May 18, 2020
Such a tragedy
Everyone was so excited to see the Snowbirds. For my American readers they are the equivalent of your “Blue Angels”. Here at the park we would see them passing over us as they came from Kamloops to Penticton and onto Peachland and again when when they returned from Vernon back to the airport.
Sadly their flight was cancelled due to low cloud cover but they were still planning on passing over once they left Comox.
They left Kamloops about 11:45 for Comox, on Vancouver Island, a base that they use from time to time. Sadly something went wrong within seconds of take off and the plane ended up crashing into a residential area. Both occupants ejected too late and hit the ground ( roof tops ) and tragically Captain Jennifer Casey, a Public Affairs Officer, died. The pilot, Captain Richard MacDougall, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A shocking and huge loss for Canadians.
I read about the tragedy mere moments before Colin and I set off for our daily walk. We talked about the crash and wondered what would have happened if they had left at 10:00AM as planned to come to our area and airport. Would this still have happened? Instead they did not leave the Kamloops airport until 11:45AM and the worst possible happened.
This is the third female death from the Province of Nova Scotia within a month.
On Land, at Sea and in the Air. In less than a month Canada has mourned the tragic loss of three courageous and patriotic Canadian women who died while proudly serving their country. All hailed from our beautiful sister province of Nova Scotia and to all of their families and friends in the Maritimes and across the country, we grieve with you as a nation. We will always remember Constable Heidi Stevenson, RCMP, Sub Lt. Abbigail Cowbrough, Navy, and Captain Jennifer Casey, RCAF.
Meanwhile here today in Kelowna a group wanted to get together to honour the tragic death of Captain Jennifer Casey by doing a Snowbird Tribute flyover. They did a single line formation of 10 aircraft and two helicopters. You can read about it by clicking here. Pilots in the Vancouver area did the same thing with forty aircraft at 6PM tonight.
We were out at the edge of our patio next to the lake watching each plane take off.
There were ten planes.
And two helicopters.
I felt compelled to stand there and wave at each one as they passed by. Yes I had tears in my eyes and it was hard to swallow. So very special for these pilots to do this in honour of the Snowbirds and Captain Jennifer Casey.
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Such great pictures Colin got…we were up walking in the hill as they flew over..was so cool to see and such a lovely tribute!?
May all these fine women rest in peace.
I saw the crash reported down here on the news and my heart broke for her family. A beautiful tribute for her.
Definitely a sad time in our history to loose so many dedicated service women in such a short time.
What a terrible tragedy. I live in the Comox Valley were we have a airforce base. The Snowbirds practise here every April, although this year was of course very different. So very sad. Please tell Collin that as per usually he has outstanding pictures, although Contessa you do give him a run for his money. Thanks for the awesome blog…oxoxox