Air Force backs decision to keep Snowbirds grounded after 2026 season
· Toronto Sun
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The Royal Canadian Air Force is pushing ahead with its decision to ground the Snowbirds at the end of the year.
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While a spokesperson said the RCAF had considered keeping the aerobatics team flying in a limited capacity until the arrival of replacement planes in the early 2030s, they ultimately decided it was not practical due to “challenges sustaining the fleet.
“The engineering and technical support needed to continue Tutor operations has become increasingly unsustainable and the challenges of operating a 60-year-old aircraft in an air demonstration role continue to mount as the fleet faces multiple issues related to parts availability, obsolescence and difficulties with making necessary upgrades to the aircraft for airworthiness reasons,” Maj. Chelsea Dubeau said on Friday in an email to the Toronto Sun .
The comments came amid a push to keep the program going after the Department of National Defence announced last month that the Snowbirds were being temporarily grounded after this season despite spending $31.2 million to refurbish a fleet of 20 CT-114 Tutor trainer jets with new cockpits and aeronautics by May 2027.
Thirteen of those Tutors have already been received, although the rest will not be delivered , CBC News reported last week.
Snowbirds alumni want to keep program going
Since the decision to ground the Snowbirds was announced, alumni have pleaded for the program to continue by suggesting that the RCAF could follow the lead of Britain’s Red Arrows, which have pared down their nine-plane formation to seven for most events.
Members of the Snowbirds Alumni Association have also suggested that the RCAF consider reducing the length and complexity of performances and other measures to keep a “shining symbol of our very nation” airborne during what has been a turbulent time economically and geopolitically.
The Snowbirds are “one of very few Canadian symbols and are needed more than ever in these challenging times,” retired general Rick Hillier said when the “No Pause: Keep the Snowbirds Flying” campaign was announced on May 29.
The RCAF, however, cited the “cumulative airworthiness risks related to the age of the airframes, the engine and, in particular, the escape system” as reasons to keep the refurbished Tutor fleet grounded after this year.
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Tutors not representative of ‘modern RCAF’
Dubeau also said the decision was made because the Tutor is “no longer representative of a modern RCAF, Canadian Armed Forces or Canadian aerospace industry.”
(The feds plan to replace the Tutors with CT-157 Siskin II turboprops, a decision that Conservative MP Fraser Tolmie found questionable for a “premier air demonstration team” that should be using jets instead.)
As for concerns about the experience lost in pausing a program like the Snowbirds, Dubeau said they plan to consult with current and retired Snowbirds members and seek advice from partner nations that use the new planes, such as Australia, when the CT-157 is “eventually operationalized for the air demonstration role in the future.
“As the CT-157 Siskin II (PC-21) aircraft will be the future RCAF advanced flying training (fixed wing) aircraft as part of the future aircrew training program, many RCAF pilots will be familiar with the aircraft, thereby enhancing the Air Force’s ability to staff an air demonstration team,” Dubeau said.
Ex-pilot Maryse Carmichael had told the Toronto Sun that pausing the program indefinitely could come with increased risks and costs , noting that even as a former RCAF flight instructor at CFB Moose Jaw she needed six months of intense training with experienced Snowbirds to prepare for the following season.
“In three, four, five, six years from now, you can’t just go and say, ‘Oh, OK, we’ll pick it up and we’re going to go and fly an airshow,” the retired lieutenant-colonel said.