Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Canadian Snowbird jet crashes


The Canadian Forces Snowbirds rehearse Friday for weekend performances over Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. One of the jets crashed later, killing the pilot. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Matt Gouras Associated Press

GREAT FALLS – A Canadian Forces Snowbird plane crashed Friday at Malmstrom Air Force Base while rehearsing for performances this weekend there, killing the pilot, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The Canadian military identified the pilot as Capt. Shawn McCaughey, 31, of Candiac, Quebec.

The crash occurred at 3:45 p.m., when a group of planes were practicing maneuvers above the base. One plane left the formation and “for some reason shortly thereafter pitched down and crashed,” FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said. No one ejected from the single-engine jet, he said.

Maj. Robert Mitchell, commanding officer, Canadian Forces Snowbirds, said the plane was flying upside down about 300 feet off the ground in a “routine maneuver” when it went down.

The team had been in the air for about 45 minutes when the crash occurred, said Mitchell, who was flying lead plane. McCaughey made no radio contact and did not indicate he was having trouble, he said.

“Our team is devastated, and we miss him,” Mitchell said during a press conference late Friday at Malmstrom. “He was one of our keenest Snowbirds.”

McCaughey, who was in his second year with the Snowbirds, was a “very charismatic, lovable guy,” Mitchell said. He leaves behind a fiancee.

The rest of the team planned to stay at Malmstrom for awhile and assist with the investigation, Mitchell said.

Col. Richard Foster, commander of 15 Wing Moose Jaw, said McCaughey was a veteran pilot and part of a group of some of the finest pilots in the world.

“He was a very professional pilot,” Foster said Friday night at a news conference in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan – the home base of the aerobatic squadron.

“The team will take an operational pause to remember Shawn McCaughey like we need to, and then we will go back and do the rest of the show season,” he said.”

Lt. Jeff Noel, a spokesman for 15 Wing Moose Jaw, said all the Snowbirds participating in the practice run in Montana were veterans, though he couldn’t say exactly how many planes were in the air at the time of the incident.

Including Friday’s death, six Snowbird pilots have died in crashes since 1972.

The Snowbirds perform high-speed, low-altitude maneuvers in nine Canadair CT-114 Tutors and are part of the Canadian Air Force.

The team was scheduled to perform today and Sunday at Malmstrom.

The Malmstrom runway is closed, so the team took off and was to land at the Great Falls International Airport on Gore Hill.

An event organizer said Malmstrom’s open house would continue, but the Snowbirds air show has been placed on hold.

Gregg Dart, head football coach for Great Falls High School, was sitting in his car on the highway just outside the air base when three of the Snowbirds approached, flying low.

“My son said, ‘Dad, look at their wings,’ ” he told the Tribune. “And as I looked, the wing wiggled up and it went straight down.

“It was less than a second before it hit the ground,” Dart said. “There was a thud, then the shock wave of it hitting. After that, there was a big black cloud and the smell of jet fuel.

“The two planes came back, circled over the top and then went on,” he said. “I didn’t see a chute – that was the first thing I looked for, but I didn’t see anything. And they were so low that I can’t imagine anyone getting out.”