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| Hornet topside pass London, ON August 2021 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
It’s air show weekend here in #ldnont, so I think I’ll sling the camera over my shoulder and head over to the airport.
I took this at last year’s show, and the @cf18demoteam will be back in the air this year, too. They are, in a word, heroes.
While every air show seems to spawn a range of complaints - too noisy, waste of fuel and money, unnecessary warmongering, etc. - the reality is far more nuanced.
The pilot and plane you see here also guards Canada’s massive northern flanks. If you ask the professionals who fly these aircraft and missions, they’ll tell you about the Russian bombers they regularly challenge at the edge of Canadian airspace, the no-fly zones they enforce against belligerent actors, the rescues they pull off, the aid they provide after human-caused and natural disasters alike.
No one wants war, period. But let’s not fool ourselves: the world is not black and white. And the subtle shades of grey of statecraft dictate the need for spears like these to keep the malevolent actors around us in their place. Deterrence is a thing, apparently.
Democracy and freedoms come with a steep price - something most of us never seem to think much about. In the ideal world, we’d all be a little (okay, a lot) more thankful to those willing to devote their lives to pay that price, for they are the ones who allow the rest of us to freely decide to either cheer them on from the tarmac or whine about them from afar.
So pardon me in advance if I can’t hear the utterly predictable complaints. Those afterburners are freaking loud.
@airshowlondon #throwback #london #airport #ontario #canada #SkyDrive #AirShowLondon #aviation #boeing #mcdonnelldouglas #fa18 #hornet #fighter #flight #aircraft #avgeek #aviationphotography #planespotting #instaplane #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #Nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photography #lifeinthemargins
Related:
A Hornet burns a hole in the sky, August 2021
Swooping in from a grey sky, September 2019
When Vipers fly in anger, March 2019
Vampire on the ramp, June 2018
Red and white in a perfectly blue sky, September 2017
1 MiG, dead ahead, September 2017
Shooting an Eagle, September 2017
Past, meet future, September 2017
When a Rhina makes its own vapor... September 2017
Snowbirds return to the skies, June 2007
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