Etobicoke-raised pilot makes Snowbird debut at CNE

Etobicoke-raised pilot makes Snowbird debut at CNE. Etobicoke-raised pilot Capt. Yanick "Crank" Gregoire makes his Snowbird debut at this year's CNE on Labour Day." Courtesy photo/STEPHAN GREGOIRE

As a first-year Snowbird, the Etobicoke-raised pilot will make his local debut at the 2010 Canadian International Airshow at the CNE, which runs Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Michael Power grad won't have too much trouble picking his red and white CT-114 Tutor jet out from amongst the other eight - it'll be the one flying straight up, up and away during the Snowbird's signature Canada Burst manoeuvre.

"It's our last split of the show, where all nine of us pull straight up and then we kinda open up like a bouquet of flowers. I'm the guy that goes straight up while everybody else peels open," he told Toronto Community News in a phone interview Tuesday, Aug. 31, from the Val d'Or, Quebec stop on the Snowbirds' airshow circuit. "I go straight up until I run out of air speed at about 5,000 ft."

While he's spent much of his summer since May up in the air performing in almost 40 airshows at 26 different locations across North America, one of Gregoire's favourite parts of touring as a member on Canada's most elite piloting teams entails planting his feet firmly on the ground.

After each airshow, Gregoire and his fellow pilots take the opportunity to talk to young audience members and answer their questions - a mentoring role he said he takes so much joy in because he still remembers being one of those awed kids in the crowd himself.

"I know that talking to pilots after airshows inspired me to push through and do the best that I could, and achieve what I've achieved. I want to do the same thing for these little kids," he said, noting that it was as a seven-year-old at the London airshow where he first declared his interest in becoming a fighter pilot himself.

"You see these kids with their dad and you just kind of want to inspire them to not necessarily be a pilot, but maybe to join the forces and ultimately, at least, to want to do something and to strive to get there."

As a youth growing up in the Islington and Eglinton avenues area, Gregoire took the first strides toward his own piloting aspirations early on by joining the Air Cadets. In his six years with the 188 Cobra Squadron he earned both his pilot's and glider pilot's licences. From there he went to Seneca College to study aviation and flight technology and to earn his commercial pilot's licence. After graduation, he joined the military, and the rest, as they say, is Snowbird history.

After flying F-18s for the last 10 years out of Cold Lake, Alberta, where he lives with his wife Jennifer, Gregoire finally got the call he'd been waiting for last year - he'd been called up to audition for the Snowbirds.

The five-week tryouts were "rigorous and stressful," he said, but it was all worth it when he learned he'd made the cut.

"It was emotional. I don't want to say I joined the military to be a Snowbird, I mean I joined because I want to serve my country. I love flying jets and I love all the aspects of flying fighters," he said, "but you can't do that forever and ever. You need to progress."

And progress he did - to what many consider the pinnacle of elite military piloting.

Flying in intricate formations at speeds of up to 600 km/h, all the while maintaining a distance of just 1.2 metres from the jet beside his at some points takes trust, precision, skill and a sheer love of flying.

Ask him what's so special about the flight of a Snowbird, and Gregoire doesn't hesitate to answer.

"The freedom - that's why I love to fly. I love the freedom of flying. I like exploring that third dimension. In a car or walking or running, you're stuck on the ground, but flying you have that third dimension you can play with," he said. "You can either just fly from A to B and look out the window and enjoy the scenery, or you can challenge yourself mentally and physically to try to achieve perfection. We're always striving for perfection with the Snowbirds and you never get there, so it's always a challenge. It never gets old."