HAMPTON, Ga. - The Royal Canadian Air Force says one of its pilots is safe after he had to eject from his plane just before an aerobatics show in the United States.
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds said Capt. Kevin Domon-Grenier's jet crashed into an unpopulated area Sunday near Hampton, Georgia, and no one on the ground was injured.
The Snowbirds were set to perform at the Atlanta Air Show. Event organizers said they cancelled the rest of Sunday's show after the crash.
The Snowbirds said in a statement on Twitter that it is too early to speculate on what caused the crash.
Social media video from the air show held at the Atlanta Motor Speedway south of the city showed smoke rising from the downed jet well off in the distance.
CTV News Vancouver Island interviewed Domon-Grenier earlier this year while he was on Vancouver Island for the aerobatics team's annual training over the Comox Valley.
Domon-Grenier told CTV News he had dreamed about being a Snowbirds pilot since he was eight years old.
His wife, Capt. Sarah Dallaire, is also a Snowbirds pilot. She would have been in the show with her husband had his plane not crashed Sunday.
Together, the pair are the first-ever husband-and-wife team to fly with the Snowbirds. There have been married couples on the team before, but those couples have always been composed of a pilot and a technician, never two pilots.
"It's already amazing to share a military career with your spouse, but once you hit the dream that you wanted to do, being a Snowbird pilot, then that's even better," Domon-Grenier said at the time.
With files from the Associated Press
