Remembrance Day Flypast

[AIRIC]

Today I was able to fly in a Remembrance Day flypast over Toronto with the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association for a missing man formation over Toronto’s City Hall and Sunnybrook Veteran’s Hospital.

It was a moving experience and after just loosing a friend who was a WWII veteran it made the flight that much more important.

A sunny arrival over Toronto but clouds would ruin the lighting for the flight

Ready to roll down Toronto City Centre’s Runway 08

Echelon left

Turning into the City for the run into centre stage

With smoke on Harvard 3 pulls up and out to perform a missing man formation

Harvard 3 back into the slot position for a few passes over Sunnybrook Veteran’s Hospital

Smoke on

More photos from the flight http://www.airic.ca/html/rem2007.html

A tribute to my friend who recently passed away. The last time I flew this flight was with him back in 2003
http://www.airic.ca/html/stanmiller.html

Remember our past

Eric

 

[AIRIC]

Some aerial images from the flight

Pickering Nuclear Power plant

Cheers,

Eric

 

[Antarctican]

Wooooooot!!!! Awesome shots, Airic! All the more so given how overcast it was. In the first set, I especially like the first one (with the skyline), and the fourth one (with the 3 other planes offset). Wow, from some of them, you can see how close to the ground you got! (And I saw your formation from the ground as you did the flypast over City Hall). In the second set, I'm loving the skyline shots, and the trains. I think it's just soooo cool that you got to be in the flypast!!!

 

[Renair]

Amazing work!

 

[nossie]

I like the last one lots. Technically the look hazy/misty so I think messing about with the levels will clear that up.

 

[TCimages]

this is very nice work. How in the world did you manage to get such a deep DOF? A few of those the background looks to be a mile away from the plane. Great stuff!

 

[Chris of Arabia]

I want to know who was doing the steering whilst you were taking pictures....

 

[AIRIC]

Wooooooot!!!! Awesome shots, Airic! All the more so given how overcast it was. In the first set, I especially like the first one (with the skyline), and the fourth one (with the 3 other planes offset). Wow, from some of them, you can see how close to the ground you got! (And I saw your formation from the ground as you did the flypast over City Hall). In the second set, I'm loving the skyline shots, and the trains. I think it's just soooo cool that you got to be in the flypast!!!

Thanks Jeanne. At Sunnybrook we were able to fly lower then over the city. It sure is a blast being low over a built up area but scary at the same time as there is no place to land if you have a problem. I keep an eye out for potential landing spots as the pilot can only look at his wingman and sees very little of anything else.

Eric

 

[AIRIC]

I like the last one lots. Technically the look hazy/misty so I think messing about with the levels will clear that up.

You should have seen how hazy it was. I have pushed the curves as much as I care to.

Eric

 

[AIRIC]

I want to know who was doing the steering whilst you were taking pictures....

The pilot If you look at the other aircraft there is a pilot in the front and back of the aircraft. The Harvard is a trainer and has controls for both of the positions.

For photography I slide the rear canopy forward so I don’t have to shoot through the glass. Lots of noise and wind but in the Harvard there is a few sweet spots where you can get out of the wind and drop the shutter speed.

Eric

 

[Chris of Arabia]

The pilot

Eric

That's good. I had visions of you with the stick jammed between your knees or something whilst you were leaning out of the window.

I'm still trying to work out which of the buildings on the lake front is the Raddisson. My wife and I stayed there about 3 years back and it has some very pleasant memories for me.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Actually, I think I just picked it out - much smaller than I remember

 

[nossie]

You should have seen how hazy it was. I have pushed the curves as much as I care to.

Eric

Oh! I thought it was the glass.

 

[Antarctican]

Chris - The Radisson-Admiral is south of the Skydome (now called the Rogers' Centre), so in the first pic look for the green-roofed building on the far left of the picture, on the waterfront. That's the marine police, and behind that (on the street side) is the Radisson-Admiral (so from this angle, it looks 'to the right' of the marine police building). It's only 3 or 4 stories high, so it's hard to see unless you know where to look. A closer shot is the fourth one in Airic's second series. It's a nice spot (and right next door to it is the kayak rental place).

 

[Chris of Arabia]

That was the one I picked out eventually, it looks rather small here. Things seem so much larger in the memory - like childhood Mars bars