Canada grounds its Snowbirds again
Snowbirds in formation. (Photo: CAF/Master Seaman Roxanne Wood)
The Royal Canadian Air Force temporarily suspends operations with its 11 CT-114 display jets.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fleet of 11 Canadair CT-114 Tutor jets flown by the Snowbirds display team in 431 Air Demonstration Squadron has been placed on ‘operational pause’ once again, following an accident involving one of the aircraft on 2 August.
The Canadian Department of National Defence announced on 10 August that the RCAF Operational Airworthiness Authority implemented the grounding and ‘will conduct a deliberate, detailed and broad risk analysis, with the aim of enabling the safe resumption of CT-114 flying operations’ once an operational airworthiness risk assessment is completed.
The cause of the accident — in which nobody was injured after the CT-114 crashed after take-off from Fort St John — remains under investigation by the RCAF’s Directorate of Flight Safety.
Canadian CT-114 aircraft were previously temporarily grounded after a crash in May 2020.
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