Capt. Shawn McCaughey of Quebec was killed after his jet crashed Friday afternoon in Montana while preparing for a weekend air show. No one ejected from the jet after it broke formation and crashed.
The Snowbird pilots are great ambassadors of Canada and represent the thousands of men and women in our armed forces wonderfully. It is always sad to see a tragedy like this happen but these pilots all know the risk and are willing and able to take on this challenge which they believe in so strongly. It makes me proud to be a Canadian every time I am lucky enough to witness them first hand. I've been very fortunate to live in an Air Force town which has given me countless opportunities to see this team in action over the years.
By my count there have been six pilots who have died as a result of a crash while performing with the Snowbirds. This is the 36th year that the Snowbirds have been in operation after forming in 1971. There have been several more close calls with pilots having to eject due to malfunctions or coming into contact with each other. Thankfully the total number of deaths is not higher. I have always been a fan of Air Shows and up until recently, the annual Trenton Air Show was something I always looked forward to but that tradition appears to have come to an end with no mention of any further shows. The last Air Show in Trenton was in 2003 and like all of the Air Shows before then, I was in attendance.
The first time I saw the Snowbirds fly was in 1972 at the Trenton Air Show. It was just their second season and sadly, this was also the sight of their first fatality. I was almost 4 years old and I can still remember it today.
My mom and dad and my brother Scott and I were standing at the fence line watching the Snowbirds perform and were amazed by what we were seeing. They had already done a couple of maneuvers in formation and the two solo pilots were now doing their well known head on pass. The planes approach each other and at the right time they do a roll and avoid each other while giving the crowd a thrill.
The two planes passed in front of us. I don't remember hearing any sound of them clipping wings but I recall my mother saying, "Look, they're dropping leaflets." As it turns out it was actually aircraft parts falling to the ground. The Snowbird heading East went into a spin and flew into the ground and exploded on impact. The plane going West continued on into the distance and was wavering from side to side tipping its wings. The rest of the planes broke formation and a couple flew after the solo pilot still in the air while the remaining aircraft landed.
The fire trucks rolled and were on the scene but the damage had been done as Captain Lloyd Waterer (24) was killed instantly. I had heard from my uncle who was on the ground crew that day and was one of the first on scene that Captain Waterer did eject, but his plane was spinning so fast that he actually ejected while upside down and ejected into the ground.
It is my hope and my belief that this will not cause people to cry out that this team should come to an end and be disbanded. After previous incidents there has been talk of this happening but thankfully so far it has only been talk.
The only question might surround the aircraft themselves as they are an aging machine. The Canadair CT-114 Tutors have been a very reliable airplane and you can bet they receive thorough inspections on a regular basis but sometimes change can be good. I'm not sure what they'd be able to use instead but I'd love to see them flying CF-18 Hornets or something similar in the future. As long as they continue to fly and perform, I and many other Canadians will be happy.
Wow! I was also at that airshow in 1972 and witnessed the crash... I was 9 yrs old at the time and it sticks w/ me to this day. We were living in Trenton at the time and were guests of a neighbor who was in the military. Because we were guests of his, after the crash, we were wisked away to a terminal on a bus with mostly uniformed personnel. You could've heard a pin drop on that bus ride, it was very solumn as you can imagine. Once it was made clear that we were civilians not military, we were promptly released. I also recall that at some point in the show, (it may or may not have been the Snowbirds portion), but the planes had dropped yellow streamers onto the field and people climbed the fence to collect them as souveniers. Being a 9 yr old boy, I wanted to do the same and was promply told no by my mother. However, your mothers' comment about dropping leaflets made me think of that... but more disturbing is that directly after the crash, more people jumped the fence, ran across the field to collect pieces of the plane(s) that had fallen, and were dumb enough to pick them up, burning thier hands on the hot metal!! Even at 9 yrs old, I recall being sickened that people would want that type of memerobilla to take away with them... unbelievable!!
ReplyDeleteI was also 9: It was crazily windy. The Snowbirds were so low over us I could see the pilot's silhouette in the cockpit. They did a maneuver over us, then did the same on the far side of the field, where two planes' wings touched. One instantly crashed into a fireball, and as it hit, the explosion sent the lighter pieces falling down over us like snow. The other plane had damage on its wingtip, but kept flying in formation with the rest for a long time. They announced the name of the pilot, only 24 years old. I got sick when people tried to pick up pieces for souvenirs: thew up all night. It remans a vivid memory.
DeleteAnd I was there too, aged 17. The falling wingtip startled me and I thought they had deliberately dropped something - I was marvelling at the timing of the drop until I realized it was an airplane part. Shocking to this day.
ReplyDeleteI was also there. I was in grade 3, from Ottawa, my dad a pilot with the 421 squadron. I too was at the fence, saw the "stuff" falling down after the jets passed, and saw the huge fireball. The crash, and the weird robot that would talk to kids, is all I remember of that day.
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