Bird strike suspected as cause of fatal Snowbirds jet crash Trudeau says Russia not welcome at G7

Trump proposes welcoming country back to the Group of Seven

A brief preliminary report on the Snowbirds jet crash that killed Capt. Jennifer Casey says a bird was “in very close proximity” to an engine intake “during the critical phase of take-off.”

The five-paragraph report is accompanied by a photo of part of the wreckage, along with a photo of the Tutor jet in flight, with a red circle highlighting a bird close to the plane.

The air demonstration team was on its way on May 17 from Kamploops to Comox,

B.C. as part of Operation Inspiration, travelling across Canada to support Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Aircraft CT114161 was #2 of a formation of two CT114 Tutor aircraft,” the report said. “Two occupants were on board the aircraft, the pilot and the team’s public affairs officer.”

Casey, the public affairs officer and a native of Halifax, was killed in the crash. The plane’s pilot, Capt. Richard Macdougall was seriously injured but is recovering.

“After take-off aircraft CT114161 was observed gaining altitude and departing the formation,” the report said. “Shortly thereafter, the aircraft initiated a left turn, followed shortly by an abrupt steep nose low attitude. Both occupants subsequently ejected from the aircraft.

It said a “detailed analysis of video footage recovered for the investigation revealed one bird in very close proximity to the aircraft right engine intake ... during the critical phase of take-off.”

It reported that the probe is focusing on the possible bird strike as well as the performance of the plane’s escape system.

OTTAWA — Canada does not support Russia’s return to the Group of Seven, proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend, because Moscow continues to flout international law, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.

“Russia was excluded from the G7 after it invaded Crimea a number of years ago, and its continued disrespect and flaunting of international rules and norms is why it remains outside of the G7, and it will continue to remain out,” Trudeau said during his daily news conference.

Trump said on Saturday he would postpone a Group of Seven summit he had hoped to hold next month until at least September and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.

On Saturday Trump said the G7, which groups the world’s most advanced economies, was a “very outdated group of countries” in its current format.

When asked if he would attend the G7 if Russian President Vladimir Putin came, Trudeau did not answer, saying that there were still “many discussions” needed before the meeting.

But he did say the G20 group, which includes Russia, was a forum that included countries “we don’t necessarily have great relations with”.

“The G7 has always been a place for frank conversations with allies and friends who share so much. That’s certainly what I’m hoping to continue to see,” Trudeau said.

Trump spoke to Putin on Monday and informed him about his plans to hold an expanded G7 meeting later this year, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014 when Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, was U.S. president, after Moscow annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine. Russia still holds the territory, and various G7 governments have rebuffed previous calls from Trump to re-admit Moscow.