Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour 2017

Discussion relating to 2017 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
Post Reply
User avatar
RyanS
Posts: 2886
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour 2017

Post by RyanS » Mon May 08, 2017 1:40 am

I wanted to pass along some info on this really neat idea. A group has come together to bring airshows to many remote areas of the Canadian arctic, which don't typically get to enjoy them. Here is the press release:
The Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour, one of the most ambitious Canada 150 projects, will take off – literally – June 2, 2017, performing 97 air shows over 11 weeks travelling 31,000 kilometres across Canada’s Arctic.

#ArcticTour150 was founded on a desire to extend Canada 150 celebrations North of 60, giving every Canadian the opportunity to participate from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

“Each one of us who created this project carries a love for aviation,” says Executive Director Nancy McClure from her home in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. “As the railway opened the country from east to west, aviation opened the north. So what better way to celebrate Canada’s milestone year up north, than with aviation?”

Ken Fowler, a veteran air show pilot, and Tour co-founder, will lead the group of 15 core performers throughout the tour. Not every show will be the same, ranging from flybys to major shows, with varying number of performers in each location.

While attempting to set the world record for the longest series of air shows North of 60, these performers will have to brave a list of challenges, including unpredictable weather, unforgiving terrain, gravel air strips, and limited access to fuel, smoke oil and spare parts, to name a few.

“Flying up north requires particular pilot skills as we’ll be flying in some of the most remote regions of the world,” adds Fowler when discussing the challenges. “On the bright side, there’s 24-hour daylight.”

In addition to the air show Tour, there is a very large educational component that will reach students, both teaching them about aviation and inspiring them to reach for their goals. Partnerships have been formed with social activism organization WE, the air show industry’s Ryan Poe Foundation, the Literacy Legacy Project, and renowned Métis speaker, author and educator David Bouchard.

“To bring this tour to the North and not take advantage the opportunity it provides to educate and inspire would be a loss,” McClure adds with passion. “This project speaks to everything that should be important to all of us: culture, education, social justice, heritage and national pride.”

Quick facts:
• The Tour is Carbonzero Certified. (for more info, visit www.carbonzero.ca)
• The Tour will perform in Alert, Nunavut, the world’s most northern permanently inhabited point.
• On July 1, the Tour will perform in Baker Lake, the geographic centre of Canada.
• A landmark television documentary “Arctic Aviators” is being created by Great Pacific Television.

For those who wish to support the Canadian Arctic Aviation tour, a fundraising page has been set up whereby a $25 donation buys a kilometre in their name.
For more info, check out http://www.caat2017.com/
Tour team with map-1.jpg
Tour team with map-1.jpg (540.35 KiB) Viewed 9169 times
0 x
Ryan Sundheimer
www.AirshowStuff.com

User avatar
smutny
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:23 pm
Location: Auburn, WA
Contact:

Post by smutny » Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:02 pm

Just got back from air bossing the Watson Lake and Whitehorse shows, stops #2 and #3 on the Tour. This endeavor is going to have a big impact on the people of the North, aviation is a powerful thing.

The CAAT Facebook page has some great pictures from those two shows, the Ft Laird show (#1) and some of the fly bys in-between.

https://www.facebook.com/arctictour150/

Follow along!
0 x
John Smutny
Air Boss One
www.airbossone.com

Life is not a journey to the grave intending of arriving safely in a well preserved body but rather to skid in broadside used up worn out and loudly proclaiming; Damn, what a ride!

User avatar
RyanS
Posts: 2886
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Post by RyanS » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:22 am

smutny wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2017 7:02 pm Just got back from air bossing the Watson Lake and Whitehorse shows, stops #2 and #3 on the Tour. This endeavor is going to have a big impact on the people of the North, aviation is a powerful thing.

The CAAT Facebook page has some great pictures from those two shows, the Ft Laird show (#1) and some of the fly bys in-between.

https://www.facebook.com/arctictour150/

Follow along!
Excellent! I'd been hoping to keep up with it a bit more and share some photos as they go up, but it's a little much for me right now. If anyone would like to keep us updated, feel free!
0 x
Ryan Sundheimer
www.AirshowStuff.com

User avatar
RyanS
Posts: 2886
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Post by RyanS » Thu Jun 29, 2017 2:20 pm

Passing along an update:
The Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour performed air show #60 yesterday in Churchill, Manitoba, the polar bear capital of Canada! (and yes, they've been seeing lots of polar bears as they fly above the North).

This Saturday, to celebrate 150 years of Canadian Confederation, #ArcticTour150 will be performing in Baker Lake, Nunavut, the geographic centre of Canada!

The town is going all out with a cultural music/arts festival and BBQ!

The photos and stories coming out of the Tour are INCREDIBLE, and the traveling tour members would love southerners to know more about the positive impact they are having. They keep hearing how ENTIRE TOWNS are coming out to see them, an so much more.
Attachments
image008.png
image008.png (240.9 KiB) Viewed 9020 times
0 x
Ryan Sundheimer
www.AirshowStuff.com

User avatar
RyanS
Posts: 2886
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 4:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Post by RyanS » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:49 am

Sadly the tour has run into some financial trouble, apparently stemming from a delay in government funding. This e-mail is a few days old but I wanted to pass it along:
Dear friends and supporters of the Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour,

As some may have heard, the Arctic Tour is currently on hold due to financial constraints. The show was postponed after air show #63 in Yellowknife on July 9 and everyone involved returned home. The executive team has full intention of completing the Tour as soon as government funding arrives. To date, the Tour has been funded by personal means, which has maxed out, with the intent of reimbursement by the grant money.

CBC North picked up the story yesterday, and an article can be seen here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/can ... -1.4204561

CBC North TV also ran with the story on last night's newscast: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/996547139634 (Nancy drove into Edmonton to do the interview via satellite to Yellowknife)

Here's a very positive article from yesterday's Hay River Hub speaking about last weekend's two air shows in Hay River and Yellowknife: http://www.hayriverhub.com/2017/07/air- ... ws-public/

And moments ago, Skies Magazine published the following: https://www.skiesmag.com/news/arctic-av ... ep-flying/

Our ask of you (if you feel comfortable):

To use social media to spread support for the Tour. We'd love this support to come from "members of the public" and not just members of the Tour. Our biggest point of contact is Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous & Northern Affairs, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. If you are able to post to them (and others listed below), asking them to support/enable/help the Tour continue, that would be great.

A few Twitter hashtags for your consideration:
@Carolyn_Bennett
@Min_INAC (Ministry of Indigenous & Northern Affairs)
@JustinTrudeau
@Canada150th (or #Canada150)
@CBCNorth
@GOVofNunavut (the remainder of the Tour will include a number of stops in Nunavut)
@CBCNL (CBC Newfoundland -- the eastern swing of the Tour that is yet to happen)
@NLtweets (Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism)

And on Facebook, the following all have pages:
- Carolyn Bennett
- Justin; j Trudeau
- The Liberal Party of Canada
- The Conservative Party of Canada
- Canada 150

The Tour's tags: either @ArcticTour150 or #ArcticTour150.

And here's our link to our fundraising page: www.crowdrise.com/ArcticTour150

This Tour has so many layers -- it's WAY MORE than planes in the air. It speaks to culture, heritage, education, social justice and national pride. For anyone who's been following our Facebook page, the stories coming out of this journey are beyond incredible. The Tour was created as a Canada 150 project to bring celebrations North of 60 and help connect north and south. And that is exactly what it is doing.
0 x
Ryan Sundheimer
www.AirshowStuff.com

Post Reply

Return to “2017 Airshows/Fly-Ins/Exercises/Events - Discussion and Photos”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests