Snowbirds Tutor Jet Crashes In B.C., One Dead

There's at least one video, taken by a resident while watching the jet depart, as one of two Tutor jets in a two-ship takeoff. All signs are normal until one of the jets climbs sharply---engine failure will be closely looked at---and seems to be turning back toward the runway from an altitude that looks to be greater than pattern altitude. Then, as it was part way through a 180 turn, it seemed to stall in close proximity to what look to be two ejection seats firing, before the jet dove nose first into the ground, causing a huge plume of black smoke.

The two aboard the plane were the pilot Captain Richard MacDougall, who received serious, non-life threatening injuries, and Captain Jennifer Casey, who died. It wasn't clear from the video when the chutes of the two were able to inflate, or if Casey's did inflate---MacDougall's chute must have opened for him to have survived. 

A former reporter from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Casey was the public affairs officer for the Snowbirds since 2014. As a radio journalist, she served as reporter, producer and on-air host for stations in both Nova Scotia and Ontario before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force. Her age wasn't immediately available.

The Snowbirds were participating in Operation Inspiration, a nine-jet demonstration tour that was making its way through Canada to inspire hope for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CT-114 is a two-seat, side-by-side single-engine jet that was manufactured from 1963 to 1966 by Canada as a domestic-built trainer.