Katherine Bickford

The Canadair CT-114 Tutor was the Royal Canadian Air Force  standard jet trainer, between the early 1960s and 2000.

The CT-114 Tutor was designed and manufactured by Canadair Limited to Royal Canadian Air Force specifications. The first delivery took place on October 29, 1963, and the aircraft were put to use as the RCAF’s basic jet trainer. By 1967, 190 aircraft, designated CL-41 by Canadair, had been delivered to the RCAF, and 20 CL-41Gs for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

Tutors were first used as an aerobatic aircraft in 1967, when 10 were modified for used by the Golden Centennaires team to celebrate Canada’s centennial. The team flew for just one year, but in 1970 pilots at 2 Canadian Forces Flying School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, began flying the Tutor again as a demonstration aircraft.

In 1971, the team was dubbed the Snowbirds and in 1975 the Snowbirds became the Canadian Forces Air Demonstration Team. Three years later, they were organized as a squadron: 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.

Tutors are flown by the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and by the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta. In 2000, the RCAF replaced the Tutor as a training aircraft with the CT-156 Harvard II and the CT-155 Hawk.

Controls and systems of the Tutor are relatively simple with hydraulic power to the landing gear, flaps,speed brakes and nose wheel steering, and manual flying controls.

The cabin is pressurized and zero-level ejection seats are fitted. The aircraft is certified for Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) conditions and is equipped with all necessary instrumentation for navigation, instrument and night flying training.

• Crew: Two
• Wingspan: 11.12 m
• Wing area: 20.4 sq m
• Height: 2.84 metres
• Empty weight: 2,220 kg
• Gross weight: 3,335 kg
• Length: 9.75 m
• Engine type: Orenda (General Electric) J85-CAN-40 turbo jet
• Thrust: 2,650 lbs
• Service ceiling: 11,850 metres
• Top speed: 782 km/h
• Range: 1,520 km
• First flight: September 13, 1960

   

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