Sky will be filled with pilots new to the event

For Gary Rower, performing in air shows is reminiscent of his former career as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

“I just like flying upside down,” he quipped by phone Wednesday.

Rower will be doing just that at the fourth Edmonton Air Show this weekend.

Rain, shine, or smoke (the forecast is sunny), almost a dozen aerial performers are expected to dazzle audiences Saturday and Sunday afternoon at the Villeneuve Airport northwest of Edmonton.

Besides the show in the air, there will also be ground displays, including a U.S. National Guard C-130 Hercules transport plane and Edmonton Police Service’s Air 1 helicopter, as well as food trucks, a kids zone and motocross shows.

Rower will be one of an almost completely new aerial lineup this year. Raised in rural New York and now a commercial airline captain, his air show career began with a teenage wish.

“When I was a teenager learning to fly, I saw the Stearman biplane and I thought, that’s really cool, I want one,” he said.

Thirty years later, Rower was able to buy his own PT-17 Stearman, best known for training pilots during the Second World War.

When a co-worker asked him if he’d be flying in air shows, he knew nothing about the business. “So here we are 16 years later.” In one stunt that he’s excited about, Rower and Buck Roetman,

We get to talk to kids about a career (in aviation), that’s absolutely the best part about being an air show performer.

flying a Christen Eagle, will do a head-on vertical pass.

But Rower said interaction with audiences is also key.

“When we get to talk to kids about a career (in aviation), that’s absolutely the best part about being an air show performer. You get them excited and tell them how many opportunities there are.”

“We really do try to highlight that aviation can be a career,” said executive producer Dean Heuman, who stressed a need for a new generation of aviation workers as demand for them increases over the next decade.

Flight schools, air cadets, and even the Alberta Aviation Museum will have booths at the show.

“The idea is a little bit of education but a whole heck of a lot of fun,” he said.

Tickets for this year’s air show are available at the gate or by visiting the event website at edmontonairshow.com.

DAVID BLOOM Barry Pendrak flies his Skybolt biplane through smoky skies west of Edmonton on Thursday. Pendrak will be performing Saturday and Sunday in the Edmonton Air Show at the Villeneuve Airport. Organizers had been concerned about visibility, but favourable weather improved conditions.