Sports & Play
Toronto Air Show 2012 at the CNE
The Toronto Air Show at the 2012 CNE — or, more properly, the Canadian International Air Show — has drawn its fair share of criticism over the last few years. Some say it's too loud, while others cite safety concerns. And then there's people who get giddy at the prospect of supersonic jets screaming overhead in Toronto. I'd probably fall in the latter category, my only complaint being that the sound of these planes criss-crossing the city always serves as an inexorable reminder that summer is unofficially over.
Here's what you need to know about this year's show.
When: Saturday, September 1st to Monday, September 3rd. 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: The VIP viewing area — i.e. the one that you need tickets to get into is nestled on the waterfront between Ontario Place and Marilyn Bell Park. The advantage to paying for tickets is that you'll have guaranteed sight lines and a seat. If you only plan to watch for a bit, I'd recommend heading to pretty much any area along the central-western waterfront, with the stretch between Marilyn Bell Park and Sunnyside providing the best views.
What to expect: Highlights will include the Canadian Forces' Snowbirds, a CF-18 Hornet (loud!), a F-16C Fighting Falcon, a T-33 "Mako Shark" Demonstration, and the Mike Wiskus & the Lucas Oil Air Show (amongst other performers)
Tips: Aside from the fact that you should know that you don't really need to pay any money to enjoy the air show, the big key for those looking to spend the day watching this display of militarism is that you need to save your spot along the waterfront early if you hope to get the best view of the action. I'd also bring a chair. I hate sitting anywhere without a back rest for too long.
Photo by David G. Tran
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Man, some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining.
I live in North Toronto, but it was really cool seeing and hearing the jets go by every once in a while last year. It's just something really cool that we as Torontonians are lucky to have once a year to make our weekends a little more interesting. No matter where you are that weekend you will always be checking to see if you can see or hear the planes :)
There's a simple solution. Don't like it ? Go up north for the long weekend, leave town, put some ear plugs in. The air show gets less impressive and speeds are limited because of one or two people, who obviously have nothing better to do than make phone calls and write complaint letters. Sheesh.
If it's too loud, you're too old (or a homo).
If supersonic jets flew overhead everyday, it would be annoying. Once a year, it's fun. Heck, traffic noise, construction noise and my neighbour watching movies at midnight with his cheap home theater subwoofer thumping are waaaaaay more annoying than the Air Show ever will be.
I studied fluid dynamics in university. Useless crap.
But the reality is the airshow is taking place once again in 2012 which = win. Suck it, whiners.
It's macho BS at its finest.
Top Gun however is very sweet
SNOWBIRD PAINTED RETRO COLOURS WITH MUSTACHE DISPENSING PBR OVER TRINITY BELLWOODS.
BAM. 100% SATISFACTION.
Then I walked down to Sunnyside and watched them practice. It was breath taking.
Yes, the noise makes it difficult to sleep. Yes, it is very distracting (try having a conversation when eight jets are breaking the sound barrier.)
But it was very beautiful and thrilling to watch them soar overhead.
It's a part of life in the core and it's only for a few days.
Every minute the pilots are in their cockpits is part of ongoing training, we just get to watch them during the airshow.
If you want to declare war on noise how about starting with the Harleys?
Nice post. I have no clue what the hell you're talking about or how it pertains to the Airshow, but thanks for providing such incredible insights. Did we lose you to the west? Shit.
Next time you decide to comment on someone's 'intelligence'. Maybe don't spell it incorrectly.
Ewwwh, too much noise. F*ck off and die. Why don't you try some choice f*cking property near a golf course. Then, you can complain your retard a$$ off about the lawn mowers in the morning waking you up.
YOU F*CKING MORONS.
How's life going for ya? You seem a little stressed champ.
Here's the thing; It's just the internet. No need to get so fired up.
Everything ok?
Maybe you should go do something fun today, like see an airshow.
Might help with the stress, take your mind off of things a bit.
I know it must be tough. But these things take time.
We're all pulling for you on this one
Dude are u aware of the saying, ( there is one in every crowd?) Well thats is you they are talking about. Please get yourself on happy pills bro, you need them. Children love the air show. dz, loved the ice cream shot at this idot..haha cudos to u.
This city calls itself world class and it's FULL of a bunch of complainers!
Grow a pair Toronto!
I read your comment.. It is a joke right? It has to be. No one is that much of a moron that thinks we should cancel the air show as it scares your CATS..REALLY MAN!!!COME ON!!! Why don't you find a nice quiet retirement home up north for your girl friend and her nervous pussy...
Miiami, you are right on with your comments...
The snowbirds put on a good show, but they are planes that were built in the 1950's! and they are just little tutor jets. The entire team of 9 planes make less noise than one modern jet. The Blue Angels fly F18's in formation, far more impressive. I won't be going this year, or probably ever again. All the excitement is gone.
Having paid to attend and having been lied to by the organisers (no F-16 or Griffon ...) it was a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.
Given the budget cuts, I'd rather see one proper airshow every three years than this lame, lame, lame excuse for one.
don't tell your man that I still call you dear...
Food Building, Super Dogs
It's no doubt that the EX creates a lot of jobs
From Food Concessions, to Running a ride - either way your pullin the knobs!
If someone's complaining about the airshow noise, why is it necessary to tell them to move? Or tell them to deal with it? Or to go away from the weekend? Or tell them that's a decision they made when they moved to the city (what if they didn't).
People need to stop thinking in black and white, and need to stop holding on to "tradition so much.
The airshow is noisy. I've worked 72hrs a wk for the past 3 wks, and this weekend I'm at home resting because I believe I deserve it. To feel like I'm in war-torn Iraq for 3 hours/day for 3 days is not necessary. I feel like if it happened just once that could be excusable, it's just one day. But it was the whole weekend.
Where is the compromise? How do you reconcile the two? Families, plane enthusiasts love the air shows. Some residents are terribly irritated by the noise. Instead of being vicious to each other, how about someone toss in some possible solutions to make both parties happy, because I believe it's possible. This is not America, we don't have to be limited to just the 2 choices.
Thank you.
We aren't necessarily celebrating machines of war, it's more about the awe of engineering/technological marvels of flight. Especially since we, as regular citizens, rarely see such things. Plus, these "war machines" perform more Search & Rescue missions than they do bombings.
-It's a waste of money, fuel, and damaging to the environment!
It brings in more money (ie: tourism) than is spent. As for the fuel/environment, it's minute relative to every other mode of major mechanical transportation.
-It's too loud! I and my dog/cat get extremely frightended by the noise!
You can't handle 3 days, for a few hours at a time, of noise? You live in Toronto, expect disruptions of all kinds. Airplanes at Pearson are much louder, especially giant airbuses. As for you dog/cat, your vacuum scares them more, and I'm pretty sure it makes many more appearances than the air show.
-People escaped their war-torn countries where fighter jets bombed/killed constantly, only to see them again here.
The difference being, they know they're not being bombed/killed by the fighter jets at the Toronto Air Show here in Canada.
-It's extremely dangerous! There have been many crashes!
16 crashes in 60 years. In all of Canada. Not all resulted in fatalities. The last Toronto air show crash was in 1995.
There's a simple solution. Don't like it ? Go up north for the long weekend, leave town, put some ear plugs in. The air show gets less impressive and speeds are limited because of one or two people, who obviously have nothing better to do than make phone calls and write complaint letters. Sheesh. "
It was Mike, who made this comment, that I was replying to. People like SG and GZ simply don't get the full complexity of life, oversimplifying everything to suit their brains. ;-(
The only suggestions I would have to improve the event would be to have a more detailed shedule. It would also be nice if someone was keeping all of the jerks in their suvs from parking on the grass infront of old couples and kids that have been waiting patiently for hours.
Its a fun event!
At the same, rid the city of the TTC (Toronto Trash Commission) Never in my life have I seen such a toxic waste land as Toronto; rude ignorant species, where the average IQ rarely sores above 80. It is very difficult to find one positive entity about Toronto.
I know many of the intellects low in intelligence will take offence to this, and I hope they do because they will prove my point.
Check yo'delf and watch me drive the lane.
1. Shut down CNE - Put up a community shared garden.
2. Add 30 or 40 more condos on the property.
3. Add restaurants that do not serve alcohol.
4. Close down all bars.
5. Close the dome and the CN Tower.
6. Close down all low income housing, coops, shelters and any other social program/utility that helps the less fortunate.
7. Heck, close the hospitals/walk-in clinics and just have nurse practitioners/doctors going on call.
8. Make everything privatized because only the rich and fortunate should be able to live a quiet life in a METROPOLIS!
9. Any kind of recreational/professional sport should be abolished to silence the crowds and any negative behaviours associated to drinking, losing or winning a game or just having fun.
10. Put up some chess/checker boards everywhere because this is clearly only an intellectual city where smoking, drinking alcohol, having fun, playing sports or board games, watching tv/movies, having the volume up, talking loudly, being passionate, singing, dancing, sharing cultural ideas and customs, celebrating, arguing, debating, being blissfully happy, driving a car, eating a burger, not eating completely and utterly healthy at all times and to always be aware of everything you do or say at all times in case some one intellectualizes what your doing to death. Toronto does not want to be New York. Toronto does not want to be Honk Kong. Toronto does not want to be Amsterdam. Toronto does not want to let anyone be themselves without bullying them back to their homes and into their books to read by dim lit candles while sniffing their own freshly baked bread to the sound of Glenn Gould and going to bed at 8:30 pm because that is what good people do...because that is what good people do...and if you deviate from that norm...step back because the intellectual will analyze you and criticize you and win. You will never beat an intellectual in an argument because they spend their life convincing others of their joy to live in only one fashion...intellectualizing themselves.
So be it. I'm not an Air Show enthusiast but I've met some really swell folk that fought wars in them planes and them peoples saved lives. I reckon those folks deserves medals because I sure don't know nothing about flyin' those big rigs in the skies.
In fact, some of those wonderful folks have been around the world and back and lived the lives of 20 of us folk through war and famine...geez
Some told me tells about watchin' their buddies crash landing. Some told me they didn't even want to fight but had too...and ya, some of these folks were smart too...intellectual even...
I'm not big on war myself...but who is...this is an Air Show... SHOW...SHOW
In fact, some of these intellectual folks were Snipers. The last thing on their mind was to be MACHO. They were scared to the point of peeing their pants while at war.
Some of the folks that come to the Air Show opened up to me and showed their tears...they told me they came every year in hopes to see old pals...old buddies...and sometimes...sometimes they met them...they found out after 40 years that their buddy was alive...All sorts of vets from different wars come to check on each other there...and ya they don't like the macho type that show up either...I've read books by candle light and listened to Glenn Gould...heck, even gots meself a degree or two...but, I don't cuss out others in public or hurt their feelings...and if I did...I'd apologize for it....maybe...maybe Toronto should follow up the Air Show with a Hot Air Balloon Festival! Maybe that's quieter and less evasive for those trying to get through the last page of Don Quixote while listening to the soundtrack of the last ballet as their nanny sings their 10 year olds to sleep. Just another stereotype...haha.
A quartet of Harvards with their props finely pitched to create extra noise? Yawn.
Also, have any of you people ever thought about the refugees who come from war-torn nations who can't stand the sound a jet makes due to experiences of being on the receiving end of a jet's cannon or bombs? This was already mentioned by one recent refugee two years ago on why she wanted the Air Show to stop.
As it is, it's time for the CNE to go, anyway, to be replaced by something else, as was mentioned in an article in EYE Weekly around 2005. Let the land and buildings be used for events like art and food fairs, as was suggested in the article.
Respectfully, I have to point a few things out.
No bombs go off during the air show. Nobody fires the cannons.
Moreover, very few refugees these days come from conflicts where jets are used (jets are a first-world game). They come from places where militants travel in helicopters, or Toyota pickups with AK-47s. There, the scariest sound in the world is not an F-18's afterburners, it's a knock on the door in the middle of the night.
And, by the way, the US military considers a militant to be any "military-age" male in a strike zone. So when you read that a drone killed x number of militants (itself illegal) remember that the militants are often just civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I read Spike's comment again, and I am pretty sure you are putting you own spin on it. There's nothing there to suggest what you say.
And I still maintain that helicopters and Toyota trucks full of men with cheap rifles are the main tools of destruction in "war-torn" countries from which most refugees come.
I'm not defending ridiculous toys like the F-35 (which, like all manned fighter jets, will be obsolete the day we take delivery of the first one). I'm just saying I think your argument is flaccid.
To everyone that moved to the city to be close to everything, but complains about the noise: Move out of the city. Cities are loud, noisy, smelly, etc. because there are so many people in them doing so many different things. Stop expecting everyone else to conform to what you want and loosen up. You might just find you actually have some fun.
Speaking of Faux Noise, The Toronto Sun, and Sun News Channel, why the frack don't you turn off both channels, and stop reading the paper? All you're doing is letting yourself be brainwashed and made stupid, as your ignorant comments obviously have shown.
Due to budget cuts we ain't getting the fun planes any more - so combine Red Bull and some CF18 shows, snowbirds, etc.
Yes, refugees should be grateful, and I imagine the vast majority are. I am incredibly grateful to be born in Canada (especially since I'm a girl and it totally sucks for girls in most of the world). Everyone who lives here should be grateful, it's an awesome country. One of the reasons it is awesome is because people here are generally respectful of each other (internet message boards notwishstanding) and they understand that the entire world should not conform to their wishes. I'm scared of dogs, but do you think I whine and complain about people living with dogs in my building? No, because I'm not a selfish jerk. If someone with a dog goes in the elevator when I want to go in too I just take the stairs instead. Because it is my problem, not their's, so it's my responsibility to deal with it. If you're scared of planes then you should leave Toronto during the airshow, because the majority of Torontonians enjoy it (the Star poll was 80-90% in favour if I'm remembering correctly) and the entire city should not have to inconvenience itself for you.
I'm curious actually, what is Faux Noise? Is that the Quebecor paper in Montreal or something? I just assumed they were all called [city name] Sun.
"I read Spike's comment again, and I am pretty sure you are putting you own spin on it. There's nothing there to suggest what you say."
Spike had written:
"..have any of you people ever thought about the refugees who come from war-torn nations who can't stand the sound a jet makes due to experiences of being on the receiving end of a jet's cannon or bombs?"
I don't know how much clearer you need it to be. I think you're the one putting your own spin on it.
Look, if you like the air show, fine. But let's not kid ourselves that this is about nothing more than admiring the beauty of synchronized flying. Fun for the whole family. In the real world, those planes do a lot of harm that we in the West don't see. We can choose to blind ourselves by accepting the narrative of corporate news media (whether the Sun, Star, Globe, or Post), or we can open our eyes and try to understand what's really going on and whose interests are being served.
Oh by the way, if you've never heard of people being threatened by jet fighters or being traumatized by them I suggest you speak to some refugees before you just brush off what they've gone through, okay? As for being what you say you are-I'll believe that when you do show some compassion for somebody who's gone through a war on the receiving end instead of the FYIGM (Fuck You, I Got Mine) attitude.
Although many Torontonians complain about the noise emanating from the planes flying over their neighbourhoods, they still see the air show as a relic of our patriotic past and thus should continue.
It's a pleasure to watch these pilots fly their planes over Exhibition Place and the Toronto's waterfront, and admire and appreciate their unique and amazing skills. One of the planes used in the show, the CF-18 Hornet, is one of Canada's finest fighter jets, and this plane has been used in Canada's participation in foreign wars like the one in Libya.