Abbotsford International Airshow 2002
Saturday, August 10

Low clouds Saturday morning played havoc with the scheduling of acts for the show. The schedule was completely revised to push the fast jets to later in the day in the hopes of an improving ceiling. The planning worked as skies began to break around noon. As a result of the revised schedule, military fans were treated to one of the most spectacular afternoon lineups in many, many years. From around 1:00 to 4:30 the schedule was as follows: B-2, F-117, Snowbirds, F-15, F-15/A-10/P-51 Heritage Flight, A-10, Teresa Stokes wingwalk, CF-18, CF-18/Harvard Heritage Flight, Bud Granley-Harvard, Thunderbirds.

Follow the links below to view images of the Snowbirds and Thunderbirds during their Saturday performances:

CF-18 Hornet TAC Demo

A-10 Thunderbolt TAC Demo

USAF Heritage Flight

B-2 Spirit (Spirit of Washington). Hard to photograph but what an amazing sight seeing it materialize out of the low cloud right at show centre.

F-117 Nighthawk

Air Canada 747-400. One of the great things about the Abbotsford Airshow is every year large commercial aircraft are included in the flying program. 2002 was no exception with a 747-400 on Saturday and an A340-300 on Sunday. Each performance consisted of a low altitude high speed pass and a slow speed pass with a power climb to departure. On Saturday we were lucky enough to be right on the flightpath of the 747 as it started to climb. It was one of the rare times I actually put my camera down just to watch. The last image in the sequence below is the start of the climb.

Our location Saturday also provided us with some great photo opportunities of Julie Clark and her T-34.

	Chris Avery and his Corsair flew both Saturday and Sunday after earlier maintenance issues were resolved. One aspect of the demonstration I wasn't too keen on was the addition of an airshow smoke system. To me they just doesn't belong on warbirds. Still great seeing a Corsair again though.
	Teresa Stokes in between the wings of Gene Soucy's Showcat.
	Langley Museum of Flight's Harvard flown by George Kirbyson (formerly with the Ray Ban Golds).
	Also from the Langley Museum of Flight is this Fleet Finch MkII.