First responders were called to the North Peace Regional Airport in Fort St. John, B.C., on Tuesday afternoon to respond to what officials are describing as an “aviation incident.”
In a social media post, the Fort St. John International Air Show said the aircraft went down during takeoff.
Canadian Armed Forces Public Affairs Officer Major Trevor Reid confirmed Tuesday an incident occurred involving the CT-114 Tutor aircraft.
The jet, which had completed a weekend show in the remote city in the northeastern part of the province, apparently stalled on takeoff, a defence source told CBC’s Murray Brewster.
The pilot managed to turn the jet around, return to the airfield and landed, but the aircraft blew past the end of the runway, said the source, who was familiar with the accident but not authorized to speak publicly.
A Canadian Forces Snowbird aircraft went down after takeoff from the North Peace Regional Airport on Aug. 2, 2022. (Dave Lueneberg/Alaska Highway News)
Reid said two Snowbirds were in town for the air show over the weekend. They are scheduled to be in Penticton, about 1,100 kilometres south of Fort St. John, this coming weekend.
Reid said it’s too early to say what caused the incident and an investigation is underway. It’s unclear how long the investigation will take, but he said the results would be made public.
The RCAF is aware of an incident at the Fort St John, BC Airport today involving a CT-114 Tutor aircraft of 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron on takeoff. The aircraft was able to land on the airfield, but suffered some damage to the aircraft in the process. <a href=”https://t.co/BLh2ORllbV”>pic.twitter.com/BLh2ORllbV</a>
According to Reid, the pilot did not sustain physical injuries. B.C. Emergency Health Services told CBC the pilot was taken to hospital in stable condition to be assessed.
In a statement, the City of Fort St. John says by the time firefighters arrived, the fire had been extinguished by the airport’s fire department.
“We certainly are very appreciative of the swift response by the Fort St. John airport fire rescue services,” Reid said.
“Despite all of the safety precautions that are taken, incidents do happen, and it’s heartbreaking in the air show world,” the Fort St. John International Air Show said.
Officials are asking local residents to avoid the area as emergency crews continue to work.
Several appearances by the Snowbirds have been cancelled this year because of a problem with the aircraft’s ejection parachute deployment.
On May 18, 2020, a CT-114 Tutor Snowbird aircraft went down in Kamloops, B.C., killing Capt. Jenn Casey, a public affairs officer with the Snowbirds, and seriously injuring pilot Capt. Richard MacDougall. A bird strike was determined to be the cause of that crash.
Aviation journalist Mark Miller told CBC that while many are quick to point out the age of Snowbirds’ jets and concerns around safety, he couldn’t recall a time there’s been a maintenance issue with a Snowbird jet in the past 10 years.
“Any time something happens with an aircraft, even a minor incident, it gets attention,” he said.
Miller, who has been in Snowbird jets “many, many times,” said the age of an airplane is determined by the number of hours they’ve been flown, as opposed to the number of years it’s been in operation.
“If there was a problem, I know that we would hear that … from people who are retired and no longer flying the jets. They would be calling for its replacement,” he said. “But we don’t have that happening.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
