China News Agency, Toronto, August 10 (Reporter Yu Ruidong) Due to the recent flight accident of the Canadian Air Force "Snowbird" aerobatic team.
The Canadian military announced on August 10 that it had decided to temporarily ground all aircraft involved.
The "Snowbirds" aerobatic team is one of the most famous aerobatic teams in North America.
On August 2, a CT-114 trainer aircraft of the flight team participating in the Fort St. John Air Show in British Columbia suffered an emergency when it took off with a single pilot.
The pilots achieved a hard landing of the plane, but the plane was damaged.
The pilot was not injured in the incident.
The Air Force's flight safety unit is investigating the incident.
The Canadian Air Force currently has 20 CT-114 trainers, all of which are in the "Snowbird" aerobatic team.
The model is about 60 years old.
From the 1960s to 2000, this model has been the basic trainer of the Canadian Air Force.
According to the current plan, the model will serve the "Snowbird" flying team until 2030.
The Canadian military said the aircraft would not return to service until an airworthiness risk assessment was completed.
In recent years, the "Snowbird" flying team has experienced many flight accidents.
In October 2019, a CT-144 trainer plane of the flight team crashed before participating in a performance at the Atlanta Air Show in the United States, and the pilot survived.
A subsequent investigation confirmed that the cause of the accident was a malfunction of the engine fuel transmission system.
In May 2020, a CT-144 trainer plane crashed shortly after takeoff at the Kamloops Airport in British Columbia during the flight team's anti-epidemic national tour air show, killing one person and injuring one person on board.
Therefore, the flight team was completely grounded for more than 3 months.
The final investigation report confirmed that bird strikes caused the crash.
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