Reports are 1 pilot dead, 1 injured.

Appears to be loss of control after takeoff, not sure if the pitch up was intentional, binding controls, or what.


Video at this link - https://youtu.be/oO_VeHRjZSI?t=22

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https://chicago.suntimes.com/n...ird-crash-pilot-dead

May 17, 2020 - "KAMLOOPS, British Columbia — A Canadian acrobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood Sunday during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show at least one person ejecting.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one member of the CF Snowbirds team has died and one has sustained serious injuries,” The Royal Canadian Air Force said in a tweet.

Canada’s defense department said emergency crews were responding to the crash at the airport in the city of Kamloops in British Columbia. The Snowbirds are Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds or U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.

Rose Miller lives directly across the street from where the plane hit. She’d watched the Snowbirds arrive on Saturday, and she went to her front window when she heard the roar of jet engines.

Miller said she heard a loud bang and wondered whether it might be a sonic boom. Then she watched the plane smash onto the ground.

“It looked to me like it was mostly on the road, but it just exploded. It went everywhere,” she said. “In fact, I got a big, huge piece in my backyard. The cops said it was the ejection seat.”

Miller said a couple in their early 70s lives in the home. Both are OK, she said, noting that she’d spoken with them after they were evacuated to a nearby street. The woman had been in the basement while the man was behind the house.

Miller said section of roof on a home on a nearby street has been covered up.

Video posted to Twitter by 6:10 a.m. in Kamloops appears to show two Snowbirds taking off from what is believed to have been Kamloops Airport. One of the aircraft subsequently climbed into the sky before rolling over and plunging to the ground. The video appears to show at least one person ejecting from the plane before it disappears behind a stand of trees and an explosion is heard.

“Our number one priority at this time is determining the status of our personnel, the community and supporting emergency personnel. When appropriate, more information will be made available,” the Department of National Defense said in a statement.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Kenny Hinds, who lives in a house seven doors down from the crash site, said it looked like the living room of the house where the crash occurred was on fire.

“I just started running down the street. And I got there maybe a minute after it crashed and there was a couple of residents that had their hoses out and they were trying to put the flames out because it hit a house,” he said. “It looked like most of it landed in the front yard, but maybe a wing or something went through the roof perhaps.”

Hinds had been watching the aircraft after hearing them take off, and said he was able to see the crash and saw “the Snowbird going straight down.”

“I saw what looked like a parachute about, say, 20 feet over the house, and it disappeared from sight, and the parachute hadn’t fully deployed yet — it was still sort of straight up and down,” he said.

Operation Inspiration started in Nova Scotia earlier this month and features the team’s signature nine-jet formation. It was aimed at boosting morale amid the pandemic.

Marni Capostinsky said she lives across the street from the crash site and was out on the deck when she heard the plane getting closer.

“We ran out under the cover to look and saw something black coming towards us, everyone hit the deck it was so loud,” she said.

Sunday’s crash follows the downing of another Snowbird in the U.S. state of Georgia last October, where the team was scheduled to perform in an air show. Capt. Kevin Domon-Grenier sustained minor injuries when he ejected from the plane, which crashed into a farmer’s field. No one else was hurt.

The Snowbirds have performed at airshows across Canada and the U.S. for decades and are considered a key tool for raising awareness about — and recruiting for — the air force. Eleven aircraft are used during shows, with nine flying and two kept as spares.

The air force obtained its Tutor jets in 1963 and has used them in air demonstrations since 1971. Prior to Sunday’s crash, seven pilots and one passenger had been killed and several aircraft had been lost over the course of the Snowbirds’ history."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RHINOWSO,

EDITED: The Youtube video was much better in terms of continuity. The Reuters video was the one that was edited somewhat.
It just pitched up and no recovery at all. /EDIT
That's tough to watch.

Don't know the first thing about it but altitude and angle of ejection are frightening from where I sit. Doesn't look like much chance for a chute to properly deploy or catch air.

A 2007 article with history of the team and the Tutor:

https://www.airspacemag.com/fl...e-jaw-nine-17052247/

quote:

Originally posted by Expat:
Don't know the first thing about it but altitude and angle of ejection are frightening from where I sit. Doesn't look like much chance for a chute to properly deploy or catch air.

Yeah, those planes and ejection seat technology are OLD.

Low altitude ejections are a rough regime and with that amount of decent rate, likely not in the 'ejection envelope'.

They needed to step out at the top to have a good chance of survival but were still likely fighting the issue.

That is sad to see. Three times I have watched the Snowbirds preform at air shows. The skill these Pilots have is amazing.

sad news

they were just in Nova Scotia about 10 days ago doing flyovers of the province

similar to that the Thunderbirds and Angels have been doing

It's being reported that the Snowbird pilot crew member killed was Captain Jennifer Casey, of Halifax NS, the Public Affairs Officer for the team.

From one of the news reports, it appears that the actual Kamloops airshow or fly by performance was the day before so maybe this 2-ship was transiting to the next location on the ongoing tour when the accident occurred.

Condolences to Captain Casey's family and to the Snowbird team.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Modern Day Savage,

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He was inverted at the top of the turn.

Bummer. Prayers for the family.

Just watched this via blancoliro channel on YouTube. You hear the engine bang/pop as flies by camera then immediately starts to pull up. Doesn’t look like a stall at top, but close then gets into a spin and does one full rotation then eject. Those seats are not great have limits to 305 kts and altitude limits not zero zero.

They were close to ground, moving fast in downward spiral and on edge of eject envelope. Really tough watch, no need to watch again. They may have been better off ejecting at top of climb, but who knows. Prayers to the families and crew.

I'll start by saying that I have an affinity for the Snowbirds. They used to perform at the High On Kalamazoo Air Show on the years opposite the Blue Angels. I had a chance to meet a couple of the pilots, they were good guys very typically Canadian.

This is pure speculation of course, but it does appear that they had some sort of mechanical or functional issue with the jet. Kudos to the pilot if he/she was trying to get it pointed away from a populated are before punching out. Unfortunately altitude was not in the their favor.

That is an old aircraft, old technology. Maybe it's time the RCAF consider updating for their flight demo team.

Nickels

Wow, that's hard to watch. I lost a friend under similar circumstances ejecting from a Hawker Hunter.For reasons only She will ever know ejection was delayed until the aircraft was to low.
Just speculation on my part, at the top of the zoom She saw the homes underneath the Jet and
was perhaps considering plan B when the Jet stalled and rolled over.
RIP Captain Casey.

quote:

Originally posted by FlyingScot:
Just watched this via blancoliro channel on YouTube.

That video helped me better understand what was happening.

That was a terrible video to watch. Prayers going up for those pilots and their families.

she was from my home town of Halifax

I always felt kinda bad for RCAF. They were flying the F104 and visiting us at KISAFB long after we retired the F104.
RIP Capt. Casey.

RIP Snowbirds Captain Casey.