just a thought - those fly boys and planes represent many who fought for our freedoms in all kinds of planes and it's a way for them to remind us of that with their incredible talent flying those machines. I am anti-war but appreciate their efforts. Those planes and pilots should be used as starting points for discussions about war and peace with our children.
Other military groups march in parades/have re-enactments of battles or have their events on the water in their ships...the flyboys do their thing in the air.
For 3 hours each day for 3 days they make noise over the lake and part of the city. The flight path from Pearson airport has hundreds more planes flying over the city per day and the airport has it's runways all accessible over highly populated areas.
The Snowbirds come here to whitby the day after the airshow is over and do their fly past a few blocks from my house. They fly over a public school named after a whitby boy who was a Snowbird pilot but died in 1998 during a training session. They did it this past Tuesday again in respect of their comrade. When it happened it broke the town's heart. I, once again stood on my deck and watched them fly low over my house, the rumbles of their engines resonating to the core of my being, reminding me of their power and speed, that they and other planes in the air show are essentially war machines but being used in this country where peace and freedom live, to remind us of that fact. They remind me of how quickly life is lost in war and training for war and that I respect and admire them for their dedication.
There have been complaints in the past about the noise, cows and horses in farmers fields were spooked for example. Well for the few seconds that they fly over 2 or 3 times and what they represent and are doing I think we can take a moment to say thankyou. The children at Michael van den Bos school have learned about sacrifice, dedication and love of country from a young man who selflessly (and possibly needlessly according to some) did something in his life that he loved. My heart breaks for his family but theirs is full of pride. Our young people are dying in conflicts around the world - this is not going to change any time soon.
The militarism of the past is why we have the freedoms of today, it's not a perfect world and war still exists. We can still marvel at the possibility of the future but we must never forget or deny the past.
http://www.durhamregion.com/news/edu...article/161325 - the video shows how low they are over the public school-which is about 2 miles from me. The other video at the link is them flying over the University/College where my daughter goes to school.
As Joe Fiorito says - we have the right to our opinions because of those who served our countries in conflicts of the past. There are many times I eel as he does about the air show-especially when one of the planes crashes and a life is lost. But those who partake in them know the risks. As far as accidents happening over the city, that has never happened..all risky aerial stunts are done out over the lake. Because of wind conditions last Saturday the air show was cancelled. They take every precaution for safety. I am more afraid when I hear a plane take off from the Oshawa airport not far from me and the young students are learning how to be pilots. They fly over our towns of sever hundred thousand people on their approaches to the airport and take-offs and I have, more than once been frightened by how low they are. They are not jets but prop planes. My sister-in-law lost her father-in-law in a small plane he was piloting that crashed not far from here, luckily for those on the ground it was in a farmers field.
Some argue that many new citizens of Toronto have come from war-torn countries and the jets/fighter planes are traumatizing for them. I am sorry for this. We all have trauma triggers and we learn to deal with them...they are here in a peaceful country that they chose to come to. Not all of this new world will please them but they are free and alive and learning about things as they are in this new world. And that new world, for the time being includes an air show that for the most part is viewed as 'entertainment' for many people. Planes and pilots like those in the air show are or were fighting for freedoms in countries like theirs that had none, only conflict and strife and fear. That is why they live here now.
It's one way to remember the past, honour it and see those planes in another way - not just as machines of war.
just saying...