Local residents are invited to Sarnia’s airport again this summer to see displays of aircraft, visit with pilots, meet Sarnia astronaut Chris Hadfield and his family, and help support a local charity
Local residents are invited to Sarnia’s airport again this summer to see displays of aircraft, visit with pilots, meet Sarnia astronaut Chris Hadfield and his family, and help support a local charity.
Advertisement 2
Article content
The Sarnia Ontario Aviation Rally, SOAR’24, a fly-in for pilots and airport open house for the public, is an annual event hosted by COPA Flight 7, the Sarnia-area chapter of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association.
This year’s event at the Sarnia Chris Hadfield Airport is set for Aug. 10.9 am to 2 pm Admission is free but donations will be accepted for the Pathways Health Center for Children.
“It’s family-friendly,” said Bruce Bond, president of COPA Flight 7.
Aircraft from the Second World War is expected to be among those on display.
“The Canadian Aviation Museum is coming,” Bond said. “They’ll have a Chipmunk and a Harvard there available for paid rides.”
The De Havilland Canada Chipmunk is a training aircraft used by the RCAF in the years following the Second World War. The Harvard is a training aircraft built from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Advertisement 3
Article content
There will also be food vendors, information booths and displays by event sponsors, as well as “new and old aircraft,” Bond said.
Organizers are hopeful that will include a P51 Mustang, a Spitfire, a Beech 18 and “probably multiple Harvards,” he said. “And that’s just to name a few.”
“Collar. Chris Hadfield will be there,” Bond said. “He’ll be doing book signing for the duration and talking and taking pictures with people in the lineup.”
Hadfield’s father, Roger, is said to have been the first pilot to land at the airport in 1955 and later became a fight instructor in Sarnia and a pilot with the first commercial airline serving the airport. Chris Hadfield’s brothers became commercial pilots.
The city’s airport was named after Chris Hadfield in 1997 to recognize his accomplishments as an astronaut.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“He comes every year,” Bond said. “He’s very supportive of the event.”
Also scheduled to attend this year is Canadian YouTube personality Steve Thorne.
“He has a lot of followers,” Bond said.
Thorne is a private pilot who posts “ride-along” flying videos to his YouTube channel, Flight Chops.
“He’ll have his airplane there to show everybody,” Bond said.
If the weather cooperates, “we hope to have lots of aircraft flying in,” he said.
“It’s just a social get-together for pilots,” Bond said. They’re being invited to land in Sarnia beginning Friday evening and can camp out under the wings of their aircraft overnight, if they wish.
The event has been held since 2021 to promote and increase awareness about the city’s airport.
Advertisement 5
Article content
Last year’s event was held on a windy day and “we only had about 15 airplanes fly in, compared to the first year we had 150,” Bond said.
“We had well over 3,000 people walk through the gate” and more than $10,000 was raised for Pathways.
Pathways provides therapy and other services for children and youth with physical, developmental and communication needs. It receives government funding, but also counts on fundraising and donations to meet local service needs.
There will be shuttles available to take members of the public from the parking lot at the main airport terminal to the nearby site of the event at the general aviation ramp.
COPA Flight 7 has about 40 members and is one of “close to 200 chapters” of the organization, Bond said.
“It’s mandated to help save the airports, mentor people in flying. . . and to give back to the community.”
Article content