Captain Logan Reid of the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds landed in Terrace on Tuesday and he鈥檚 excited the aerobatics team will be the feature attraction in this afternoon鈥檚 first Northwest Regional Airshow in two decades.
The Snowbirds are opening the show at the Northwest Regional Airport that starts this afternoon at 5 p.m. sharp.
Reid鈥檚 passion for aviation began as a boy in Victoria where he joined the air cadets. From there he went to military college, trained as a pilot and was selected to be an instructor pilot.
鈥淪o much of what we do requires in-depth experience in the cockpit all the time so we train all winter long and it takes us a good seven months to put the show together and train everyone up,鈥� Reid said.
鈥淲e start with very basic maneuvers until we get to the advanced maneuvers that your readers are going to get to see.鈥�
He鈥檚 been flying full-time with the Snowbirds team for four years. He said one of the big challenges as a pilot with the Snowbirds is flying close together with so many other airplanes that there鈥檚 鈥渧ery little room for air鈥� between them.
鈥淵our intention is always 100 per cent focused on the formation and maintaining what you call your box, which is a two-foot, by two-foot, by two-foot square volume of area that you鈥檙e allowed to stay in,鈥� Reid said.
鈥淎s soon as you leave that area you have to say something or let people know because that鈥檚 how close we are together.鈥�
Pilots learn to recognize what they call line of sight, seeing movement in the cockpit until they鈥檙e at the point where they鈥檙e looking at 30-foot misses between wing tips, which is very close especially at more than 1000 kilometres an hour speeds.
Reid is a part of the nine-plane formation and will also do solo crosses.
鈥淲e break apart and do lots of fantastic splits and we have two airplanes that fly head-on right at each other,鈥� Reid said.
鈥淲e try to make these crosses appear in the sky and my job is to make sure that those crosses happen right in front of the audience鈥檚 eyes so they can see it.鈥�
He said they鈥檒l be doing all sorts of aerobatics and came prepared with shows for all sorts of weather.
鈥淲e like to do loops and rolls and all that kind of stuff to music so you鈥檙e going to see nine aircraft fly very close together doing maneuvers right over top of your heads with some great tunes in the background.鈥�
In addition to the Snowbirds, the Canadian Armed Forces Skyhawks parachute team and the CF-18 demo team and two private aerobatic teams will also be performing.
Reid said it鈥檚 important to showcase the capabilities of armed forces so the public knows where their tax dollars are going.
鈥淲e represent the fine men and women of the Canadian forces from coast to coast, to coast and overseas on operation right now. We want to demonstrate that skill and professionalism that they鈥檙e doing world-wide right now,鈥� Reid said.
He said showcasing Canadian defence capabilities is especially important in the north amid heightened tensions with Russia.
鈥淥ur NORAD defence fighters are always making sure they鈥檙e defending our airspace and defending our skies. They鈥檙e doing a really good job and I鈥檓 sure that the Russians are keeping tabs on that as well.鈥�
This summer is Reid鈥檚 last with the Snowbirds as he鈥檚 on track to start training to fly the CF-18 Hornets.
Onlookers should try to arrive early at the airport so as to get situated and catch the whole act.
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michael.willcock@terracestandard.com
