Possible 2018 European Tour for the Snowbirds?

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Nighthawk117
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Possible 2018 European Tour for the Snowbirds?

Post by Nighthawk117 » Tue May 23, 2017 5:04 pm

In an article in a French-language newspaper about an air show to be held in 2018 in Mont-Joli, Quebec, the organizer of the event mentions that the Snowbirds will not be present because they will not be in North America.

It is still early, but this seems to be a good indication of a possible tour outside America ... The Mont-Joli show replaces the Rimouski show which took place on June 13 and 14, 2015.

Here is the link of the article, in French only: http://www.lavantage.qc.ca/actualites/2 ... haine.html
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Bingofuel
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Post by Bingofuel » Tue May 23, 2017 10:33 pm

From what I understand the Tutors don't have enough range to make it across the Atlantic. They'd have to replace both smoke containers underneath with fuel tanks, and I've heard even then it'd be almost impossible to pull off flight-endurance wise.

That being said it is the RAF 100th Anniversary next year so maybe they'll come up with something. Otherwise I'd say a Central/South American tour is much more likely.

They tried mid-air refueling a few years ago...but the technician kept falling off the wing
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yyz64
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Post by yyz64 » Tue May 23, 2017 11:20 pm

I'm sure they could ship them over like the Breitling team did when they came for the North American tour
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Dan Gagnon
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Post by Dan Gagnon » Wed May 24, 2017 4:38 am

I did the honours of using google translate in an attempt to translate the article in english.

https://translate.google.ca/translate?s ... t=&act=url

This would be big news on a number of levels,

1) The Snowbirds going away overseas would probably cost a lot of money and would mean the aircraft would have to be in tip-top shape, as any mechanical issues with the aircraft during the tour, could make it very difficult to continue shows.

2) Huge for the Snowbirds! Getting international attention and showing off for other countries would be fantastic for the team

3) Lots of Canadian or US shows would be impacted by such a tour. Major shows,could get away with finding another headliner (CF-18, F-22 etc), but any of the smaller shows that depend on the Snowbirds, could possibly suffer.

As for the team being able to get overseas, I can only assume they could use a C-17 to transport aircraft, parts etc. Judging by the article, it doesn't state what date the Mont-Joli show is. It will be interesting to see when the tour will take place, and how long.

I guess we need to keep our eyes and ears open for any further information!
Last edited by Dan Gagnon on Wed May 24, 2017 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Adam
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Post by Adam » Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:08 am

There's been a somewhat confusing development on this front. A week or two back, someone claiming to be an informed source posted on another forum site that the Snowbirds were going to be dismantled, boxed up and flown over to the UK for RIAT 2018. Unfortunately when the cost of the trip became clear, this plan was allegedly pulled in favour of sending the CF-18 Demo Team, which will apparently be painted in RAF100 colours. There certainly have been rumours originating from the CF-18 team that they'll be at RIAT 2018.

The Mont-Joli show is provisionally scheduled for Aug 25-26 2018 and as of two weeks ago, the organisers were still anticipating a Snowbirds no-show. That means this tour, if it is happening, will probably not involve RIAT, because RIAT is scheduled for July 13-15, and the Snowbirds are already confirmed to attend Abbotsford 2018 on Aug 10-12 according to ICAS. So if this tour is going to happen, it's presumably going to be in late August, after Abbotsford. The alternative, of course, is that there is no such tour and everybody just got confused over RIAT rumours.
Last edited by Adam on Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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yyz64
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Post by yyz64 » Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:44 am

Man why can't these European demo teams ever come to North America? Seems to me that these planes only fly in one direction. I am talking about the single ship demos not the acrobatic teams.
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