A Common Thread

Fast forward to 2013, and things have come full circle. It’s Pollen himself who is flying this year’s CF-18 Demo Hornet at airshows across North America, and even at one show in Colombia. This year, he is the one who will carry a very important message to the kids he meets: it is possible to achieve their dreams. 

“In my case, my dream was to be a fighter pilot,” Pollen told Canadian Skies. “But the same (message) could apply to anything that they would want to do in life. It’s an awesome opportunity.”

After 19 years in uniform and more than 3,200 hours of flying – including two overseas deployments, one in the CF-18 and one as flight commander of an unmanned aerial vehicle – Pollen relishes the chance to represent the military at airshows across the country. “The overall goal and objective is to increase people’s general knowledge of the career opportunities that exist Forces-wide,” he explained. “Like the Snowbirds, we are a recruiting and public awareness tool for the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Along with a handful of U.S. appearances this year, the team is even participating in a four-day airfest in Rionegro, Colombia, which will give them a chance to “carry our message to the southern hemisphere, and show them what Canadians are about.” In total, the CF-18 Demo Hornet will appear at 25 airshows this season, entertaining more than one million people. 

But before he could even contemplate taking centre stage at the first scheduled airshow of the season in Jones Beach, N.Y., Pollen had a lot of training to do. 

The CF-18 show routine remains the same from year to year. This allows the previous year’s demo pilot to work with the incoming performer in order to ensure safety and continuity. The show is performed with a hard deck (minimum safe altitude) of 300 feet, but “like anything else, we do not start there. We have to work down to that point through practices,” explained Pollen. 

Once selected, Pollen said a Demo Hornet pilot heads into five simulator sessions at 410 Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron in Cold Lake, Alta., where the show routine is practised over and over, until the pilot becomes familiar with the mechanics involved. The program is repeated so many times that it becomes second nature. 

Then, it’s off to the backseat of a two-place Hornet, with last year’s demo pilot at the controls. (In this case, Pollen did his dual training with 2012 demo pilot, Patrick “Paco” Gobeil.) 

“We flew a few practices in the dual aircraft. I got a feel for how he flies the jet, and he prepared me for the next maneuver. There are some big differences flying the jet compared to the simulator – the sim is close, but not always the same,” explained Pollen. 

Next, the pilots swapped seats, with Gobeil critiquing Pollen’s performance, and providing guidance or tips where needed to make the routine more solid. 

“I started with 1,000 feet as the hard deck,” said Pollen. “I flew five practices at this altitude before coming down to 700 feet, incorporating both dual and solo rides. Then, it was down to 500 feet before being cleared solo, followed by eight rides that were solo at 300 feet. A few of the practices were at 300 feet in Bagotville, but then the majority of practices were out in Comox, B.C.”

The change of venue allows the pilot to get used to flying over water in new surroundings. Ultimately, most of the show is performed at 300 feet, which is considered an acceptable level of risk.

Although the airshow routine itself is rigid, the CF-18 demo pilot does have some flexibility when it comes to repositioning, said Pollen. “What I mean by this is that I can reposition vertically for the next maneuver, or do a level reposition. This allows for flexibility to contend with meteorological conditions over the field during the show. You seldom have a clear one in a million day, that’s not going to require some thought in how you are going to contend with the various ceilings, to make sure that we can provide the best show for the crowd that came out to see it – but also a safe show from a risk mitigation standpoint.”

Airshow maneuvers naturally carry some inherent danger, but the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has done its best to design a training program that mitigates risk as much as possible. This will be the second year that the famous high alpha pass – where the jet flies at low speed with a nose-up attitude – has been reintroduced to the CF-18 airshow program, following a July 2010 crash in Lethbridge, Alta. In that incident, the pilot – who was practicing the high alpha pass at the time of the crash – managed to survive by ejecting at the last possible moment.

“The high alpha is a challenging but safe maneuver,” said Pollen, when asked about performing the pass, which sees the jet slow to a minimum speed of 120 knots. “The crash in Lethbridge was during the high alpha pass, but was not caused by the high alpha pass. The Hornet flies extremely well in the slow-speed regime. We usually do it up at 15,000+ feet, but for the show we bring it down to 500 feet.”

Previously, the hard deck for a high alpha was 300 feet, but the 200-foot increase allows the pilot more time to diagnose any problems quickly, hopefully allowing them to save the aircraft in the process. Pollen added that other established airshow training procedures help to mitigate risk as well, including cross-training with the previous year’s demo pilot; simulator sessions; and a safety analysis performed on all airshow program maneuvers. 

Pollen said demo pilots must be comfortable with the routine, but must always maintain their edge for those times when “show circumstances provide a situation where I may have to make a slight amendment to my routine. There needs to be a balance so you’re not too comfortable.”

And then there are the physical effects as well. “I will pull more Gs in a 17-minute performance than a line pilot will perform in a 30-day period,” said Pollen. “It’s quite fatiguing. It equates to a 10-hour workday.” 

By far, the demo pilot said the most challenging part of the airshow program is the dirty roll on takeoff – a steep nose-up launch followed immediately by a full roll with the landing gear still extended. 

“I have watched it hundreds of times since I was a kid. The eye-opener was when I was in the back seat with Paco, and actually saw what it looks like that close to the ground,” said Pollen. “Yeah, it certainly opens your eyes, like going on a roller coaster for the first time! It’s sensory overload. That’s where I was at the first few times. Now, with the level of training, I’ve built up a level of comfort and ability.”

The dirty roll – and the rest of the CF-18 Hornet’s performance – is always a highlight of any airshow program. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the jet’s appearance in shows across Canada. Its participation certainly involves a great deal of planning and coordination. Along with the pilot, there are two ground crew teams – east and west – with four members each. Depending on where the show is, the applicable ground crew will arrive by truck, collectively covering almost 40,000 kilometres in a season.

The big challenge for the ground crew is keeping the aircraft serviceable. In the past, Pollen explained, every show had a back-up jet. However, to cut costs, the military is only sending a back-up Hornet to six shows this year: Abbotsford, Hamilton, Toronto, Bagotville, Miramichi, and to the South American show in Colombia. This has allowed the team to cut its airshow season flying hours from 220 to about 130. 

“Those six are the larger shows,” he said. “They’re not more important, but those are the shows where we will conduct media flights with a two-seat Hornet.”

This year, the Hornet demo team will be performing in several small communities from coast to coast. Pollen said they are trying to reach as many Canadians as possible, not only to educate people about the military, but also to promote the theme of this year’s Demo Hornet paint scheme: the “Common Thread.” Designed by veteran graphic artist Jim Belliveau, this year’s theme encourages each of us to think about what it means to be Canadian. 

“It’s different for all of us,” Pollen explained. “We’re not telling Canadians what the common thread is, but we want to inspire them to pause and think about our common identity between Canadians, and what it means to them.”

Born into a military family, Pollen knows the impact an airshow makes on a young mind. Yes, budgets are always shrinking and cost cutting is a reality, but the demo pilot believes in airshows and their ability to inspire. 

“Air shows have a big impact on Canadians. What are the results of that? They are not immediately tangible. I can’t tell you what the cost benefits of sending a CF-18 to an air show are. I don’t know how you measure the cost of smiles on kids’ faces, or the level of inspiration that we have achieved over an airshow weekend. I do know that to cut something like that, it is going to be felt. We are inspiring new dreams for young people.”