They always thrilled me as a kid, still do. Condolences on this sad day edit, a parachute was spotted, they might be okay https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/plane-crash-kamloops-1.5573930
No loss of life from what I have read. Those jets are approximately 55 to 60 years old. Little wonder theses things happen. It has been projected that these planes will fly until 2030! In the history of the Snowbirds, there have been a number of fatalities. Some from mechanical failures, and some from collisions. The ‘Birds are based in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. We lived there for 18 months in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Back then, the tallest building in Moose Jaw was likely 8 or 10 storeys. There’s no thrill like seeing these planes fly over at an elevation of under 2000 feet!
There is video of the takeoff and ejection. I hope the flight crew and everyone on the ground are okay. https://twitter.com/supermario_47/status/1262101139966750720
It now appears that the pilot of the Tutor jet may not have survived. Two members of the Snowbirds team is a man and his wife who is also a pilot. I shudder to think! I guess we are at the mercy of the news media for all the factual information.
When I saw it was a Tudor that crashed I was more than a little disgusted as they were obsolete when I was a cadet... and we won't go into how long ago that was. Whether it was the aircraft's fault or not, Its sad that we stick our display team with aircraft that are substantially older than the pilots that fly them. A very sad occurrence.
The recent tragedy of an RCAF helicopter going down in the Ionian Sea, at the cost of six members of the Air Force. And this was a CH 148 Cyclone which began replacing the geriatric SeaKing helicopters is 2018. Age of a particular aircraft can certainly be a factor in tragedies like the Snowbird crash at Kamloops, but the CH 148 Cyclone was a new air craft. Although, from what I have read, there was a great deal of controversy over the choice of the Cyclone, when the decision was made. I think I’ll stick to terra firma. The more firma, the less terra! Regarding the CH 148 crash, I think the cause of that crash has yet to be determined.