Tonight an #Exclusive on @GlobalNational: @globalnews has learned RCAF 01, the Prime Minister's plane and our version of Air Force One, is grounded till Aug 2020 after a runaway plane incident at CFB Trenton left the plane with a crushed nose and damage to its right engine #CAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews The plane was being towed from a ramp to Hanger 10 by a tractor through an area it does not normally use. When the civilian contractor ground crew realized that the tractor wouldn't fit in hanger, they went to hook up another and that's when the plane took off #CAF #RCAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews The ground crew had set chocks in front of the wheels to prevent it from rolling and put the parking break on. Neither stopped the plane, which rolled over the chocks, struck a tractor with the right engine and careened into the far wall of the hanger #CAF #RCAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews The plane only stopped when the front of the nose smashed into the wall of the hanger, crushing the front of the nose cone. The Air Force report notes ground crew tried to stop the rolling aircraft to no avail #CAF #RCAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews Amending this to note our friend at CBC @Murray_Brewster beat me to this which I just saw. We have some original details I'll add but Mr. Brewster got it up first.
@GlobalNational @globalnews The incident happened on October 18th. The #RCAF say they don't have sufficient detail about potential costs to provide an estimate at this time. Major Steve Neta, Director of Air Force Public Affairs says the other 2 Polaris and Challengers will supplement in the meantime #CAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews @Murray_Brewster Adding one more to this - our @davidakin tweeted it out first. So we were first it seems at the news from what I can see, and @Murray_Brewster first with the article :)
@GlobalNational @globalnews @Murray_Brewster @davidakin OK here's the timeline which is inside baseball but important for news orgs to be transparent. We noticed that the PM was not flying on his regular plane today. I knew there had been an incident with #RCAF 01 in October, so we followed up to see if had been patched up. (1/2) #CAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews @Murray_Brewster @davidakin The Air Force gave me a statement, which David then tweeted and I'm told then a flurry of questions from other outlets came in and we were all within about 30 minutes of each other. Not exclusive but we were first :) #RCAF #CAF
@GlobalNational @globalnews @Murray_Brewster @davidakin One Air Force source who has extensive knowledge of the planes tells me he has serious questions about whether the plane will fly again and compares the fix on the 30 year old plane to "giving a hip replacement to a 90 year old" #RCAF #CAF
