If you were downtown Ottawa or around Petrie Island on Wednesday afternoon, you may have thought Ottawa was the target of an airborne invasion. Not true however. What was happening is that the RCAF was doing a practice run of the Canada Day Flypast on Parliament Hill.
To see pictures of the take-offs and landings from the practice, CLICK HERE:
This year, in conjunction with the RCAF Centennial, the flypast will be much bigger in that the RCAF has got at least one of every type of aircraft set to do the flypast on Canada Day at about 1220 hours. In total, there should be about 45 airplanes with everything from WWII planes (courtesy of Vintage Wings of Canada and the Michael Potter Collection), current aircraft in the RCAF inventory, and even a couple of newer aircraft that are coming to the RCAF (new trainers such as the Pilatus PC-21 and the Grob G120A). Aircraft will launch from multiple bases such as Petawawa, Trenton, and the Gatineau Executive Airport, form up east of Petrie Island, and then head in to town.
The air route will use Petrie Island as its initial point to head up the Ottawa River and fly east to west over Parliament Hill and then Lebreton Flats. I believe they’ll be at about 3,000 feet over Petrie Island and then lowering to about 1,600 feet by the time the hit the Hill. So, the best places to watch this once-in-a-lifetime train of aircraft is Parliament Hill and Lebreton Flats OR, if you live at the east end, Petrie Island, which should be less congested and have better parking. The show should start between 1215 and 1230 and last about 20 minutes.
