Snowbirds jet crashes shortly after making airport flyby

Kamloops, BC,. March 17, 2020 — Today, at around noon, a Canadian Forces Snowbirds jet crashed into a residential neighbourhood in Kamloops, British Columbia. It appears that two jets flew low past onlookers at the Kamloops airport after takeoff before quickly climbing and splitting off. After they split off, one of the jets did a roll and dive. At that point you see two puffs of smoke and what appears to be two ejections from the aircraft before it continued its descent.

The plane crashed rapidly afterwards and hit a nearby house. At this point there has been no word regarding injuries to the pilot and or crew member or the people living in the neighbourhood where the crash took place.

The Snowbirds aerobatics team was scheduled to do an ‘Operation Inspiration’ flyover in the Okanagan area today, like they have been doing across the country over the past few weeks. Operation Inspiration is a salute to Canadians and front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cross Canada journey began two weeks ago in Nova Scotia and included flybys in Toronto and Montreails. The CF Snowbirds were in Alberta on the previous day to the scheduled Okanagan flight.

Footage of the flyby and crash was taken by witness, Shannon Forrest and posted by @RadioNLNews on Twitter. See below:

The Royal Canadian Air Force issued the following statement regarding the crash:

The #RCAF has been made aware that a Canadian Forces Snowbirds aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Kamloops, BC. Our priority at this time is determining the status of our personnel and supporting emergency personnel. When appropriate, more information will be made available.