One Dead After Canadian Aerobatic Jet Crash

A CT-114 Tutor aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)’s aerobatic team crashed on Sunday, killing one crew member and injuring another.

“One member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was killed on Sunday May 17, 2020 and one other member injured in an accident involving a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CT-114 Tutor aircraft in the vicinity of Kamloops, British Columbia,” the Canadian Department of National Defense said in a statement.

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team were deployed on Operation INSPIRATION, a cross-Canada tour to lift the spirits of Canadians and salute front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of the accident, the CF Snowbirds were taking off from the airport in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The CAF are providing our members and their families with as much support as possible to help them through this difficult time.

A RCAF Flight Safety team will depart from Ottawa shortly to investigate the circumstances of the accident and will begin their work immediately upon arrival.

A Snowbirds pilot was forced to eject at the Atlanta Air Show in October 2019— his plane then fell in an unpopulated area.

On May 15, an F-22 stealth jet assigned to the 43rd Fighter Squadron, part of the 325th Fighter Wing currently based at Eglin Air Force Base crashed. The accident reportedly took place after a group of fighter jets performed a flypast to honor coronavirus first responders.