Snowbirds fly over Saskatoon as part of Operation Inspiration

At about 10:30 Thursday morning, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds flew over the city as part of their Operation Inspiration tour across Canada. The tour is a salute to all first responders, front-line medical staff and others engaged in the battle against COVID-19.

650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff was able to capture the Snowbirds in formation as they flew over the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.

#SnowBirds full formation over Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital. @CKOMNews #yxe pic.twitter.com/k4B7hr4Qa7

— Lara Fominoff (@LaraFominoff) May 14, 2020

They also flew over  the Saskatoon police headquarters.

What a sight to see the @CFSnowbirds fly over #yxe today for #OperationInspiration! We’re feeling inspired and grateful for all the front-line workers keeping us healthy and safe through this pandemic. Proud to be 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/998SINzNi2

— Saskatoon Police (@SaskatoonPolice) May 14, 2020

The Operation Inspiration tour took off at the beginning of May and Captain Ari Mahajan says they felt it was fitting to start the tour in Nova Scotia.  They flew over families of some of the victims of the mass shooting, including the family of RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson.

“It was an emotional flight.  I think we all knew before taking off what this flight represented and it was very close to my heart and I know other people felt the same way,” he said. “When you’re flying you’re focused on obviously doing your job but at the same time just given the magnitude of emotions in that flight, I definitley felt emotional.  It was good to do it.”

He says with the pandemic a lot of public gatherings aren’t going to be taking place this year, including air shows.

“I know some of the air shows have already started to cancel but we are going to do our best in making sure that we are ready to put up a show if shows in September and October take place.”

Any updates or changes to the Snowbirds’ tour schedule will be posted on their social media pages.