RCAF Training Flight Ends with Ejection

Mark Phelps

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 11:17 PM ET

Verified

** RCAF CT-156 Harvard II**

Key Takeaways:

An RCAF instructor and student safely ejected from a CT-156 Harvard II trainer due to an undisclosed landing gear malfunction during a routine training mission.
The decision to eject was made after another aircraft surveyed the issue and deemed a landing attempt too dangerous, leading to a controlled ejection.
Both pilots landed safely about five and a half kilometers from the airport, and while the C$8-10 million aircraft was lost, base officials considered saving lives a "very good outcome."
The wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed in an open field, will be examined to determine the cause of the gear malfunction.

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A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) instructor pilot and student now have an uneven number of takeoffs and landings in their logbooks. Both qualified for membership in the Caterpillar Club by ejecting from their Beechcraft CT-156 Harvard II trainer during a routine training mission. The Harvard II is the Canadian version of the Texan II trainer used by American military forces.

An undisclosed issue with the turboprop single’s landing gear led to the “controlled ejection.” When the pilots realized they had a problem with the gear, a second aircraft from the RCAF’s 15 Moose Jaw Wing launched from the Saskatchewan training base to survey the issue. The observers determined the problem could result in a dangerous landing attempt, so the Wing decided that an ejection was the prudent course of action.