Aviation and War Machine

The Canadian Forces 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron, Canada’s Snowbirds, will not appear at the Manitoba Air Show on June 2nd and 3rd due to the tragic loss of Snowbird 2, Capt. Shawn McCaughey, during an air show rehearsal at Malmstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana, Friday. The Manitoba Air Show will still go on June 2 and 3 as scheduled. The Manitoba Air Show will be an outstanding family entertainment event, with an excellent air show lineup of military performers including the CF-18 Hornet, the Canadian Forces Skyhawks Parachute Demonstration Team, the USAF F-15 and the CH-146 Griffon helicopter. In addition, an elite group of civilian pilots – Kent and Warren Pietsch, Bud Granley, Gene Soucy and wing walker Teresa Stokes, and Jim Peitz will perform precision aerobatics, wing walking and comedy routines. Gates open at 10 a.m., at which time spectators can enjoy the numerous static and ground displays. A pre-show including a radio controlled aircraft show will begin at 10:30 a.m., and air show demonstrations will entertain spectators from 1 p.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale for the 2007 Manitoba Air Show at Safeway Stores throughout Manitoba, Shoppers Drug Mart in Portage la Prairie and Morden and the Portage Consumer Grocery Store. Advance tickets are $11 for adults ($16 at the gate), $6 for ages 3-12 (advance and at the gate), and free for children 2 and under. Strollers are allowed for the youngsters. The Manitoba Air Show is a non-profit organization which exists to provide a fun, safe family event, while promoting community involvement and providing support to local charities.

And then there were four. Captain Kevin Howe, a CH-124 Sea King pilot and handyman extraordinaire has made it to the final four in the search for Canada’s next handyman superstar. With only two more episodes to go on the Handyman Superstar Challenge, this week and next, the stakes are pretty high - the winner of the Canadian reality show, shot on location in Toronto last September - gets his or her own show on Home and Garden Television (HGTV). And that may just happen for Capt Howe. Not only is he very "telegenic" as they say (photographs well on TV, and that’s a good thing since one of the judges is a Toronto casting agent), the other judges such as Mike Holmes also find his handy work among the best on the show, although you wouldn’t know it sometimes by the tough critiques. Not bad for someone who never took an apprenticeship and never studied how to be a contractor. "I worked with my Dad on the farm growing up. I did construction work and I’ve done a tonne of work at our place out here and at many people’s places, but I’m certainly not a professional. I’m a handyman, so I guess I should take Mike Holmes’ feedback as a compliment. "Mike is particularly hard in judging me," says Capt Howe. "He wants to see a professionally done job in three hours which would normally take eight hours. And then the judges critique you as though you took the full eight hours. It’s tough." In one of the quirkiest reality shows going, the handymen (which includes a female contestant, Christina Holborne from Golden, British Columbia) are tested on their workmanship and their ability to host a TV show. Last week, for example, Capt Howe and the rest of the contestants had three hours to build, frame and drywall an exterior wall including a door and a window, and then sit "on set" and field questions from "viewers" on all manner of home fix-it questions. "They judged us on our advice and our delivery with the cameras rolling - how we handled it, our body language - it was interesting." With more than half the contestants gone, and four left standing on the final two episodes, it’s still a mystery as to how the winner will actually be crowned. Capt Howe certainly isn’t giving any secrets away, but the fact there are voting buttons on the show’s website leads fans to believe those votes may have something to do with it! So for those fans who want to see Capt Howe become the only tool-toting, Sea King-flying TV star in the world