The 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, also known as the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, have officially returned home.

After the incident in British Columbia in May that claimed the life of Capt. Jennifer Casey, the Snowbirds have been on an operational pause, slowly bringing the tutor jets back to Moose Jaw in small groups.

Lt Col Denis Bandet with 15 Wing Moose Jaw was part of the team that flew the last batch of tutor jets home last week. He talks about what happens now

"We start with a series of ground briefings, safety briefings, basically a week of what we call ground school. From that, Monday is the first flights in preparation for the 2021 season. So, from that, we look to get approximately about 100 training missions in before we depart for Comox [British Columbia] in the spring to kick off out 2021 season."

Lt Col Bandet says the team starts off with a basic two or three aircraft formation, and by the time February or March comes around, they will have built it up to the nine-jet formation that fans are used to.

The team travels to Comox for training in order to get experience flying over water, with Lt Col Bandet saying that flying over water can really affect a pilot's depth perception. The town on Vancouver Island has an airbase there that the team spends about three weeks at training.

All the training is leading up to what's sure to be a busy 2021 according to Lt Col Bandet.

"We came to the conclusion that we weren't able to actually get our 50th season in. Everything with COVID-19, just the way the year ended with all the shows getting cancelled. So, we're actually rolling out our true 50th season for 2021. You'll likely see a lot of spotlighting the history of the team; the squadron over the years, the development, the changes, the common theme that has been with us. We're pretty excited as we're moving forward. We have a large alumni association that is very keen on celebrating this legacy and history, it's really a success. It's an awesome, unique experience that we want to share with the rest of Canada and everybody from Moose Jaw."

The trip to Comox is still in the planning stages, but he believes they will be heading out either late April or the beginning of May.