The owner of a flight school in southern Manitoba reported that two student pilots tragically lost their lives in a midair collision. Adam Penner of Harv's Air stated that the students, whose identities have not yet been disclosed, were practicing takeoffs and landings when the two small planes attempted to land simultaneously, resulting in a crash near a landing strip south of Steinbach.
The collision occurred before 8:45 a.m. in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, approximately 400 meters from the runway. The wreckage of the planes, a two-seater Cessna 152 and a four-seater Cessna 172, was found in a field on private property. Penner noted that a communication issue may have caused the pilots not to see each other while on approach, leading to the accident.
Initially, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) could not confirm the victims’ identities during an afternoon press conference. Manitoba RCMP Cpl. Melanie Roussel stated, “I don’t have that information. There’s really limited information right now.” It was reported that both pilots were pronounced dead at the scene, and no passengers were aboard either aircraft.
The student pilots were engaged in a standard training exercise involving flying a rectangular pattern, landing briefly, and rolling down the runway before taking off again, as explained by Penner. Mohamed Shahin, an instructor at the flight school, expressed his sorrow over the tragedy, saying, “It’s been a very, very heartbreaking morning and everyone is in shock. No one has words. It’s very difficult to speak.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been informed of the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation. Roussel mentioned that it was “too early” to consider the possibility of criminal charges in this case. Federal Minister of Transport, Chrystia Freeland, extended her condolences via social media, emphasizing the importance of the ongoing investigation by the Transportation Safety Board and the appointment of a minister’s observer to monitor the progress closely.
Emergency services, including the RCMP, fire department, and medical responders, were deployed to the scene and located the wreckage. Roussel stated that the investigation is ongoing and that the situation is still evolving.
Since 1990, there have been 45 reported mid-air collisions in Canada according to the safety board, which noted that such incidents involving two aircraft are rare and constitute less than one percent of air accidents within Canadian airspace. Steinbach is located around 50 kilometers from Winnipeg.
