CANADA - Snowbird jet crashes into house in Kamloops, B.C. - 17 May 2020

[LadyL]

Before Sunday's crash, Snowbirds had lost 7 pilots and 1 passenger since 1972.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snowbirds-incidents-crashes-timeline-1.5573947

I counted 16 incidents since 1972 on the above timeline.

 

[Hatfield]

Before Sunday's crash, Snowbirds had lost 7 pilots and 1 passenger since 1972.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snowbirds-incidents-crashes-timeline-1.5573947

I counted 16 incidents since 1972 on the above timeline.

Wow. I had no idea it was that many over the years. It is a dangerous thing to fly so close together and do the airshow tricks so I guess it makes sense there were accidents over the years but I didnt realize there were that many.

Since this recent accident seems to be an engine related issue, it makes it especially sad to me. They rely on their equipment and something went terribly wrong with the plane.

I heard the "popping" sound that was mentioned as the plane flew overhead the person who was filming one of the videos. So I do believe they are right that some sort of engine issue or mechanical failure happened.

 

[Hatfield]

Before Sunday's crash, Snowbirds had lost 7 pilots and 1 passenger since 1972.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snowbirds-incidents-crashes-timeline-1.5573947

I counted 16 incidents since 1972 on the above timeline.

For comparison,
The US "Thunderbirds" is a similar group in the US that does air shows. They also have had their share of incidents. Not as many deadly ones but plenty of other close calls and other incidents.

A few older articles about the US Thunderbirds incidents.

"The Thunderbirds are America's top guns, executing the most extraordinary combat maneuvers in formation."

"It was the third crash of a Thunderbird jet in the past two years and the first death in 35 years."

Deadly Thunderbirds crash marks 4th military aircraft incident this week

LIST: Thunderbirds accidents and crashes

 

[Hatfield]

One thing I wanted to add about the Snowbird crash that I learned about years ago.

I thought about it when I saw the picture of the one pilot on the roof of that house who got injured and was being helped by others.

Canadian Snowbird acrobatic jet crashes during pandemic show

The ejection seats in those jets are a last resort and I had heard that it can be a very violent exit from the plane. A person can be injured by the ejection itself. The seat of the plane literally has to be jettisoned up and away from the plane with force. Then once in the air, the person has to be jettisoned away from the seat. I think it is basically small explosive type or small rocket engine type devices that cause those things to happen and it can be a very violent exit.

The bottom line is you dont want to pull the ejection release unless you know its the last resort. They obviously realized they had to get out of the plane. Unfortunately there was not enough distance to allow the 2nd person's chute to open in time before the ground came upon them.

I am pretty sure the one who landed on the roof had a rough impact too. Just glad at least one of them survived and I hope they recover fully.

I had a friend that used to parachute for fun and I got to learn about how parachutes work and he showed me how he packed his. One thing I found interesting. My friend would never allow anyone to pack his chute. He always did it himself and I suppose that makes sense.

The ejection seats in the plane of course already have the parachute as part of the ejection seat so its not like they packed chutes for themselves. It is more like a car air bag system where the chute would always be packed with talcum powder or something that keeps it from sticking to itself so that when an ejection is necessary the chute will open ok.
Maybe there is a yearly check of it or something along those lines but I am pretty sure its all part of the ejection seat mechanics and is not something they typically would ever have to use.

Thankfully the ejection seats worked as designed. They just needed more altitude unfortunately. The ground came too fast for the chute to open properly.

 

[LadyL]

One thing I wanted to add about the Snowbird crash that I learned about years ago.

I thought about it when I saw the picture of the one pilot on the roof of that house who got injured and was being helped by others.

Canadian Snowbird acrobatic jet crashes during pandemic show

The ejection seats in those jets are a last resort and I had heard that it can be a very violent exit from the plane. A person can be injured by the ejection itself. The seat of the plane literally has to be jettisoned up and away from the plane with force. Then once in the air, the person has to be jettisoned away from the seat. I think it is basically small explosive type or small rocket engine type devices that cause those things to happen and it can be a very violent exit.

The bottom line is you dont want to pull the ejection release unless you know its the last resort. They obviously realized they had to get out of the plane. Unfortunately there was not enough distance to allow the 2nd person's chute to open in time before the ground came upon them.

I am pretty sure the one who landed on the roof had a rough impact too. Just glad at least one of them survived and I hope they recover fully.

I had a friend that used to parachute for fun and I got to learn about how parachutes work and he showed me how he packed his. One thing I found interesting. My friend would never allow anyone to pack his chute. He always did it himself and I suppose that makes sense.

The ejection seats in the plane of course already have the parachute as part of the ejection seat so its not like they packed chutes for themselves. It is more like a car air bag system where the chute would always be packed with talcum powder or something that keeps it from sticking to itself so that when an ejection is necessary the chute will open ok.
Maybe there is a yearly check of it or something along those lines but I am pretty sure its all part of the ejection seat mechanics and is not something they typically would ever have to use.

Thankfully the ejection seats worked as designed. They just needed more altitude unfortunately. The ground came too fast for the chute to open properly.

I didn't know most of that. Very interesting.

 

[LadyL]

You're home now Captain.

Snowbird Capt. Jenn Casey's remains return to Halifax LIVE

 

[Vern]

A stream of her return here (if you have facebook):

Homecoming of Captain Jennifer Casey | La capitaine Jennifer Casey rentre chez elle