Snowbirds team “upbeat” following crash, CO says

August 24, 2005
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Snowbirds aerial demonstration team has rallied together in the wake of the crash by one of its CT-114 Tutor jets, according to Major Ian MacLean, Commanding Officer of 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.

“The team is extremely upbeat at the moment,” said Maj MacLean, from Thunder Bay this morning. “We’ve come through and made the best of what could have been a very bad situation. Obviously we lost an aircraft last night but our pilot got out and he’s in great shape. I had dinner with him last night and breakfast with him this morning and except for a bruise on one foot, he’s doing great. Our biggest concern right now is getting to the bottom of what happened.”

Captain Andy MacKay safely ejected from his CT-114 Tutor jet thursday afternoon at about 5:25 p.m. during the warm-up phase before the Thunder Bay airshow.

Susan and Dennis Trevisanutto saw the incident from their back deck, near the heavily wooded area where Capt MacKay touched down via parachute.

“We saw the plane, we could hear the noise, and all of a sudden we could see some kind of problem at the back of the plane. We saw some smoke and then the pilot ejected from the plane,” said Susan Trevisanutto.

Fearing for Capt MacKay’s safety, Dennis Trevisanutto immediately jumped into his truck and headed for the woods.

“I figured I’m going to see if I can find the guy because who knows what condition he’s in,” said Mr. Trevisanutto. “I kind of followed the smoke the other Snowbirds were giving off overhead because I guess they could see where the pilot landed.

“Then I just kind of bumped into him in a swampy area. I just asked him if we was alright, he said ‘Yes’. We chatted on the way out, he was very calm. His biggest concern seemed to be where his aircraft had landed. I told him it went down in a scrap yard on top of some old cars so that made him feel a lot better.”

When the two emerged, local fire trucks and an ambulance were waiting to take Capt MacKay to hospital. He was treated for minor injuries and released shortly after.

“I would like to commend local citizens such as Mr. Trevisanutto for his concern for our pilot, and local emergency crews from Thunder Bay who demonstrated extreme professionalism in their rapid response to what could have been a very tragic circumstance,” said Maj MacLean.

Air Force Flight Safety investigators arrived on the scene this morning at approximately 10:30 to begin trying to determine the cause of the incident. The Snowbirds are scheduled to perform their next show this weekend in St. Catherine’s Ontario.

By Holly Bridges