By Skies Magazine | January 30, 2017 Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 14 seconds.
Two occupants of a CT-156 Harvard II training aircraft based at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Sask., escaped with non-life threatening injuries after they ejected safely during a training mission on Jan. 27, 2017.
Friday’s incident took place at around 10:30 a.m. CST, while a flight instructor and an RCAF student pilot were flying about 40 kilometres southwest of Moose Jaw.
The two pilots were rescued within an hour, said a CBC report, with one reportedly flown by STARS air ambulance to a Regina hospital and the other transported by land ambulance to another facility.
A 15 Wing spokesperson said the circumstances surrounding the crash are unknown at present and that the military’s Director of Flight Safety had secured the site and launched an investigation.
According to the CBC, flights at the base have been grounded pending the results of the inquiry. The names of the flight instructor and student will not be released for privacy reasons, said the air force.
The aircraft involved in the incident is one of a fleet of single-engine turboprops that are used for initial instruction in NATO’s Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program. After completing training on the Harvard II, student pilots are streamed into the RCAF’s fighter jet, multi-engine or helicopter programs.
UPDATE: As of Jan. 31, the RCAF has announced that flying operations have resumed at 15 Wing Moose Jaw; and both occupants of the aircraft have now been released from the hospital.
