Centennial Wings over the Capital      February 21, 2009

Photography and report by Andrew Cline

  On Saturday, February 21st, the first commemorative flying event to celebrate the Canadian Centennial of Flight took place over Ottawa. It occurred during the third and final weekend of Winterlude, the National Capital Region’s winter carnival held on the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest skating rink. The thousands of skaters on the canal represented the largest number of people outdoors in the Ottawa area on a winter day. 29 aircraft flew one after the other over the Canal on the cold, crystal clear winter afternoon.
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  Organized by Michel Cote and the Flightworks team, the idea caught the spirit of the Centennial with the pilots involved, who supplied their aircraft and fuel entirely at their own expense. Private aircraft came in from as far away as Toronto and Montreal, and covered a wide range of types, from homebuilts to airliners.

 

  The aerial parade was opened by a Snowbirds CT-114 Tutor which was closely followed by the Vintage Wings of Canada Mustang Mk.IV. The numerous general aviation and vintage aircraft followed in three main batches. A 2006 Socata TBM-700C2 and a 1972 Cessna 421 were the first. The second wave was larger with the following: 1977 Piper PA-32R-300 Lance, 2008 Van’s RV-7A, 2006 Cessna 182, 2005 Diamond DA40 Diamondstar, 1948 Ryan Navion, 1947 14-13-2 Bellanca Cruisair (C-FGGX), 1974 Beech BE-24 Sierra, and two Globe GC-18 Swifts. The third wave included a 1978 Davis DA-2, a 1995 Diamond DA-20 Katana, a 1947 Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, a 1959 Piper PA-22-20, a 1947 Cessna 140, an upgraded Sea Bee called a 2007 Robinson Special, an 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champ, a 1976 Taylorcraft F-19, and two Antonov AN-2s.
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  Several Canadian Centennial of Flight major sponsors supplied the jet aircraft for the event: the Canadian Forces, NAVCAN and Bombardier. The larger aircraft finished up the event, with three aircraft from the Bombardier Challenger family. These were a brand new Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700 fresh off the Mirabel assembly line for United Airlines, a NAVCAN CRJ-200 Instrument Landing System calibration aircraft, and a CC-144C Challenger 604 from 412 Squadron at Ottawa. The climax of the aerial parade was several passes by a 3-ship of Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornets, led by the Centennial Hornet which is the 2009 CF-18 demo aircraft flown by Captain Tim ‘Donor" Woods. The CF-18 showbird broke off and did a solo pass to close it’s inaugural public appearance. The Centennial Hornet’s fetching colour scheme was designed and executed by Jim Belliveau at Cold Lake. It painted to match the Vintage Wings ‘Hawk One’ Sabre and Snowbirds Golden Centennaire Tutor which it will perform with across the country at airshows this year. Centennial Wings over the Capital provided an interesting showcase of Canadian aircraft to launch a memorable year of festivities.