Manitoba plane crash in Canada leads to two student pilots, Savanna May Royes and Sreehari Sukesh crashing their single engine Cessna’s into each other while attempting to land at the same time. Students were enrolled with Harv’s Air Pilot training school in Steinbach.
Two student pilots were killed when their single engine planes crashed into each other mid air on Tuesday while practicing take offs and landings in Canada.
The victims were identified as Savanna May Royes, 20, and Indian national, Sreehari Sukesh, when their respective Cessna planes at Harv’s Air Pilot training school in Steinbach, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, just on 8.45am, Tuesday morning CBC reported.
Investigators say both planes collided into each other as the respective pilots tried landing at the same time a few hundred yards from the small runway. Upon having struck each other the planes then hit the ground and ignited.
Manitoba plane crash: what went wrong?
While the Cessnas are equipped with radios, it appears the two pilots did not see each other approaching according to Adam Penner, President of Harv’s Air Pilot training school.
‘We don’t understand how they could get so close together,’ Penner said. ‘We’ll have to wait for the investigation,’ Penner told CBC.
The Winnipeg Free Press reported that the pilots were operating a two-seater Cessna 152 aircraft and four-seater Cessna 172 aircraft, RCMP Cpl. Melanie Roussel said.
Both of the aircraft had transmitters to communicate with trainers on the ground, but neither plane was equipped with a flight recorder (also known as a black box). The electronic devices can record sounds from the cockpit and a variety of flight data commonly used during crash investigations.
Without that data, the investigation will rely primarily on physical evidence and eyewitness accounts, unless radio communications were being recorded from the ground using a universal communications system, aviation expert Jock Williams told the Winnipeg Free Press.
Manitoba flight school: were all air safety procedures followed?
Information on the Harv’s Air website indicates the airstrip does have such a system, but its hours of operation are limited.
‘That’s the first thing that the investigators will be looking for,’ said Williams, who spent about 35 years as a fighter pilot and 13 years as a flight safety inspector for Transport Canada.
He said the transmission will show whether the two pilots were advising each other about their position.
Williams was cautious not to speculate on the potential cause, but noted neither model of plane has overhead or lower windows, meaning a pilot’s sight lines are limited to what is ahead of them.
The pilot school stated one of the pilots, without identifying who, was just a couple of months into training, while the other nearly had a commercial license. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Sreehari Sukesh student pilot for hire
Penner noted many of the school’s trainees arrive from overseas and ‘become like family, making the loss especially painful.’
A Facebook profile under Sukesh’s name lists Steinbach as home and quotes Leonardo da Vinci saying, ‘Once you have tasted flight, nothing else will stop you.’
A regard of Sukesh’s Linkedin page described him as a ‘private pilot’ open for work.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the family of Savanna May Royes, released a statement, describing her the ‘essence of pure joy.’
‘Savanna’s faith and laughter will forever touch everyone who was lucky enough to have known her during her short life,’ the statement said.
Recalled Lucille and Nathaniel Plett, who live near the site of the crash acceding to Global News.
‘We heard some kind of crackling, banging sound and then the engine turned off – I recognized that because sometimes they do stunts around here and they turn the engine off, but they turn it back on.
‘Next ting we heard is a big crash and a big bang… and we knew this isn’t a stunt, this is something serious.’
Harv’s Air Pilot training school was started in the 1970’s by Penner’s parents, training students from around the world for recreational and professional flying.
‘For more than 51 years, we have been offering the very best flight training the safest, most enjoyable way possible,’ Harv’s Air Pilot training school states online.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been notified of the plane collision and has sent investigators to the scene, which is about 42 miles south of Winnipeg.
It remained unclear what censures or litigation the pilot training school could now face.
