Defence admits Snowbirds’ ejection system out-of-date
Department had intended to replace seats in 2015, but instead planned updates
VANCOUVER— The Defence Department has confirmed that the ejection system on the Snowbirds jet that crashed and claimed the life of Capt. Jenn Casey was not the most updated version of the equipment available, although it did get an upgrade in 2003.
Experts say more modern systems offer a better chance of surviving ejection in the conditions under which the Snowbirds fly.
The department had plans to replace the Canadian Forces fleet’s ejection system as far back as 2015, the Star has previously reported.
An interim report released Monday by the Defence Department’s director of flight safety, which suggested the jet may have failed due to a bird strike, outlined the different outcomes for the two occupants who ejected from the jet, Casey and the pilot, Capt. Richard MacDougall, who survived.
“The two occupants ejected the aircraft however one received serious injuries and the other received fatal injuries,” the report states.
The fact that one occupant of the plane survived and the other did not was top-of-mind for aviation safety experts directly after the tragedy.
They pointed out that older ejection systems, such as those on the CT-114 jets built in the 1960s, give those who eject a good chance of survival in certain conditions — the jet would have to be at a certain altitude, and travelling at a certain speed, to work optimally.
Modern ejection systems are known as zero-zero systems because they work at zero altitude and zero speed, in other words, when a plan is on the ground.
Modern systems are capable of much more than their older counterparts.”
The Department of National Defence on Monday confirmed that the Snowbirds jets use a seat called the Weber CL-41 ejection seat, which is original to the aircraft.
But the system has been updated at least once since the planes came into action in the 1960s. In 2003, they were “upgraded to improve seat/occupant separation during ejection,” a defence spokesperson wrote in an email.
The military has been aware of the aging nature of the CT-114 ejection system, and has expressed a need to replace it as far back as 2015, when the national Defence Department released a report on a project then called the CT-114 Life Extension Beyond 2020.
“The upgrade may include replacing wing components, replacing the ejection seat with a zero/zero capability and improving the wheel breaks to allow operations at remote locations,” the 2015 document reads.
A zero-zero system would have to be tested to make sure it fits in the CT-114 jet, said John Pottinger, a longtime aviation safety expert based in Vancouver, If it doesn’t, he said the department would have to ask itself whether it’s worth flying the aging planes with out of date ejection technology.
Monday, the defence spokesperson said the project’s aims had changed, as it pertains to the ejection system.
The department conducted testing in 2016 to evaluate the performance of the Weber seat, the department wrote.
“Based on those results, it was determined that the most effective way to improve the system would be through a parachute upgrade program, which will identify and assess candidate canopy designs, perform testing for airworthiness clearance, and eventually implement a new parachute system in the CT114,” the statement goes on. “We are still very early in the project.”
The department said escape systems are always investigated in accidents involving ejections.