spectacular with the Snowbirds and the Frecce Tricolori having a friendly rivalry.

 

wiskey bravo

Active member
Jul 14, 2017
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Horrible news Just fucken horrible. What a dumb government we have. At a time like this when social distancing is required and enforced. I don't think anyone understands whats required to move the snowbirds around. The support group that comes with each show is tremendous. One formula one driver comes with a staff of 300 people that travels with a driver. So the government wants all of us to stay at home......but what about the aircraft fuelers that fueled the snowboards, engineers, program coordinators, pilots, back up pilots, aircraft marhlers, staff that park airplanes in hanger, hotel accommodations.....I have a strong aviation background.....I would say there's about 100-150 people we don't see behind the scenes that all work closely together who cant social distance......Great planning by the Canadian Government. I bet you're thinking this show wasn't so essential now eh? Even after this death they wont replace the aircrafts and Pilots will be lined up to fly them. Every so often i see the Military trying to recruit Pilots. They are getting more and more desperate because no one wants the job. Heart goes out to the family.
 

jcpro

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Jan 31, 2014
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Tragic and pointless death on a routine take off. Had she been in a more modern aircraft, she'd be alive, but the Weber ejection seat is a 1950s technology that doesn't do as well at low and slow as the more modern ejection seats. Time to buy some F-16Vs for the Snowbirds or shit can the whole program.
 

Insidious Von

My head is my home
Sep 12, 2007
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Very tragic, but no need to vent over Harper and Trudeau's mistakes.

The Snowbirds and the Frecce (Arrows) Tricolori had a friendly rivalry for many years. They did an air show together over Tivoli in 2004, I was lucky enough to watch it.

 

james t kirk

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Aug 17, 2001
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The upgrade of our Air Force has been badly bungled by both Harper and Trudeau. The Snowbirds deserve better equipment, they are Canada's best Ambassadors.
Correct.

The Harper conservatives had put in motion a plan to replace our vintage F18s with the F35. What followed was the entirely predictable response of the leftists working with the Canadian media against any sort of funding for the Canadian military. While I will admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the F35 (primarily due to the fact that it's a single engined fighter and it's slow and in a massive country like Canada that is freezing cold 9 months of the year, that is not a wise decision), at least Harper tried to put a plan in motion.

The current sock puppet government of Mr. Dressup have done absolutely zero to address the problem of our woefully underfunded military and indeed he has shown no interest in any support for the military whatsoever. It was both laughable and predictable that at the last NATO summit that Jr attended he didn't even know what percentage of its GDP Canada spent on its military and confirmed what we all know about him. Instead of supporting our military to the minimum we as a nation have agreed to, he has run up the deficit / debt on one idiotic social welfare program or another with no tangible benefit to the country whatsoever.
 

jcpro

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Jan 31, 2014
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Correct.

The Harper conservatives had put in motion a plan to replace our vintage F18s with the F35. What followed was the entirely predictable response of the leftists working with the Canadian media against any sort of funding for the Canadian military. While I will admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the F35 (primarily due to the fact that it's a single engined fighter and it's slow and in a massive country like Canada that is freezing cold 9 months of the year, that is no a wise decision), at least Harper tried to put a plan in motion.

The current sock puppet government of Mr. Dressup have done absolutely zero to address the problem of our woefully underfunded military and indeed he has shown no interest in any support for the military whatsoever. It was both laughable and predictable that at the last NATO summit that Jr attended he didn't even know what percentage of its GDP Canada spent on its military and confirmed what we all know about him. Instead he has run up the deficit / debt on one idiotic social welfare program or another with no tangible benefit to the country whatsoever.
All true, but it wouldn't make any difference for the Snowbirds. There's no way in hell our government would buy F35 for the demonstration team nor it should.
 

Insidious Von

My head is my home
Sep 12, 2007
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The fault lies with Diefenbaker, he shouldn't have scrapped the Avro Arrow. Canada had the most advanced military post WW II. The Avro Arrow plant was located at Downsview Park, one of the reasons why Diefenbaker closed it. The engineers were all given contracts by the US Air Force. The Frecce Tricolori use the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Panavia Tornado. Two aircraft Italy helped to develop, the later on their own. The Panavia is based on the British Harrier Jump Jet.

 

Darts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2017
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Every so often i see the Military trying to recruit Pilots. They are getting more and more desperate because no one wants the job.
Is it true that many civilian pilots are former military? Unfortunately, the demand for civilian pilots have dried up now because of the virus. I think Air Canada said it will take 3 years to return to normal.
 

explorerzip

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Jul 27, 2006
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Tragic and pointless death on a routine take off.Had she been in a more modern aircraft, she'd be alive, but the Weber ejection seat is a 1950s technology that doesn't do as well at low and slow as the more modern ejection seats. Time to buy some F-16Vs for the Snowbirds or shit can the whole program.
There have actually been relatively few incidents over the decades despite the age of the aircraft. They obviously spend a great deal of time and care maintaining these aircraft to have so few incidents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowbirds#Notable_accidents_and_incidents_with_casualties
 

kstanb

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Apr 25, 2008
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interesting article from 2018
they were ready for replacement 12 years ago. did they push the airframe too much/ too long?

https://nationalpost.com/news/aircr...-go-since-1963-will-be-kept-flying-until-2030

- "The 55-year-old planes used by the Canadian military’s iconic Snowbirds aerobatic team will be kept flying until 2030. Aircraft avionics will be modernized on the CT-114 Tutors to comply with upcoming aviation regulations and the life of the aircraft extended for another 12 years"
- operating a CF-18 is 20 times more expensive and excludes several Canadian venues that have runways too short to accommodate jets
- "In 2008, the Canadian Forces examined options for replacing the Tutors in either 2015 or 2020. But officials decided on the 2020 date because of concerns about the cost of purchasing new planes."
 
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