1 Dead in Canadian Snowbirds Jet Crash

Published: 5/19/07, 1:25 AM EDT
By MATT GOURAS
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A Canadian Forces Snowbirds jet crashed Friday afternoon during rehearsal for weekend performances at Malmstrom Air Force Base, killing the pilot, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The Canadian military identified the pilot as Capt. Shawn McCaughey, 31, of Candiac, Quebec.

The crash occurred at 3:45 p.m., when a group of five planes was practicing maneuvers above the base.

The plane broke from the formation and "for some reason shortly thereafter pitched down and crashed," FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said. McCaughey was the only person in the single-engine jet, and he did not eject.

Major Robert Mitchell, the Snowbirds' commanding officer, said the plane was flying upside down about 300 feet off the ground in a "routine maneuver" when it went down.

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Very sad. Rest in peace.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, —and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

RCAF Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee
Written shortly before his death in 1941.