Royal Canadian Air Force squad to buzz in for air show at Arnold Palmer airport

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be the featured act at the 2016 Westmoreland Air Show.

The Royal Canadian Air Force's aerobatics squad will fly into Westmoreland County in May to perform maneuvers for the thousands of people expected to attend the air show at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, officials announced Tuesday.

The air show is May 21-22, which is the weekend the Canadian Forces Snowbirds were available to perform, said Donald Rossi, a Westmoreland County Airport Authority member.

“It's great. It will be an international air show. They are very highly regarded and are a great bunch of pilots,” Rossi said.

The Snowbirds celebrated their 45th anniversary this year.

The squad flies the Canadian-designed and built CT-114 Tutor jet trainer, according to the Royal Canadian Air Force website. The jets have a maximum speed of 486 mph, compared to the Navy Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornets, which flew at speeds of 600 mph during the show in June.

Gabe Monzo, authority executive director, landed the Snowbirds during the International Council of Air Shows this week in Las Vegas. Rossi said Monzo is working to book other acts to perform in the two-day show, which drew about 75,000 spectators this year.

Rossi said the authority has booked the Blue Angels to return to the air show in 2017.

The Snowbirds were scheduled to perform in 1988 in Westmoreland County, but that show was canceled because one of the pilots was killed and two were injured in a single-car crash after the three attended a party in Ligonier.

The authority has budgeted about $300,000 for the show, Rossi said. Costs are offset by business sponsors and donors, but the authority remains $10,000 to $15,000 in the red for last year's show.

Airport flying high

Rossi reported the airport should top 360,000 passengers this year, the highest total since Spirit Airlines began operations there in February 2011. The authority said 333,196 passengers were logged at the airport as of Nov. 30.

“That's a tremendous amount of people for this airport to handle. It's exceeded 1 million in four years,” Rossi said.

Spirit Airlines, a Florida-based low-cost carrier, serves Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., from the airport in Unity. Spirit discontinued service from the airport to Chicago and Las Vegas last month and stopped flights to Dallas-Fort Worth in 2014.

“What happens in the future is under Spirit's control,” Rossi said.

Bialo- Czerwone Iskry

The “Bialo-Czerwone Iskry” (White-Red Sparks) aerobatic display team is part of the Polish Air Force and they fly seven TS-11 Iskra trainer aircraft painted in white and red. They also use the same color smoke generators and a typical demonstration duration is about 18 minutes.

Prehistory

Rombik Display Team

The first aerobatic display team in Polish Air Force was formed on February 16, 1969 at the Radom Air Base. This team was called “Rombik” (diminutive of rhombus) and flew four Polish-built TS-11 Iskra (Spark) jet trainers. Along with one spare pilot, the team also had two solo pilots who only flew in solo displays.
On October 5, 1969, during solo display, the engine on one of team’s plane stopped and the pilot successfully belly-landed his jet.
The first public display of the Rombik aerobatic team occurred on August 17, 1971 during the Polish Air Force Day airshow in Deblin. During this early period, the team rarely performed and the team's aircraft did not have any special color scheme.
In 1981, the “Rombik” team was disbanded during the tense situation in Poland.

Bialo-Czerwone Iskry History

The team was established in the spring of 1984 and their first performance was on July 5, in Poznan.
In 1989, the team was unofficially named “Iskry” (Sparks) and began performing with seven TS-11 Iskra trainers - a six-ship formation with one solo pilot. In 1991, their aircraft received the present white and red color scheme and they made their public debut under this name in Poznan airshow. Later on August 8, the “Iskry” team made its foreign debut by visiting Hungary and then on September 7 by performing in Belgium.
On May 3, 1993 the team increased to nine aircraft plus one solo pilot. In 1995, Team “Iskry” flew at the RIAT airshow in Fairford using this new formation.
In 1998, the team was re-organized once again and reduced to eight aircraft with two being solo pilots. On November 11, 1998, a fatal crash interrupted the team existence for two years. The crash happened when one of the team's planes had simply taken off to check the weather conditions, in preparation for the team's upcoming fly-over of the Warszawa parade.
On June 17, 2000, the team moved to its present home base in Deblin and became part of the 1st Flying Training Center. At this time the team’s name was changed to “Bialo- Czerwone Iskry” (White-Red Sparks), and reduced to seven aircraft with one solo.

Sherdils Gallery

K-8 Karakorum

Cessna T-37 Tweety Bird

red paint scheme from 1972 to 1980

red, blue, white paint scheme from 1980 to 2009