Future of Snowbirds under question
Aging Tutor jets still safe, but plans are uncertain for replacement fleet
OTTAWA— Rugged, reliable, forgiving, stable. And with each passing year, increasingly geriatric.
The Canadair CT-114 Tutor jet has trained thousands of Air Force pilots and served as the head-turning steed for Snowbirds since the inception of the aerobatic team 50 years ago.
Although the jet is approaching six decades in service, experts say they have no worries about the safety of the aging airframes — thanks to skilled Air Force maintainers — even after a Sunday crash claimed a member of the team.
Still, there’s no escaping the reality that the clock is ticking on the Tutor jet. Uncertain plans to purchase replacement jets could prove to be the swan song for Canada’s Snowbirds.
The weekend crash in Kamloops, killing Capt. Jenn Casey, the team’s public affairs officer, and injuring pilot Capt. Richard MacDougall, has again turned a spotlight on the safety of the team and the plane it flies.
But two former Air Force commanders — retired lieutenant-generals Michael Hood and Andre Deschamps — attest to the safety of the jet, saying they never had concerns.
But they also wish that plans for a replacement aircraft — delayed because of cost constraints — had taken flight before this.
“Is it an old aircraft? Of course, it’s an old aircraft. I’d much rather have seen the team flying the same aircraft as our pilot training system is using,” Hood said.
With the Tutor now expected to remain in service until 2030, Hood and Deschamps said the replacement fleet for the team is tied to broader decisions over the coming decade on new aircraft purchased for Air Force pilot training, including a new jet to teach pilots skills needed for fighters.
Hood said that is the very plan he pushed during his time as Air Force commander, with additional aircraft acquired to ensure future training needs of the Air Force as well as provide a new fleet for the Snowbirds.
“That’s the hope right now, to find a synergy between the future Snowbirds and whatever fleet the Air Force lands on for training.” Deschamps said.
In the meantime, he notes that older aircraft are not inherently unsafe; they just require more work to keep them in good working order.
“The issue with older airplanes, as long as they are sound, it’s the cost of maintenance, access to spare parts, people who know how to fix them,” he said.
For the Air Force, the capability to maintain the plane is “not an issue,” Deschamps said.
The aircraft served as a trainer for Air Force pilots until 2000, prized for its stable handling, aerobatics and simple and reliable airframe. At that point, the Tutors in the best shape and with the lowest hours were set aside to continue flying with the Snowbirds.
“The airplanes themselves have lots of life on them, lots of spare parts,” he said. “Yeah, it’s going on 60 but it’s still doing the job it was designed to do and it’s doing it well.”
Lt.-Col. Mike French, commanding officer of 431Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Snowbirds, said that every 400 flying hours — about every two years — the jets are “torn down right to nothing and rebuilt.
“We’re dealing with basically an as-new, mint condition airplane,” he told a Monday briefing.
Prior to a day’s flying, they are inspected by avionics, aircraft structures and safety systems technicians “that go through the airplane and make sure it’s serviced properly,” he said.
“And then the pilot does a walk-around and makes sure that the airplane is safe prior to going flying,” he said.
In Sunday’s accident, the single-engine Tutor suffered an engine problem just as it departed Kamloops airport. On a video of their takeoff, a “pop” can be heard shortly after the plane becomes airborne.
Deschamps thinks the aircraft suffered a compressor stall, when airflow through the engine is disrupted causing it to partially or completely lose thrust. Hood wonders if the plane ingested a bird.
“It’s the worst time to have a problem, right after takeoff,” Deschamps said. “He didn’t have a lot of speed to exchange for altitude so he didn’t get a lot.”
During that climb, MacDougall would have likely been trying to get the engine going again.
“Then he would make an assessment. Is the RPM stabilizing? Is it coming up? If it’s not doing any of those, then you have to get out,” Deschamps said.
As airspeed bleeds off, the aircraft appears to lose lift and enters a dive. At that point, MacDougall and Casey eject from the jet low to the ground, giving little time for their parachutes to deploy.
“It was an edge-of-the-envelope ejection,” Deschamps said.