Snowbirds Tutor CT-114 Crash Ejection 17 May '20 Information

Video from the channel Spaz Sinbad about Canadair CT-114 Tutor, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:58. Language: English. Video type: News.

This is a compilation of TV news segments about the crash of a Snowbirds CT-114 Tutor in Kamloops (British Columbia) on 17 May 2020. The aircraft came down in a house's garden shortly after takeoff, and the wreckage was scattered across three houses. Captain Jen Casey, the team's public affairs officer, from Halifax, died. She had joined the Forces in 2014 and the Snowbirds four years later. The pilot, Captain Richard MacDougall, 34, from New Brunswick, ejected, landed on a roof and suffered serious but non-fatal injuries. Both had ejected before impact, and the aircraft had been heading to Vancouver Island.

Robert Mitchell, a former team leader, analyzes a witness's video. He sees a dot that could be a bird, though he does not assert it, and a sharp pitch-up, which is the standard maneuver for an engine failure to gain altitude. Before ejection, the aircraft levels its wings, and the two puffs of smoke, very close together, indicate that each occupant pulled their own ejection handle. David McNair, a former Transportation Safety Board investigator, says he doesn't hear an increase in thrust and wonders whether there was an engine problem. That month, the team was touring the country to lift spirits during the pandemic.

A Royal Canadian Air Force team from Ottawa is investigating the crash, which could take a year to clarify. The reports recall that there had been eight previous deaths in the team. They also explain that the aircraft were due to be retired that year, but it was decided to modernize them to keep them flying until 2030. They are inspected before every takeoff and disassembled and rebuilt every two years. Mitchell says he would fly the aircraft again without hesitation.