MILITARY CANADA’S CF-18 DEMO JET
90 | http://www.airinternational.comcrew had to plot out and choreograph the
complex application of colours. To help keep
the demo jet highly visible and a lot easier
to keep clean, gloss paint is used topside
instead of matt; it is nominally thicker and
takes a little more curing time, but adds only
100lb (45kg) of weight.
To ensure a timely completion, a paint
plan was developed to manage main and
secondary work done concurrently by the
crew each day, to minimise work time and
material use. While one crew laid out and
masked the graphic elements topside, another
crew applied underside stencils or re-masked
an area for the late afternoon paint session.
Every demo jet is a one-off, and a paint
plan has to be developed each time. Upon
completion of this year’s paint scheme, the
paint crew had used over 120 rolls of tape,
15 gallons (57 litres) of paint, 330 feet (100m)
of computer-cut stencils and several rolls of
masking paper and film.
The design took one month to apply, a
process complicated by curing time and the
logistics of applying the first topside blue
base, which took up an entire week. The dark
blue had to be done in two, one-day sessions
to allow the crew to walk on areas already
painted; the second coat was applied over the
cured and scuffed first coat. The crew had toallow almost four days between the first and
second coat.
Stepping back a stage, the sign-off for
the design was made by the commander of
the Royal Canadian Air Force, at the time,
Lieutenant-General Michael Hood, after the
1 CAD commander, Major General Christian
Drouin, had selected just one from a group of
four options presented to him by a group of 1
CAD personnel including Jeff, Jim, the special
events office and public affairs.
Jeff reckons the eight-person paint crew
at Cold Lake would never have been satisfied
with anything less than an outstanding finish.
They did a great job applying high-quality
paintwork to a very stylish design.Creating the display routine
This year’s demo jet is flown by Captain Stefan
Porteous, a career CF-18 pilot previously
serving with 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron
from 3 Wing, Bagotville, Quebec.
Captain Porteous is commander of the
2018 CF-18 demo team, which comprises
eight technicians, four assigned to an eastern
team based at Bagotville and four assigned to
the western team based at Cold Lake, three
safety pilots that support the shows, and a
coordinator-narrator and public affairs officer.
None of the safety pilots is cleared to fly the
demo; that’s the job of Captain Porteous, with
backup to him provided by the previous year’s
demo pilot.
Explaining the role of the safety pilots,
Captain Porteous told AIR International: “Their
primary role is to maintain a constant link with
myself over the radio from their position on
the ground. He is my safety backup, so every
time I have a vertical transition or a verticalMore details of the design, including
the titles applied to the flaps, and the
maple leaves and stars on the inner
face of the vertical stabiliser.