Major-General Iain Huddleston, Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Operational Airworthiness Authority, has lifted the operational pause on the CT-114 Tutor fleet effective September 20.
The operational pause was implemented following an accident involving a 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron (known as the Snowbirds) CT-114 Tutor aircraft on August 2, 2022 in Fort St. John, B.C. The Operational Airworthiness Authority implemented the operational pause on August 8 after consulting with the RCAF's Directorate of Flight Safety (DFS) investigators and with experts from the Technical Airworthiness Authority within the Department of National Defence's Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel).
An operational pause means aircraft (either specific aircraft or a fleet) temporarily stop flying until an operational airworthiness risk assessment can be completed, and it is safe for flying operations to resume. In this case, the accident remains under investigation by DFS, but the investigation to date has yielded enough information for a thorough risk assessment to be conducted. The initial From the Investigator report from DFS has been released and confirmed that the engine failure was due to an improperly assembled oil filter. The investigation is now analyzing the human factors that may have contributed to this occurrence.
The team will resume flying at their home base of 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Sask. this week. Next week, the Snowbirds' CT-114 aircraft currently in Penticton and Fort St John, B.C. will begin returning to 15 Wing.
The type of precision flying in the Snowbirds' aerobatic performances requires a very high level of proficiency, which in turn necessitates a great amount of practice. Given that the team has not flown since the August 2 accident, there is not enough time left for them to conduct the number of practices necessary to return to form for their scheduled shows. Accordingly, the team's remaining scheduled performances for 2022 have been cancelled.
