The Royal Canadian Air Force has ordered an “operational pause” for its Snowbird demonstration squadron aircraft following a crash earlier this month.
Statement of Maj. Gen. Iain Huddleston, commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, says the CT-114 Tutor aircraft will not fly until an airworthiness risk assessment is carried out.
The decision to ground the planes comes after one of the planes crashed on Aug. 2 at the airport in Fort St. John, British Columbia
No one was injured when the pilot made a hard landing, and the Air Force says the cause of the accident remains under investigation.
A Canadian Forces Snowbird aircraft crashed after takeoff at Fort St. John on August 2. (Dave Lueneberg/Alaska Highway News)
The Air Force statement said a deliberate, detailed and extensive risk analysis will be conducted to ensure the safe resumption of the squadron’s flight operations.
It said the assessment would include whether the incident and its cause posed a risk to continued flight operations and what measures could be put in place to reduce the risks.
“Given that the cause of this incident remains to be determined by the airworthiness investigation authority, I have ordered an operational grounding of the CT-114 Tutor fleet while we continue our investigation and begin a thorough airworthiness risk assessment process,” Huddleston said in the statement Wednesday.
The nearly 60-year-old Tutor jets are projected to be in use by Snowbirds by 2030.
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