Sky will host some unusual traffic Wednesday

The sky will be rumbling in Whitehorse tomorrow afternoon.

The sky will be rumbling in Whitehorse tomorrow afternoon.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is preparing for an air show, set to take off from the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The CF Snowbirds, CF Skyhawks and a pair of CF-18 Hornets will take to the sky, while other aircraft will be on full display on the ground.

Additionally, the Canadian Forces parachute team will hold a demonstration during the air show.

“It’s a directed training exercise for the airforce,” said Maj. Wes Cromwell of Operation Northern Reach.

“We’re directing squadrons to focus on some northern locations. A lot of the crews have never operated in the North before and the Yukon in particular.”

The air show is scheduled to last more than two hours. The static display will remain open until closing.

The CF-18 Hornets also did a flyby earlier today in Carcross, Atlin and Faro.

Aircraft participating in Operation Northern Reach include: the CC-177 Globemaster III and CC-130J Hercules transport aircraft; the CP-140 Aurora long-range patrol aircraft; the CC-115 Buffalo search and rescue aircraft; the CC-138 Twin Otter utility transport aircraft; the CH-146 Griffon, CH-124 Sea King and CH-149 Cormorant helicopters; and the CF-18 Hornet fighter jet.

“We’re ensuring that the aircraft are all in location during the evening so we can actually open them up to the public so there’s some community engagement between the air force personnel and the community,” said Cromwell.

“We’d had really positive responses with everywhere we’ve been with this in the past two weeks in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.”