Major Steve Timm, flying the Snowbirds’ No. 2 aircraft, said performing over North Bay during the Tutor’s final season felt less like an ending and more like a chance to be part of a Canadian aviation milestone
As the Snowbirds roared over North Bay on Wednesday, Major Steve Timm knew he was flying more than an airshow performance. The Canadian Forces pilot was helping carry the final season of one of Canada’s most recognizable aircraft — the CT-114 Tutor — over a city that has watched the team for generations.
Thousands gathered along North Bay’s waterfront for Armed Forces Day as the Snowbirds returned during their 55th anniversary season, widely expected to be among the public’s final opportunities to see the Tutor jets before the fleet is retired. For Timm, the moment carried a personal connection that started long before he ever climbed into the cockpit.
“You see them as a little kid, you get that first spark for aviation,” Timm said during an interview on the tarmac at Jack Garland Airport ahead of the show. Originally from Surrey, B.C. , Timm said he grew up attending the Abbotsford airshow with his parents, where watching the Snowbirds first inspired him to pursue aviation.
“Now, it’s really cool to get to be on the other side of it and see that excitement with kids,” he said. Timm first joined the Snowbirds in 2022 and returned for the 2026 season, flying the number two jet as the team’s Inner Right Wing pilot. He said the final Tutor season feels less sad than meaningful.
“It’s excitement,” Timm said. “The fact that I get to be a part of the last year of such an iconic aircraft as we kind of transition with the Air Force into the next steps and what’s next, it’s exciting. ” The Tutor has flown with the Snowbirds for more than five decades and has become closely tied to generations of Canadian airshows.
“I just think it’s such a Canadian thing,” Timm said. “For people older than me, they were kids too, going back for that whole 55 years, watching the team flying in the sky. ” Flying over North Bay remains memorable for the team, he added.
“The first thing that I think of is the beauty,” Timm said. “Looking down at North Bay, all the scenery, the lakes, the islands out in the lake, all the green space.
” See: Thousands gather for Armed Forces Day, Snowbirds delight crowd And: ‘Nothing like that rush’: SkyHawks bring high-flying experience to North Bay ahead of weather cancellation While pilots often become the public face of the Snowbirds, the final Tutor season is also significant for the crews, keeping the aging aircraft flying. Corporal Eric Henry, an aviation systems technician entering his fourth season with the Snowbirds show team, works on nearly every part of the aircraft.
“We do pretty much everything that makes the airplane fly,” Henry said. “Engines, hydraulics, landing gear, flight controls. ” Henry originally worked as an automotive mechanic before joining the military. He said he once hoped to become a pilot before eventually finding his place maintaining the Snowbirds fleet.
“If I told 18-year-old me that I was doing what I’m doing now, I wouldn’t believe myself,” he said. The Tutor jets may lack the advanced computerized systems found in newer aircraft, but Henry said their simplicity has helped keep them operational for decades.
“They’re very analog, very mechanical,” he said. “Sometimes we’ve got to do some heavy thinking on what might be wrong with an airplane, but we always get it figured out. ” The compact aircraft also allows crews to travel efficiently across the country during airshow season.
“You can repair it with a crew of two or three people,” Henry said. “So it makes it very simple for us to bring it out on the road. ” As the Snowbirds continue their cross-country farewell tour with the Tutor fleet, both Timm and Henry said the public reaction remains one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
“That’s what gave us the spark,” Timm said of watching the Snowbirds as children. “So to be on the other side and get to do that is pretty special. ”
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