South Shore flying club takes to the skies after Snowbirds cancel visit

A flying club on Nova Scotia's South Shore took to the skies on Wednesday to perform an impromptu flyover after the Canadian Forces Snowbirds cancelled their Lunenburg visit.

"The club has its heart and home near Lunenburg soit was just something that felt right,"said Jeremy Dann, the president oftheBluenose Flying Club.

The Snowbirds cancelled their flybys for Halifax and Lunenburgafter"unforeseen circumstances"delayed their transit schedule.

Dannsaid the clubheard about the cancellation on Tuesday afternoon.

"We were really looking forward to seeing them but we were obviously disappointed," Dann said Thursday. "We understand, though, that they had some mechanical issues at their home base and it messed up the schedule."

The cancellation was still on Dann's mind when he attended the weekly barbecue put on by the club that evening.

"It became a discussion over hamburgers, actually, on the barbecue, that maybe we could do something to fill in," he said.

Flying club had to wing it

The next morning after numerous phone calls and discussions about safety six pilots with the club were preparing to perform their flyover.

Dann said the team met north of Mahone Bay to practise their formation only 20 minutes before heading towardLunenburg.

"All of us have done something like thisbefore, but certainly not like that, with that large a group soit was a little bit nerve-racking," he said.

Dann led the formation and the team did several loops of the Lunenburg area. On the last pass, the team dipped a bit lower and came up the harbour by the Bluenose, in honour of its 100th anniversary.

Despite their lack of practice, Dann said the flyover was successful and the team had a lot of fun.

"The Snowbirds are very accomplished.We're used to seeing their wonderful diamond formations in the air. I'd say we had a very loose diamond formation," he said with a laugh.

Dann said so far the response from the community has been positive. He's even received"wonderful feedback" from theLunenburg organizing committee.

"One of the committee members said it made her heart sing, so we feel really good about that," he said.

Dann said the club would be willing to doanother flyover,but next timewith more notice, planning and practice.

"We're all great fans [of the Snowbirds] and lifelong aviation fans," he said. "Some of us have been flying all our lives and it's just great to be part of all this."