August 25, 200520 yr Today, in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Canadian Snowbirds Aerobatics team plane crashed 3 minutes before the show was to start over our marina. The plane crashed into a back yard just outside the populated part of our city, 50 feet from a house. The resident was outside at the time and wasn't hurt. The pilot bailed out seconds before the crash so he could guide the plane into a safe area. I was at work at the time and was heading outside to watch what part of the show that I could see and all of a sudden one of the servicemen was yelling that a plane had gone down. I rushed outside to see the red and white striped parachute going down. The pilot was not injured and was rescued by another resident that happened to be right where he landed. The Emergency crews were there in minutes to put out the fire etc. Another eyewitness said that he saw the crash site and there was nothing resembling a plane left. It crashed into some old cars the guy had in his back yard. It was a very heroic effort by the pilot because he guided the plane across the whole city into the safe area and risked his life by bailing so late. Here is a map that shows the flight path of the doomed plane in red and the others heading to the airshow in blue. The 9 planes took off from the airport then all of a sudden two of them banked left and headed out over the city when the one pilot said his engine failed. The partner remained in the air above the crash signalling the emergency vehicles with white smoke unitl they arrived. My view point was fromt he yellow dot marked Transit. On a side note, the night after that was brutal because all the people that were at the air show left all at once and traffic was backed up forever and my bus was stuck in the middle of it. Oh well, nobody got hurt and that is the main thing. Here is the new release as of 10:00 tonight. A Snowbird plane has crashed in the woods on the outskirts of Thunder Bay. The pilot, 39-year-old Andy MacKay, ejected from the now-disintegrated Snowbird 8 plane and landed safely in a swampy area off Belrose Rd. and was found wandering away about half a kilometre from where the Snowbird went down. According an eyewitness who found MacKay in the woods, the shaken pilot was in good shape. I was wandering a little bit in the back fields and I didn't see anything, A team of investigators is expected in Thunder Bay tomorrow to begin unravelling what caused the crash of a Snowbird jet late this afternoon. The crash occurred shortly before five-thirty as the aerobatics team was warming up for the Thunder in the Air Airshow. Air Force officials say Snowbird 8, piloted by Captain Andrew MacKay, suffered a loss of thrust, resulting in the crash. The plane came down in a wooded area on the west end of the city, landing amongst some derelict cars. The aircraft exploded upon impact and several smaller secondary explosions were also reported. Capt. MacKay was able to eject before impact, parachuting into a clearing near the crash site. He was taken to Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre for treatment. But witnesses say his injuries, if any, were not serious. Officials immediately cordoned off the crash scene, and would not allow media to view the site. /monthly_06_2011/post-582-130810175764_thumb.jpg
August 25, 200520 yr Just amazing something like this has happened in our city, because of the crash our local news had something interesting to report, it was so crazy that tbt news was having trouble keeping everything running smoothly with reporting the crash trying to get the feed to work from the reporter who was at the scene. At least no one was seriously hurt. I know the area well where the crash took place but police doesn't want anyone going over there as a saftey precaution. And I was thinking about going to the air show too.
August 25, 200520 yr Author /me writes down the location of klink's sister. She's old enough to be your mother. LOL.
August 25, 200520 yr thats just... disgusting. and thank god no one died. canada seems to be pretty luck these days when it comes to plane crashes.
August 25, 200520 yr Nice reporting work Klink. I was northbound with bus at Harbourview/Junot at time. Heard John st bus driver call in on cb, "pilot parachute and plane crash site plume of smoke" directly ahead of him. I saw "puffing smoke" 1 mile away and circling wingman diving puffing smoke to direct emergency people. Awesome how pilot lost engine power half way between crash site and harbor making quick choice to not take harbor ditch route with lots of boats out waiting for harbor arial show, instead heading to nearby forest area, risking as few lives as possible. Staying with it til aprox 500 feet altitude, risky to himself of more time/distance/risk of explosion to be sure it would as likely as possible avoid roads/buildings/people. Trusting to quick response forest fire response. Witnesses said they saw it just before it veered away from harbor to country, do belly up, full throttle noise(this was just before air show full power inverted test of systems under stress which turned up a problem with engine), flames from exhaust, then smoke, then belly down and head to country at altitude of about 3,000 feet, quickly dropping. Amazing to me that without power he managed to move it about 2 miles to 500 feet before having to eject and let it drop at edge of country backyard and large forest area. I'm soooo glad it wasn't on my often used during game play "outhouse" Ofcourse they check every inch in preflight inspections as well as mechanics going thru it all prior. But some things like this inverted full power app can't be predicted til tested which they did just before show. These jets date from late 1960's. But have been kept up ofcourse with new parts. In my opinion, Air Shows put pilots at great risk. Risk that in my opinion should not be done. Putting one's life on the line to defend human rights somewhere is admirable. But for public entertainment ? That is atleast where i would draw the line, sorry. Reminds me of good movie called "Always" that has humor, action, fire bombing, great drama. Check it out.
August 26, 200520 yr Close, 1964 and I don't have half the problems of those planes. I don't know about that
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