A squadron of aircraft are flying over the City of Kelowna in solidarity with the Canadian Air Forces, and Captain Jennifer Casey, the pilot killed during a Canadian Snowbirds flight that crashed into a Kamloops neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.
"The pilot is a very small community," explained participant Ariel Tyk. "We feel that it's something that we'd like to do to honour the snowbirds. They went out there trying to support all Canadians and the disaster happened so I think it's something that our community feels it's something we'd like to honour Captain Jenn."
The group of about 12 airplanes and two helicopters plan to take off from the Kelowna International Airport runway at 1:45 pm and spend about half an hour flying over Kelowna in solidarity with the Snowbirds, and to honour essential workers — which was the focus of Operation INSPIRATION, a cross-Canada tour led by the Snowbirds.
As of now, the pilots are going to depart from the Kelowna Airport, fly to the shore of Okanagan Lake, over downtown, along Hwy 97, and make a low pass over the airport runway before landing.
Tyk says he has a plane pilot's license, but will most likely be flying with a fellow Kelowna Flying Club member in a helicopter. Although some fliers are apart of the Club, this isn't a sanctioned event.
"What we're trying to do is showing solidarity to the pilot and the Air Forces, and try to finish something that they [weren't able to], and that's where this idea came up is because they were supposed to be here flying yesterday and they couldn't make it due to the weather," Tyk said.
The pilots are scheduled to meet at the airport at noon to go over their planes, then check in for a briefing at 1 pm before their departure.
Similar solidarity flights have been planned across Canada. The BC General Aviation Association, or BCGAA, announced Operation Backup Inspiration to honour the Canadian Snowbirds, Canadian military forces and essential workers with 35 airplanes departing Abbotsford and flying across the Lower Mainland.
"The Canadian Snowbirds are the truest form of Canadian Pride. Yesterday they suffered an unimaginable loss during their mission Operation Inspiration Torch and lost a team member in a tragic accident," the BCGAA said in a statement. "As an aviation community and Canadian family let's pick up where the Snowbirds left off in honour of Captain Jenn Casey in their mission to fly over Canada to lift the spirits of Canadians."
The BCGAA estimates the fleet will be long enough to last 14 minutes over a given location, asking residents to "please join us in observing a moment of silence as the group flies over."
In Nova Scotia, the home of Capt. Jennifer Casey, a pilot is has drawn the shape of a heart in the air, according to Global News.
You can watch the flight over Kelowna from home on the Landmark 6 cam here.
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