Holy crap. The Snowbirds[wiki] just buzzed my apartment building.
I heard something loud, and a lot like a jet. When the sound seemed like it was increasing to no end, I jumped to the window in time to see not one, but a formation of eight planes streaking across the sky.
They came back for another pass, starting out by coming over Stanley Park, into Coal Harbor, circling around the downtown core, and heading back towards English Bay. Then they peaked back into the West End for a moment before heading back out into Kits.
This is the best I could do for grabbing a good photo of it since Rebecca has my camera for the night. She is heading to Seattle to catch Real Madrid take on D.C. United and took the minidisc in hopes of capturing some good audio for the podcast as well. I’d go, but crossing the border right now wouldn’t help my immigration status very much.
Not bad for a cellphone and a bit of editing, and I heard people swearing from somewhere when the jets passed over. This is after we had a chopper circling the Empire Landmark[wiki] with a camera bubble stuck on its nose last week. That was a good hour or so of annoyance, but it doesn’t happen very often.
My experience with the mighty Snow Birds….
I was working SOF (Supervisor of Flying) at my base in Little Rock Air Force Base back in the mid-90s. The SOF is the Shell Answer Man when things go wrong–schedule changes, weather diverts, aircraft emergenices. We had half the runway shutdown for resurfacing with a barricade of sandbags and flashing lights at mid-field.
The Snow Birds transited the field for a “gas-n-go” on their way south for an airshow in Florida. One of the Snow Birds apparently missed the notice in their paperwork discussing the runway condition and didn’t see the sign with flashing lights. He coasted through the barricade and ripped his gear doors on the sandbag barriers. No injuries…just embarassment and bent metal.
My SOF phone rang in the Command Post and tower controller gave the the news. My response?
“Ah geez…beauty, eh?”
Yeah, and I forgot to add that the Abbotsford Air Show is going on this weekend, hence why they’re in town.