Image Credit: Twitter/Steve Delaney
May 17, 2020 - 12:20 PM
One of the snowbirds set to fly from Kamloops to Comox this morning has crashed in a Kamloops neighbourhood.
Witness Mike Trafford lives about a block and a half away from the crash site on Glenview Avenue, he said.
Trafford said he was watching the snowbirds take off this morning at about 11:40 a.m., and watched as one of the jets did a barrel roll, which he didn’t think was unusual until he saw that the pilot was ejected from the plane.
“I’m really in shock. This whole thing with the snowbirds over the last couple of days was to bring us some hope and to cheer people up and the day after they do their flyover something like this happens,” he said.
A video shared on Facebook by Saro Houssikian shows ejections from the plane before it crashed. A witness who asked not to be identified said he saw a body of a woman in the backyard of a house on Schreiner Street.
Emergency crews are on scene in Brocklehurst. A parachute can be seen on a roof of a house in the neighbourhood and firefighters are cleaning up after a fire, which started when the plane crashed into a home. The home's occupants were not injured. The RCMP and Canadian Forces have not released additional details on the status of the people in the plane.
Witnesses report that a pilot was taken to the hospital with serious injuries after he was ejected from the plane.
The jets were set to take off from Kamloops at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 17, according to the group’s Facebook page, and planned to fly over Merritt, Princeton, Penticton, Summerland, Peachland, Vernon, and Lake Country before landing in Kelowna at 11 a.m. However, the timing changed due to weather and they were flying to Comox this morning instead.
The snowbirds are crossing the country to salute Canadians doing their part to fight the spread of COVID-19. This unique mission is being aptly dubbed Operation INSPIRATION, according to the Canadian Forces in a news release.
The Canadian Forces confirmed a snowbird aircraft crashed in Kamloops, according to their media personnel.
"This is a developing situation. Our number one priority at this time is determining the status of our personnel, the community and supporting emergency personnel. When appropriate, more information will be made available," according to an email sent from the Canadian Forces. "We are thankful for the ongoing support of emergency crews, including the Kamloops airport's aircraft rescue fleet, who are responding to the incident."
Cory Pelton captured the take-off and crash on video.
Warning: Video contains explicit language.
— This story was updated at 11 a.m. May 18 to edit the description of the nature of the ejections.
— This story was corrected at 6:46 a.m. May 22. Initial reports from residents that the jet exploded mid-air were not correct.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2020