In the wake of Wednesday's crash during an air show in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada's military precision flying team has cancelled several upcoming performances.

"We've taken the steps to cancel our participation in the St. Catharines air show on the weekend, as well as Brantford next Wednesday," Snowbird team leader Major Ian McLean said from Thunder Bay early Friday morning.

As for his squad's scheduled appearances at the Canadian International Airshow in Toronto on Labour Day weekend, Maj. McLean said it's still too soon to say whether they will fly.

The cancellations come in the wake pilot Captain Andrew MacKay's narrow escape on Wednesday.

He had been flying a routine manoeuvre ahead of an air show when something went wrong, forcing him to eject from the plane just seconds before it plunged into a field.

He has since been released from hospital after treatment for undisclosed injuries.

In an interview with CTV's Canada AM, Maj. McLean said that investigators just arrived on scene yesterday, as he noted it is still "a bit premature to speculate" on the cause of this latest crash.

Everything from eyewitness testimony to fuel samples and maintenance records are being considered as the formal investigation takes off.

So far, investigators have only said the jet experienced a "loss of thrust."

At the point (MacKay) discovered that, he was inverted," McLean explained, describing the typical pre-show "shakeout manoeuvre."

The situation required a split-second evaluation of whether the plane had enough power to right itself, McLean added, explaining that the pilot decided ejecting was his only option.

The famous red and white Snowbirds are CT-114 Tudor jets, now more than 30 years old.

But McLean dismisses any suggestion that makes the planes too old.

"The aircraft are torn apart every 400 hours and inspected diligently by my team of professional technicians back home in Moose Jaw," he told Canada AM. "If you were to drive a 1906 automobile and inspect it the way we do, you could drive it indefinitely."

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Snowbirds, and a year dedicated to Capt. Miles Selby, who died during a mid air collision last December, south of Moose Jaw, Sask. He's one of five Snowbird pilots killed during training or air shows since 1972.

While at least three of those accidents were caused by pilot error, some aviation experts say it's time to replace the aging Tutor jets, which are older than most of the pilots flying them.

"They will eventually run out of spare parts, they won't be able to maintain the planes," aviation expert Mark Miller told CTV News.

"At some point someone is going to have to make that decision: replace the planes or get rid of the team."

But it's a multi-million dollar decision that won't be made for at least another 15 years, as the federal government has no plans to replace the jets until the year 2020.