Ejection system to be overhauled in Snowbirds aircraft

The Snowbirds, Canada'smilitary aerobatic demonstration team,will be back in the air as soon as some maintenance work is done on their aircraftejection-seat system.

In arelease issued Friday, the Defence Department said the exactproblem, which had grounded the CT-114 Tutors for a week, had been identified and a fix was in the works.

The release didn't say how long it willtake to perform the necessary repairs.

Work has already begun to overhaul the affected parts, which willthen be inspected using an X-ray to ensure reliability.

"Individual aircraft, including the Snowbirds, will be returned to service once the overhauled lap belts have been installed," the release said.

Military planes using theejection system, the Ballistic Disconnect Link Assembly, had been grounded since June 12. The military called the move an "operational pause."

Thepause "demonstrates the effectiveness of the procedures we use in the air force," Maj.-Gen. Marcel Duval, commander of 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region, saidin the release.

"We caught the problem on the ground as part of our standard pre-flight checks ... [and] our people acted quickly to determine the problem and find a solution."

Twenty-fiveCT-114 Tutors were affected by the problem. The planes make up the show team and backups for the Snowbird demonstration squadron.

Summer isthe busiest time for the team, which travels to air shows across North America.

It isn'tknown exactly when the team willbe able to resumeits performance schedule, or what willhappen to any missed engagements.

A military spokesman told CBC News that the Snowbird planes were still in Bagotville, Que., where they were when the no-fly order was issued.

Lt. David Lavallee said that as of Friday, the planes werein the process of getting the overhaul work done and would return to their schedule as soon as they were ready.

According to the Snowbirds' website, the team had two scheduled shows in Bagotville on the weekend they were grounded. Since then, their schedule indicates they were supposed to be in Baddeck, N.S., and St. Thomas, Ont.

The next date on their schedule is June 24, in Orillia, Ont.