Monday May 18, 2020 ~ BC & NATIONAL
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Yet another blow in the onslaught of hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Snowbirds ‘Operation Inspiration’ series of airshow fly-bys across Canada hit a brick wall with the crash of one plane over Kamloops on Sunday May 17.
Snowbirds Public Relations Officer Capt Jennifer Casey was killed pretty much on impact, and the pilot Capt Richard MacDougall, is in hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Capt Casey was from Halifax and joined Canada’s armed forces in 2014; her skill set was journalism but she took to the skies with the Snowbirds air demonstration team.
The crash occurred around 11:42 am on the Sunday of the May long weekend.
The plane came down almost immediately after take-off alongside (or following) another plane, both aiming to head to Comox for the Vancouver Island leg of the Officer Inspiration program. There are nine CT-114 Tutor jets in the Snowbird fleet.
The plane hit the ground in a residential area of Kamloops near Glenview Avenue and Schreiner Street.
There was prompt arrival of first responders including firefighters to put out the fire on the impacted house(s) and BC Ambulance. A retired nurse happened to be in the vicinity and she tried to help Capt Casey including taking direction from a doctor by phone.
The day before, the Snowbirds Twitter account included a comment that the cloud cover in the Kamloops area did not look favourable for takeoff. But the ‘show must go on’, it appears.
Operation Inspiration:
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds were on a cross-country tour as part of Operation Inspiration, aimed at lifting the spirits of Canadians amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when the crash happened. It seems sadly ironic that it was their public relations officer who created the largest news splash of this federally-endorsed program.
The last day of the Operation Inspiration Program was to be flown over Vancouver Island, starting from the Comox air base.
In addition to COVID-19 impacting us all, this is the third blow distinctly to Nova Scotia … first the mass killing event there last month, then the helicopter crash near Greece killing six Halifax-based personnel, and now this Snowbirds crash with Capt Casey’s ties to Halifax.
The Snowbird fleet:
Over the years there have been other deaths of Snowbirds pilots and a passenger. This now makes two passengers.
The CT-114 Tutor aircraft fleet was first built in the 1960s and until now has been still on a schedule to operate until 2030 before new aircraft are brought in to replace them.
The fleet is grounded for now in light of yesterday’s events.
Unexpected result of the Snowbirds Operation Inspiration:
Both Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr Bonnie Henry today noted their sadness over the death of one of the Snowbirds personnel, ironically as the mission of flying over Canadian communities was to inspire, not bring more grief.
“The idea was to lift our spirits,” said Dix about “the difficult terrible events yesterday in Kamloops”.