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Fighter jets over Montréal

cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005
My apartment just got buzzed four times by CF-18s, close enough to rattle the walls. Is there an exercise going on? Something sports-related? Are we being invaded? The woman I spoke to at Westmount Public Security had no idea, but was trying to contact the military police. Aren't they supposed to announce this kind of thing in advance?

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6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

Air show, maybe?

That's usually when I notice it. Fortunately they are done with that stuff here - as in they didn't make enough money to do it this year. Playing the "Canada Remembers" angle has always seemed in bad taste to me.

 


cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005
I called the cops, my city councillor, my MNA's office, my MP's office, and finally I just called the Garrison itself. Nobody (among those who picked up on a Sunday afternoon) had any idea what was going on. The military police sergeant said he'd asked his colonel (I wasn't the first to call, clearly) and that there were no scheduled exercises for today. "Maybe it's a wing from another part of Canada? Nobody here knows." So if it's an air show, or a sports event, or something, nobody bothered to inform anybody local.

6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

The Snowbirds were in Quebec yesterday. That's about it, though I doubt they were that far off course. Harper doesn';t happen to be coming to town, does he? I think they did that not the last time but the time before when he came here, cause he's such an important guy and all.

http://www.milavia.net/airshows/calendar/showdates-2014-north_america-CA...

There was one nearby last week, though:

http://www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/events-directory/festival-special-eve...


cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005
Couillard met with Harper yesterday in Québec City, but I haven't heard anything about him coming to Montréal -- and apparently, neither has any public official or the local CFB.

kropotkin1951
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Joined: Jun 6 2002

6079_Smith_W wrote:

The Snowbirds were in Quebec yesterday.

They don't fly CF-18's.  The CF 18's were probably scrambled over the city to take part in training excercises simulating flights over Moscow.

Quote:

The distinctive roar of its turbojet engine announces that the celebrated CT-114 Tutor is passing overhead. As the aircraft flown by the Snowbirds—Canada’s famed Air Demonstration team—the nimble Tutor is a Canadian Air Force icon.

The Tutor was originally procured in the mid-1960s to train student pilots. It was replaced in 2000 by the CT-156 Harvard II and CT-155 Hawk. Today, the Tutor is flown primarily by 431 Squadron’s Snowbirds. However, it is also used in aircraft testing at the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) in Cold Lake, Alberta.

The Tutors flown by the Snowbirds are slightly modified from the training version. In addition to show features, the modified version has a more highly-tuned engine to enhance performance during low-level aerobatic flying.

The Snowbirds continue to thrill North American audiences with their close-formation flying and daring performances. True Canadian ambassadors, the Snowbirds share the high level of excellence, teamwork and dedication demonstrated by the women and men of the Canadian Forces.

http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/aircraft-current/ct-114.page


6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

No, I know (they are from Moose Jaw), but I figured there might have been something else going on. Plus, according to that calendar that is all there is.


cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005
It looks like it was for an Alouettes game -- which once again raises the question of why the base commander and city hall knew nothing about it. It's also the first time in my decade here that I've ever heard military aircraft deployed for a damn football game. The stadium is right next to the Royal Victoria Hospital; I wonder if they had any heart attacks.

Unionist
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Joined: Dec 11 2005
Beat me to the punch. It was part of the opening ceremonies at Molson Stadium. Assholes.

6079_Smith_W
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Joined: Jun 10 2010

I guess they are trying everything they can. First time I have ever heard two games called a "winning streak".

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/alouettes-ticats-seek-first-2-game...


Unionist
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Joined: Dec 11 2005

38-31 - Go Als! We really scared the crap out of them with those fighter jets!!!

BITE ME, ROC!!

 


cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005

For my fellow Montréalers, you can contact the DND's Public Inquiries office to file a formal complaint toll-free at 1-888-995-2534 or information@forces.gc.ca.

EDIT: And here's the contact info for the Alouettes.


Pondering
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Joined: Jun 14 2013

That was so weird. I was on the phone when they went over. The first sounded like it about to land on top of me. I was on the phone and my sister said she felt like ducking, it was so loud we couldn't hear each other. People all along my street came outside to look then after going back in another one flew over. 

What do military jets have to do with sports?


kropotkin1951
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Joined: Jun 6 2002

Unionist wrote:

38-31 - Go Als! We really scared the crap out of them with those fighter jets!!!

BITE ME, ROC!!

That is the new Canada. The fucking Winnipeg jets logo is not very subtle is it?

 

The military is everywhere even at picnics on Labour Day. 


jas
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Joined: Jun 6 2005

Pondering wrote:

What do military jets have to do with sports?

Almost everything. Arena sports are a way of 1) distracting, and 2) directing collective emotion to align with jingoistic and nationalistic (fake or real, doesn't matter) sentiments and agendas, especially military. It's largely a guy thing. And a disenfranchised guy thing.


bekayne
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Joined: Jan 23 2006

This thread brings back memories. Not actual ones, I was 3 at the time, out on the lawn, no memory of it at all.

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/science-technology/aviation/aviati...


montrealer58
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Joined: Jun 30 2014

As Canada is an enthusisatic military producer we should name one of the sports teams the Toronto Napalm.


cco
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Joined: Apr 25 2005

And it just happened again, twice, close enough that I thought the jet was about to crash into my building. No football games scheduled for today that I can find. This time I skipped straight to calling the Garrison, where the operator gave me a resounding "No idea!"

ETA: My bad, it was a football game once more.


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