Flying high at Villeneuve

Andrew Moschuk has big plans for this weekend.

He's having a party at the Villeneuve Airport, and some 20,000 people are invited.

“Right where we are right now (will be) the corporate hosting suites,” he says, standing in the parking lot next to the air traffic control tower.

“This whole area here is all general admission,” he says, indicating the large field just west of the tower.

Scores of historic aircraft, including a P-51B Mustang fighter that shot down 18 enemy planes in the Second World War, will line the runway just west of the field. Bouncy castles, a dozen food trucks, and a giant motocross stunt course will be to the west and the south.

Up in the skies to the north will be stunt pilots such as Villeneuve Airport's own Bill Carter, there to fly in the first airshow held in the Edmonton region in 13 years.

Carter has 49 years of flying and 26 years of stunt piloting under his cap, and has spent the last few months practising his stunt show in preparation for this weekend, going up in his navy blue Pitts Special biplane two to three times a week.

Flying with him during this weekend's two-hour aeronautical spectacular will be the Watson brothers and their twin yellow Harvards, former Snowbird pilot Brent Handy, and Carol Pilon, Canada's only professional wing walker.

“This is going to be a really good airshow, absolutely, no question,” Carter says.

Behind the tarmac

Moschuk, a marketing specialist with Focus Communications, is one of the many people behind this weekend's aerial spectacle. It's his job to co-ordinate the logistics of the show, which has meant finding – among other items – about 1,500 feet of fencing, 11,400 litres of aviation fuel, and some 18,000 bottles of water.

“I'm excited to have it all come together.”

Dean Heuman of the non-profit group RWE Events is producing the show.

“We do have a huge aviation history here in Edmonton. That's how we got named as the gateway to the north,” Heuman says.

The Alberta Aviation Museum has wanted to run an airshow for many years to celebrate that history, but hasn't had an airport around that could host one, he says. The Edmonton International hosted an airshow in 2002, but it has too much traffic to safely run one today. Recent upgrades at Villeneuve made it ideal for a show, so the museum asked his group to run one.

Heuman sees this year's show as more of a test run, which is why they've capped attendance at 10,000 per day. He's not counting on a sell-out, but noted that they'd already sold 9,000 tickets as of Aug. 12.

Preparing for take-off

This show has been the work of about 250 people, including the 120-some volunteers that will be at the airport this weekend to help run the event, Heuman says.

Eldon Gjesdal is one of those volunteers. He's hosting about six of the show planes in his hangar at the airport, and has previously helped run airshows in Wisconsin.

“There's a lot of work that goes into it,” he says.

Heuman says his team worked closely with Sturgeon County, Edmonton airport, fire, police, federal and provincial authorities to create a complete plan for the show, one that mapped out everything from sight lines to the placement of toilets.

This includes a plan to deal with some 10,000 people coming to a place with a population 1/74th that size.

“Moving 10,000 people out of anywhere isn't easy,” Moschuk says, which is why they're opening the gates three hours before show time. He encourages guests to arrive early.

Guests should see signs going up along all four recommended routes to the airshow later this week, as well as an official advisory from Alberta Transportation for cyclists and heavy trucks to avoid Villeneuve this weekend.

On site, about 20 volunteers will direct cars into a large field just east of the airport's entry road to park, he continues. The field has room enough for 7,000 cars, and will be set up so that up to 10 cars can park simultaneously. RCMP and county peace officers will also be on hand to keep traffic flowing.

Guests can take in the historic plane displays and a motorcycle stunt-show by rider Keith Sayers while they wait for the show to start. The Trout Farm Flyers will also be by later to pull tricks using giant-sized remote-controlled model planes.

The show itself will take place in a 1.5-cubic-kilometre airspace overtop the airport's east-west runway, Moschuk says.

Commanding this sector will be veteran air boss Donna Flynn of Showline Airshows, who has put on about 350 successful shows throughout North America and starred on the Discovery Channel's Airshow.

“I used to type my briefings on a typewriter,” she says over the phone from an airshow in Chilliwack, B.C.

Flynn says her job is to act as the director of a play, keeping all the performers of the airshow on schedule and making sure all the different groups involved are on the same page.

“It's like herding cats!”

Flynn will start show day with a mandatory briefing for everyone involved, during which she'll review the schedule, weather conditions, and fire-fighter extraction procedures for the different airplanes. She'll spend the rest of the day in the command centre next to the control tower working the radios to keep the announcers, pilots and pit crew informed and on track.

The pit crew, led by Flynn's husband, Ray Firkus, will give each performer's plane a final check to top up fuel tanks and smoke projectors before each flight – better for the crew to get oil on their hands than the pilots, he explains.

Thirty minutes before his flight, Carter says he'll likely go to a quiet spot to focus his mind on his 12-minute performance.

“It's critical that we be focused on what we'll be doing in the next 15 minutes,” he explains.

Each flip, roll and turn in a routine requires precise amounts of speed, altitude and positioning in order to be done safely, so pilots will repeatedly practise and stick to a set routine.

“If I get on top and I've got 800 feet (of altitude) and I should have had a thousand, I don't continue the manoeuvre,” he says.

After triple checking his plane, Carter will strap himself in 10 minutes before show time and start his engine two minutes later. Once in the air, he'll fly upside down about four metres above the ground for a bit, launch into a series of snap rolls and hammerheads, and finish by cutting a ribbon with his plane while flying upside down.

After that, he'll land, park his plane, and sign autographs.

Flight to the future

Local business owners are happy to see this airshow at Villeneuve as it gives them a chance to promote the airport, Gjesdal says.

“There's never going to be another time throughout the course of this year when we'll have 10,000 eager people (with which) we have the opportunity to show our wares.”

Charities will also benefit from it. A portion of the profits from water and ticket sales at the event will go toward the Alberta Aviation Museum, the Military Family Resource Centre at the Edmonton Garrison, and Youth Empowerment and Support Services, Moschuk says.

Shows like this one will create great memories for parents and inspire a love of flying in future pilots, Gjesdal says. If this one goes well, next year's event could draw bigger acts such as the Snowbirds demonstration team.

“It's just going to grow.”

Details on the show can be found at edmontonairshow.com.