The Canadian Forces Snowbirds will make what is described as their last Grey Cup flyover in the CT-114 Tutor jets at McMahon Stadium on Sunday as the aircraft are scheduled to be retired.
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Nine Canadian Forces Snowbirds jets are scheduled to fly over McMahon Stadium on Sunday as part of an on-site show tied to the Grey Cup, described as a farewell for the team’s CT-114 Tutor aircraft.
The CFL’s championship game will be the last time the Snowbirds fly the Tutors for a scheduled public spectacle, according to Capt. Marc-André Plante, who flies as Snowbird 8.
Plante said the Grey Cup moment fits the scale of what the Snowbirds represent. "It is Canada's demonstration team. It's Canada's football league. It's like all these things just kind of make sense, when you look at it where we just celebrate Canada as a whole," he said.
The Snowbirds, based at 15 Wing Air Force base at Moose Jaw, Sask., have flown only the Tutor aircraft, performing roughly 2,700 times for more than 140 million people across North America over more than a half-century of service.
At the end of the year, the Tutors are to be retired and replaced by the CT-157 Siskin II, with the team expected to be temporarily grounded until the early 2030s, Plante said.
On Sunday, the jets are set to launch from Calgary International Airport and fly over the stadium as close to a minimum flight height of about 150 metres from the tallest point that the aircraft are flying over.
The sequence is planned so the flyover happens as celebrated Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan finishes her final note of O Canada, after which the jets will return to the airport, be tucked into a hangar, and then head to the stadium to watch the rest of the game.
Following the Grey Cup, Plante said the team will travel back to Saskatchewan on Monday.
He added that an additional hometown flyover could happen on the way back if there is sufficient gas. "Of course, as we're flying back to Moose Jaw, if we have sufficient gas, we'll probably do a little flyover of our hometown as we are coming in," Plante said.
Plante said the official retirement plan and aircraft future are outside the crew’s control, and he said the federal government’s May announcement has not changed his final months flying with the squad.
A Snowbirds enthusiast from Calgary, William Gilson, said he expects the flyover to be memorable and told of his extensive personal record of photographing the team. Gilson estimated he has taken about 10,000 to 15,000 photos and expected to add a few hundred more on Sunday.
Gilson said he first saw the Snowbirds perform at an airport in Abbotsford, B.C., in 1972 at age 11 and has attended shows yearly until recently.
He also said petitions have circulated to keep the Snowbirds flying and that one petition brought to the House of Commons included more than 2,000 signatures.
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