These pilots are so skilled that its hard to believe human error. Though even that may be the case I guess.
Big loss whatever the cause.

Damn.

built in the 60s. It appears the pilot ejected and landed on the roof of a house, no word about his condition.

was trying to climb, probably so the pilots could have enough time for their chutes to properly deploy when they ejected.

Per Global BC, one pilot survived and the other did not.

You can definitely hear the 'pop' as the aircraft passes the guy that filmed that sequence.

I've seen them perform a few times, and they do a very graceful and technically perfect show. The US Navy Blue Angels are all about speed and power, the USAF Thunderbirds are precision. The Snowbirds put on a much more 'relaxed' show. I've also seen the British Red Arrows and Italian Frecce Tricolori demonstration teams.

From CBC coverage it looks like it was most likely something mechanical. The planes are Canadair CT-114 Tutor models, produced from the 1960's until 2000. The Snowbirds regularly swap out their planes with Canadian Forces trainer aircraft so they are flying low flight-time airframes. They are maintained to the highest standards.

Here's a CBC link to the latest news:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/plane-crash-kamloops-1.5573930

A great loss.

The team had done their flyby yesterday, and today they were departing for Vancouver Island (which is why there were two people aboard the aircraft...the pilot and the technician assigned to the aircraft).

Unlike the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, this team doesn't have additional support aircraft and equipment that travels with them - everything is carried in these planes, including maintenance equipment and parts and the maintenance personnel when going from one place to another. The pilots fly solo during the demonstration flights, then they load up everything and head to the next location.

Another station just interviewed a retired Snowbirds pilot. He said he had seen the videos (there are several) and everything about the takeoff appeared to be normal operations. It's unclear as of yet what the malfunction was - the main possibilities appear to be control problems or engine flameout. In a flameout on takeoff situation the pilot would most likely try to gain as much altitude as possible to give them some additional time to attempt a restart.

Very sad situation.

Sad & unfortunate turn of events.

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From another link . . .

"The Snowbirds aerobatics team was scheduled to make a trip from Kamloops to Vernon today as part of Operation Inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Operation Inspiration started in Nova Scotia earlier this month and features the team’s signature nine-jet formation. It was aimed at boosting morale as Canadians continue to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheduled start of Sunday’s activities was delayed by rain and low visibility. Operation Inspiration followed a similar initiative south of the border, where the U.S. military’s own flight demonstration teams have been flying in honour of front-line workers and first responders."

https://cfjctoday.com/2020/05/17/plane-crash-in-brocklehurst/

MORE at link - plenty of images, and updates

They were almost done - They started on the East Coast . . . Kamloops is only about 250 miles from Vancouver on the West Coast.

So sad



W