2024 Abbotsford International Airshow

[Strat45]

Sure people are technically correct that it's not organizer's fault, but ultimately they are selling a product that is in all honesty subpar. Maybe I've been spoiled by shows from the past, but CF18 demos aren't getting me in a car and renting a hotel room. The show simply does not have a wow factor, it has a couple of wow moments, but too diluted by frankly boring civilian, drone shows and long delays for the WestJet flight from Kelowna.

People in charge need to lobby harder, plan further ahead or whatever is necessary to get world class performers because it's losing its lustre.

[JA Boomer]

Abbotsford International Airforce.

Seriously is no one at the airshow spell or grammar checking their emails??

That right there is a microcosm of what we've being discussing on here, and why I think it's fair to ask questions about the effectiveness of the organizers.

[AirshowHawk]

C-17/CC-130 for a cargo component...are there any DC-3s nearby that could be added to the display?

I like the idea of that.. the RCAF cargo component has some other newer options that could be readily available. But I'm just dreaming at this point.

[AirshowHawk]

Abbotsford International Airforce.

Seriously is no one at the airshow spell or grammar checking their emails??

If I had the time, I would personally offer to volunteer to prevent stuff like that from happening. I'm assuming a 3rd party does the marketing for them. It would be a lot more beneficial for the show if they had people who were passionate about the show take on roles in this aspect. I'm sure logistics-wise it's a lot easier to get a 3rd party marketing agency to assist or even random volunteers but that doesn't mean they will attract the right audiences and unless they have aviation or air show industry "experts", it's hard to effectively target the right demographic. Social media is now the modern trend, it should be kept as up-to-date as possible.

Also, cancellations happen every year regardless of if things are officially confirmed by May or in late July. Maybe a tentative list of anticipated flying and static aircraft would be nice to see from the organizers, specifically for Airshow Insiders with a definition of what "tentative" means so someone isn't upset if the Space Shuttle doesn't show up on arrival day. Back in the day, you could find out what RCAF assets were requested for all airshows and events in Canada and whether they were confirmed or not through the RCAF website well before the air show announced them.

[JA Boomer]

Here's a throwback from the internet archive. This is the Abbotsford Airshow website from 20 years ago in 2004.

Great find. Brings back fond memories of when I did the Airshow website (note the inclusion of bases the aircraft were from )

Chris, when did you stop doing the website?

[cf18hornet]

Take for example the reason we do not see the infamous Wall of Fire. If the organizers wanted pyro every year they certainly would have it but because of wildfire trends that is no longer feasible. The Airshow instead works around these restrictions with the drone show.

While the last few years being so hot and dry would have definitely put the “wall of fire” on the shelf permanently this isn’t the actual reason why it was originally stopped. The real reason why the “pyrotechnics” part of the show ended six or seven years ago was because of the Canadian government. They changed the law in the way pyrotechnics could be stored. Before the airshow was able to store all the pyro on-site for the entire weekend but several years ago the laws changed. The new laws prevented it from being stored onsite over the weekend and so it would have to be brought in daily. The closest federally approved storage facility is in Ashcroft which means the airshow would have to drive 6.5 hours roundtrip each day to bring in the pyro for that days show.

[Chris Smallenberg]

Chris, when did you stop doing the website?

Good question! I had to go back into my archive emails to find out. 2015 was my last year. I stopped volunteering when I was asked to do things outside of what I signed up for (like answering phones during the Airshow).

[JA Boomer]

Chris, when did you stop doing the website?

Good question! I had to go back into my archive emails to find out. 2015 was my last year. I stopped volunteering when I was asked to do things outside of what I signed up for (like answering phones during the Airshow).

Ha! Story checks out. The airshow website was so bad in 2016 that I contacted the organizers and volunteered to help, but they asked if I'd like to park cars instead.

[JA Boomer]

Here's a throwback

Here's another throwback, the schedule of events from 1997:

Screenshot_20240407-194922_Gallery.jpg (262.55 KiB) Viewed 442 times

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