By Skies Magazine | November 28, 2016 Estimated reading time 1 minute, 54 seconds.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has confirmed a single-seat CF-188 Hornet from 401 Squadron, 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta., crashed late Monday morning.
The pilot did not survive the incident. The crash took place at approximately 11:09 a.m. Mountain Standard Time inside the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.
“Currently, our priority is looking after the family of the pilot,” the Air Force said on its official Twitter account. “We appreciate your support and your understanding.”
A flight safety investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the accident, the RCAF said via Twitter.
The Improvement District 349, including the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, was under a fog advisory on Monday morning. There is no word if fog was a factor in the crash.
RCAF commander LGen Michael Hood was appearing before a Senate committee when news of the crash broke, CTV reported.
At 2 p.m. Eastern time, Hood was scheduled to discuss issues related to the federal government’s Defence Policy Review, according to iPolitics.
Last week, the government announced its Defence Policy Review would inform an open competition to replace Canada’s aging fleet of CF-188 Hornets.
At the time, the government announced plans to explore acquiring 18 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets as an interim measure to fill a fighter jet “capability gap.”
The name of the pilot who died in the crash was not immediately released.
