Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
Every September, Torontonians are enthralled by the sounds and sights of jet aircraft overhead during the Canadian International Air Show. Hamish Grant will be documenting some of the airborne events for Torontoist.
Not only is the Canadian International Air Show a spectacular demonstration of piloting skills, it's also a lesson in aviation history. Many of the aircraft have been lovingly restored and refurbished, alluding to their heydays of technology, conflict, and design. Here, stunt planes and vintage fighters sit quietly at the City Centre (Billy Bishop?) Airport yesterday evening as they await this weekend's showcase.
Most striking is the P-51 Mustang fighter, flown by the three-pilot Horsemen Aerobatic Team. The P-51 was designed and airborne in only about four months to serve the United States and Royal Air Force as a fighter-bomber, helping to establish air superiority over Germany in World War II (the aircraft also flew in a limited basis during the Pacific War and Korean War). The Horsemen, who employ a Grim Reaper insignia, are the only P-51 aerobatic team in the world.
The modified Lucas Oil Pitts S-1-11b SS is being flown by Michael Wiskus, who experiences plus-eight and minus-seven gs of acceleration while maneuvering—a stress not only on the human pilot, but on the airframe itself.
The Royal Canadian Air Cadets are showcasing their Schweizer SGS 2-33 glider this weekend, which is the one of the most common training gliders in Canada and the United States. The plane's empty weight is only a mere 272 kilograms, with a wingspan of almost sixteen metres.
Pilot Rick Volker, a member of the Canadian Forces's Heritage Flight team, will be showcasing his daredevil skills in the WWII Supermarine Spitfire MK IX. The famous Spitfire debuted in 1936, dominating the airspace during the Battle of Britain. Volker's aircraft, which is owned by The Russell Group in Niagara Falls, was originally built in 1944 and restored to fly again after forty-four years in 2000.
Stunt pilot Mike Goulian was born into aviation, and was soloing in a Cessna 150 before he was able to drive a car. For the air show this weekend, he is flying his Extra 330 SC aerobatic plane, which has a steel tubing fuselage with a carbon fibre skin, built to withstand the extreme forces of snapping, rolling, and tumbling.
Matt Chapman is one of the highest-ranked aerobatic pilots in the United States. He is flying the Embry-Riddle Mudry CAP Eagle 580 stunt plane, which is only one of six flying today and which boasts a roll rate of four-hundred degrees per second.
All photos by Hamish Grant/Torontoist.
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It is simply annoying war porn.
Yeah, some of it is. And some of it is a show for people who have a genuine interest in aviation, or in daredevils. Have you seen the aerobatics? Comparing that to war porn is comparing figure skating to hockey.
as opposed to just annoying? Your opinion on CIAS has been noted on the previous posts. We get it. How about you list the public events you support so I can find ways to write my councillor opposing them? Jeez.
There is an argument however to separate CIAS from CNE - Labour Day weekend already saturates transit along the quays as it is. It was bedlam at Union Streetcar Platform on Sunday.
I live in a 19th floor apartment within site of the CNE and have been experiencing the "air show" for two days now. When the planes go by, my daughter cries and hides and the dishes rattle in the cupboard. This is not a case of being a NIMBY. I don't even have a backyard.
I'd love for us to return to the days when air shows took place at airports. Instead of densely populated downtown Toronto.
Setting aside the innumerable reasons why "the days" in 1948 were worse than those in 2009, Downsview is directly under the approach path for 24L/24R at Pearson. I'm sure you'd be just as peeved if you were stacked in a holding pattern, waiting to land on another runway while the show took place.
My guess is that anybody who loves the Airshow doesn't live directly underneath the flightpath. Yesterday a fighter jet came over so low, loud and fast that kids started screaming and running for cover.
This is totally unacceptable behaviour, both from the Airshow and the CNE. I have written to every single one of my elected representatives complaining about both the noise and the exposure to jet exhaust that the Airshow brings to local residents.
If you want to complain, here are the numbers:
CIAS OFFICES
INFO@cias.org
Tel: (416) 263-3650
Jasmin Guillen, Director CIAS
Tel: ask for transfer via the INFO number above
--------------------------------------------
CNE MANAGEMENT
David Bednar is the General Manager at the CNE -- his number is (416) 263-3840 and his email is: D.Bednar@TheEx.com
Patricia Chiasson is the Assistant to the GM and is more likely to be available on the phone:
pchiasson@theex.com, (416) 264-3841
------------------------------------------------------
POLITICIANS
Contact John Baird, Federal Minister of Transport
Telephone: 613-991-0700
E-mail: mintc@tc.gc.ca
Contact Parkdale City Counciller Gord Perks, Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo, and Parkdale-High Park MP Peggy Nash with your concerns.
Nash: peggy@peggynash.ca ; Tel: 416.769.5072
Fax: 416.769.8343
Perks: councillor_perks@toronto.ca ; Phone: 416-392-7919 Fax: 416-392-0398
DiNovo: dinovoc-co@ndp.on.ca ; Phone 416-763-5630 | Fax 416-763-5640
---------------------------------------
CIAS SPONSORS
The Ex, The Government of Ontario, Porter Airlines, The Toronto Blue Jays, Bennett Jones, Strathcona Hotel, more on the CIAS site. Let the sponsors know how you feel about their support for this event.
whoa, melodramatic much?
your guess is wrong.
While City Hall and concerned groups rabbits on about the environment and going green etc, they still permit the Air Show to spew pollutants over the crowd, over the lake and over the city.
Did I miss something?
4 articles on the Air Show in Torontoist in a week.
I live pretty close to the CNE grounds and I have to admit that I find the airshow to be pretty exciting (tho my cat doesn't) but regardless it boggles the mind that they are permitted to fly stunts over the city.
It's risky no matter what, but at least if the show were to only use a flight path that's parallel to the lakefront it would minimize the potential for disaster. They’ve fallen from the sky before, they’ll fall from the sky again. It’s only a matter of time.
They don't fly stunts over the city. The stunts occur over the lake at "show centre" which is 1000ft offshore, running between the Lakeshore Blvd stands and Ontario Place (see CIAS showline map). The piston-engined aircraft "show centre" is a little closer to the crowd than the jet aircraft "show centre".
The aircraft do fly over the city but it's not aerobatic or performance flying, they are generally orbiting waiting for their stage time, or circling back to show centre for the next "stunt".
Thanks for the link to the map.
Certainly most of the activity takes place off-shore, but just the same these planes are flying in tight formations over the city and are flying quite low in some instances, sometimes even setting off car alarms.
Call it what you will, but to me that looks like it's part of the show... if it wasn't then why not go farther out over the lake as they prepare for their next "stunt"?
It's about more than the pollution, noise or otherwise. The Indy is bad enough, having to endure the constant droning of the racing cars for days and their fumes, but at least there's no chance you'll end up with a car landing on your roof.
Likely this year's airshow will pass without incident, but a quick search shows that there have been four airshow accidents in 2009 alone, four in 2008 and seven in 2007, and the list goes on. I realize this is part of the excitement, the potential for disaster, but just take it out over the damn lake so that the only people at risk are the ones flying the planes.
Anyway, I'm off to my rooftop now to enjoy the show.
Formation flying might look like twitchy stuff to civil pilots but it is absolutely de rigeur and routine for military pilots; it wouldn't be considered "tricks" or stunt flying at all. It is what they do on a daily basis. Formations allow an element or flight to:
- better defend themselves through concentration of effort and firepower
- reduce their radar signature and possibly appear as a single object rather than a group
Even the larger transports use a variety of formation geometries for airdrops and so on. If you can't fly formation, you are not going to make it as a military pilot. It's not an "airshow only" sort of thing like tail slides, hammerhead turns and so on.
It may not count as tricky work for stunt pilots, but I did see some planes quite low down and close together during their "rehearsal" time on Thursday and Friday. An F-22 and an F-16 were snuggled up quite tightly during a low and slow pass over Dundas and Roncesvalles, for instance.
Going fast and doing tricks are the only things these planes are good for that's any fun, and the pollution they cause will probably be eclipsed by Tuesday's commuter traffic.
There's also something to be said for it as performance art — F-16s over Sunnyside give you a little taste of the full "oh shit, NATO," experience, even if they are painted up like shiny, die-cast toys.
Generally, around the world, is simply forbidden to fly that low above urban areas, except in war time, obviously.
Also, as noted in a previous post, there are a number of air show accidents every year. To me, this show is totally irresponsible and chaotic.
I have no problem with slow flying historical planes at appropriate heights or over the lake, but as many people have pointed out, the stunt jets should not be allowed to fly in close formations at roof top level. I believe that the CNE's air show has violated Transport Canada's air safety regulations. In short, such flying is not just irritating, but it is probably illegal. If the air show does not stop this kind of dangerous flying voluntarily, then perhaps it can be stopped next year with a court order?
Formation flying is what military pilots do, it is their bread and butter. It is a part of their job, like using e-mail or a web browser to you. It is emphatically not "stunt flying".
The air demo teams you see are merely putting to more spectacular use the skills ordinary air force pilots will use every day. Maintaining a tight formation is a mark of good airmanship. The difference being that the line pilots will not have smoke and won't be practicing things like the Maple Burst. But they will certainly be flying in 2,3 or 4-ship formations more often than not.
lol, "Toronto, the screw face capital".
While it may be very difficult for some people to enjoy the show, I am sure there is something everyone does that they enjoy it their life that other people don't understand. As someone who would love to have the chance to fly in a fighter jet but can't, I absolutely love the experience of attending the Canadian international air show.
There is something there for almost every aviation enthusiast, from gliders to fighter jets. If you attended the shows, you would have seen that they were quite well attended, including small children that were not bursting into tears or shaking under a table.
And while some people think the military jets (not stunt jets) are just "fighter porn", you are quite obviously missing the incredible recruiting value of an air show. While some people may not agree with every political decision OUR GOVERNMENT makes in where to send our military, there is no question that are current military is in need of all types of new recruits. So if you have some better idea for our military to attract the staff it needs, perhaps if you want to join up in place of the people the military cannot recruit without these events, then by all means put it forward.
If you explained to your children that they have nothing to fear, and maybe took them to the show or to the window to show them the jets that let us all live so freely here in Canada, maybe they would gain a healthy respect for these jets.
In all, it is a slight inconvenience that benefits many. People could complain about all of the charity rides and runs that shut down major roads in a big city like Toronto, or they could complain about the Honda Indy, or the Canadian International Air Show, or whatever else they don't personally like. OR as a city we could try to support all of the events that bring people and money into our city.
It is funny how in this country, really complicate arguments are born out of the dullest subjects. War porn must the most original reason for someone to be annoyed by an air show. I would have said noisy, expensive, dangerous, but war porn is simply the best!!! If you like fighting about nothing, I strongly invite you to assist to this competitive improv show that mimicks the wrestling competition or the show of Jerry Springer (www.ultimateimprov.ca). Two teams battle to be the audience favourite watched by a crooked referee. It doesn't make any more sense but at least it is funny!
Having looked up Transport Canada's website, there is little doubt that the air violated numerous regulations. These include:
"602.01 No person shall operate an aircraft in such a reckless or negligent manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger the life or property of any person."
"602.21 No person shall operate an aircraft in such proximity to another aircraft as to create a risk of collision."
"602.24 No person shall operate an aircraft in formation with other aircraft ..."
"602.27 No person operating an aircraft shall conduct aerobatic manoeuvres (a) over a built-up area or an open-air assembly of persons."
The argument that close formation flying is a routine part of military training and hence should be allowed over densely populated areas does not hold water. We don't let heavy artillery practice in the middle of cities, nor do we let Indy drivers race through residential neighborhoods even though they too are trained professionals.
It seems indisputable that the Blue Angels recklessly endangered Torontonians with their low level formation flying over the city. (All it takes is one bird in an engine and a plane goes down.) And it seems clear that they broke federal aviation law. It's time for the flyboys to be reined in. They are not above the law.
I love the dishonesty of this post. Let's expand upon the ... in 602.24
"...except by pre-arrangement between
(a) the pilots-in-command of the aircraft; or
(b) where the flight is conducted within a control zone, the pilots-in-command and the appropriate air traffic control unit."
Are you assuming the snowbirds and blue angels didn't pre-arrange their formation flying with Toronto City Centre (the air traffic control unit) and themselves?
As for 602.27, you just don't understand what aerobatics are. The airplanes are only allowed to do aerobatics in the aerobatic box, over the water. Airplanes are allowed to fly over people, so if they need to do a simple turn in order to come back, they can do that. They are allowed to do formation flight over people. Aerobatics are different.
Also, just so you know - most if not all of these rules can be waived at the discretion of the Minister of Transportation... and air shows get a waiver of certain Canadian Aviation Regulations for the period of the show. In order to do this, they must submit the information on each pilot in the show.
So no, no rules were broken. Air shows happen all the time, they are well coordinated and very safe.
Just to follow along the 'in command of the aircraft' part - here's a liveleak video of what it's like to be a passenger in one of the Blue Angels when they're flying their routines... You can forgive the passenger for a few 'ya-hoos' given the circumstances.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=610_1244577346
It's pretty obvious the level of control the pilots have over their aircraft - I would trust them much more than I would the recreational flyers who buzz over Parkdale on short final to City Centre airport.