P.E.I.-born Snowbirds technician checks off 'bucket list' item — flying home in one

Cpl. Avery Arsenault has been working with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds for the last six years, but on Thursday, for the first time, she got to fly home to Prince Edward Island in one of the jets.

"It's pretty exciting," she said. "This was on my bucket list once I got posted to the unit in Moose Jaw, so it is pretty awesome to actually be here and be able to show off the team.

"It was really beautiful. I haven't really had the opportunity to fly over P.E.I. too much, so it was nice to see all the fields and the beaches I really missed."

The Snowbirds haven't performed in the air over P.E.I. since 2018. Arsenault said she is glad to be home to showcase the planes she works on to her family and friends.

"I think they are pretty happy to see what I've been doing for the past six years."

Arsenault works as an aviation technician for the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, working on its fleet of CT-114 Tutor turbojets.

"We check them before the flight every morning, after the flight. And then we also replenish them, refuel them, we put [in] diesel and oxygen. We clean them and everything. They are like our babies," she said.

Arsenault's future took a turn toward the air back in Grade 10, when she took an aviation elective at Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside. She didn't know much about planes, but by Grade 12 she had joined the Canadian Armed Forces as an aviation technician.

"I thought it was a pretty good, unique opportunity to join the forces and go through schooling with them because they kind of guide you right to your position and then give you a nice career," Arsenault said.

She flies from show location to show location as a passenger in the jets, but she draws the line at one thing. She hasn't gone up while pilots are performing stunts like barrel rolls and flips.

"We get the opportunities to," she said. "I haven't yet because I am a little scared — just scared I am going to throw up, mostly. 

"It feels like a roller coaster."

Cpt. Thomas Thornton, one of the Snowbird pilots, said he wouldn't be able to do what he loves without the work of people like Arsenault.

"The technicians are always busy. They are normally [at] the airport two hours before the pilots are, getting the jets ready to go — fixing anything that is broken, just getting them ready to fly," he said.