The 419 Squadron out of Cold Lake, Alta. performs a fly past over Kamloops.

(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Remembrance Day in Kamloops will be missing something this year.

Normally, the 419 Squadron does a flypast to commemorate the fallen soldiers, but not this year.

“They will not be performing a fly pass although we do not know the reason why. All we’ve been told is it's something to do with operational restrictions and that's it. That could be anything. It could be the aircraft are grounded for mechanical reasons, or it could be that there’s a reason why they can’t fly over the city that day,” says Craig Thomson, president of the Kamloops Legion.

He says there will still be the regular Remembrance Day celebration at Riverside Park, but notes that the lack of the flypast has some people disappointed.

“Everyone is disappointed that they’re not flying because it’s kind of a neat thing to be part of a Remembrance Day service and the jets go by," Thomson says. “We’ve been spoiled in Kamloops, we’ve had it on a regular basis for a good number of years... a lot of people look forward to seeing the jets fly over. Hopefully, it’s just a one-year thing.”

He says that this is not the first time the flypast has been cancelled in Kamloops. The event was cancelled four years ago for mechanical reasons.

“It’s happened before a few years ago when there was a problem with that type of aircraft somewhere in Europe and they grounded the entire fleet all across the world,” Thomson says.

Thomson says the 419 Squadron has had close ties to Kamloops and says many of the members will still be in attendance for the Remembrance Day events.

“The pilots and crew and people from 419 will still be with us on Remembrance Day, they just won’t be able to fly overhead.”

The Remembrance Day ceremoinies start at the cenotaph in Riverside Park at 10:50 a.m. on Nov. 11 and run until 10 p.m.

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