Adedokun Waliyu 
The Canadian International Air Show is always Ex-hilarating.
Members of the Canadian Snowbirds were on hand at Pearson Airport on Thursday, along with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, to talk about the air show running above the CNE from Saturday through to Labour Day Monday.
Lieut.-Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, who was posing in front of a legendary blue and yellow F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with some local youths and Peel Regional Police officers, had time to talk about the precision team that now marks its 77th year in existence since forming in 1946.
When asked, “Is flying just flying,” Zimmerman deferred to his new co-pilot, Peel Regional Police Const. Peter Grant, who got to take a once-in-a-lifetime flight a day earlier with the Blue Angels.
“Absolutely just not flying,” said Grant, his eyes expanding about as wide as his smile.
“If people just understood the physical demands up there. The heights and the precision, it’s just incredible,” he said. “It’s almost like information-in-awe overload.”
“We did loops, barrel rolls, minimum radius turning. I’m getting indoctrinated in here; I might have to switch careers soon,” said Grant, joking that his feet were still not really touching the apron of the airport.
“I think we were inverted for like 30 seconds,” he added.
When Zimmerman was asked about “pulling Gs,” or a gravitational force of acceleration, he gave off a wry smile and said, “We pulled off 7.6 Gs and we don’t where G-suits.
“Pete did all 7.6 Gs, which is absolutely incredible. And it’s no easy feat, huh,” said Zimmerman, turning to Grant, who replied, “No!”
“It was getting dark at moments. And they took very good care of me,” said Grant. “Of what to do, how to do it, how to breathe, and we did it together.”
Zimmerman, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, proudly earned his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy in 2009. He joined the elite Blue Angels – appearing in the Canadian International Air Show for the first time since 2009 – in September 2022 and will be flying the No. 7 plane all this weekend.
Sitting across the apron inside the cockpit of one of the Snowbirds planes, Capt. Steven Sparks is happy to be close to home this weekend, as he is originally from Hamilton.
Sparks said when he was in high school playing football and watching air shows as a kid, he never dreamed of being up in the sky. But now he has piloted Snowbird 6 since 2019.
And flying on Labour Day is a great tradition, which leads to another tradition in his mind: the Toronto Argos-Hamilton Ti-Cats Labour Day classic.
Capt. Steven Sparks, who will be part of the weekend flight team flying in the Canadian International Air Show above the CNE this weekend, is seen here sitting in the cockpit of a Snowbird on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
Last year, Sparks said he got to take part in a special mission of sorts, where his flight passenger in the two-seater CT-114 Tutor jet was the Grey Cup trophy and it was being dropped off at the 109th Grey Cup in Regina.
But first, up into the blue skies this weekend along with their compatriots from south of the border to raise a lot of cheers.
