One killed as Canadian aerobatic jet crashes

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia－A Canadian aerobatic jet crashed shortly after takeoff during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show the plane's crew ejecting.

The crash left debris scattered across a neighborhood near the airport in the city of Kamloops, 420 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, on Sunday. The Snowbirds are Canada's equivalent of the US Air Force Thunderbirds or US Navy's Blue Angels.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "saddened" by the death of Captain Jennifer Casey, who served as a spokeswoman for the Snowbirds, and the injuring of Captain Richard MacDougall, one of the team's coordinators and pilot of the aircraft who survived landing on the roof of a house.

"For the past two weeks, the Snowbirds have been flying across the country to lift up Canadians during these difficult times," Trudeau said in a statement. "Their flyovers across the country put a smile on the faces of Canadians everywhere and make us proud."

The morale-boosting mission is now on indefinite hold and the fleet of Tutor jets has been placed on operational pause.

Video posted on the internet appears to show two Snowbirds taking off from Kamloops Airport. One of the aircraft subsequently climbed into the sky before rolling over and plunging to the ground. The video appears to show at least one person ejecting from the plane before it disappears behind a stand of trees and an explosion is heard.

A resident who lives seven houses from the crash site and had been watching the aircraft said he saw "the Snowbird going straight down".

"I saw what looked like a parachute about, say, 20 feet (nearly 6 meters) over the house, and it disappeared from sight, and the parachute hadn't fully deployed yet－it was still sort of straight up and down," Kenny Hinds said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Sunday's crash followed the downing of another Snowbird in the US state of Georgia in October, where the team was scheduled to perform in an air show. Captain Kevin Domon-Grenier sustained minor injuries when he ejected from the plane, which crashed into a farmer's field. No one else was hurt.

The Snowbirds have performed at air shows across Canada and the United States for decades and are considered a key tool for raising awareness about－and recruiting for－the air force. Eleven aircraft are used during shows, with nine flying and two kept as spares.

The air force obtained its Tutor jets in 1963 and has used them in air demonstrations since 1971. Before Sunday's crash, seven pilots and one passenger had been killed and several aircraft had been lost over the course of the Snowbirds' history.

Agencies - Xinhua