A pilot and a military photographer died in a Snowbird jet crash at a base in Saskatchewan Thursday.
Col. Paul Keddy, commander of the Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw, said the pair were on a routine training mission.
"We've had a tragic afternoon," Keddy told reporters at a news conference. "The members of 15 Wing have come together over the last several hours to respond to this, keeping in mind the needs of the families.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the members of the families."
Keddy said the pilot and photographer were taking pictures of three other aircraft just before the crash.
The CT-114 Tutor jet, used exclusively by the Snowbird Squadron, crashed about two kilometres northwest of the base slightly after 12:30 p.m. MT.
Maj. Rob Mitchell, commander of the Snowbirds, offered his condolences to the families and friends of those killed.
Speaking from San Francisco, where the squadron is scheduled to perform on Saturday, Mitchell said the pilot was a member of the Snowbirds team and "an extraordinarily talented pilot."
CTV's Wayne Mantyka told CTV Newsnet that the military has not identified the deceased, as they are still contacting the next-of-kin.
Mantyka said the crash took place in an empty field, but was within several kilometres of homes in Moose Jaw.
Investigators, from Ottawa and the base, are on the crash scene, Mantyka said. The team will be comprised of experts, including a lead investigator, flight surgeon and an escape systems specialist.
Mantyka said the crash took place about 45 minutes into the flight and that it appears that no plane made any contact with another.
"It would be premature to speculate on what happened," Keddy said.
There has also been a report of a parachute opening over a field, but military officials could not confirm that.
Keddy said the military would know more within 24 hours.
Debbie Noble told The Canadian Press that she looked up from loading the dishwasher in the afternoon and saw a huge billow of black smoke from a field south of her home on the city's south edge.
She said that her husband, Gord, grabbed some binoculars and could see a fire truck pouring water on what looked to be a crashed aircraft.
"We could see that it was a plane crash and the military vehicles were on their way out there with the fire trucks," Noble said.
Questions about aging jets
According to the Department of National Defence website, the single-engine Tutor jet is only used by the Canadian Forces Snowbird squadron.
The Tutor, first used in 1963, was retired as a training jet in 2000.
National Defence was urged four years ago to replace the jets. A study by the department's director of major service delivery warned that the jets' life expectancy was 2010.
Eight people have died in Snowbirds' crashes since 1972. In 2004, Capt. Miles Selby, a member of the famed Snowbirds squadron, was killed in a collision with another plane. The most recent fatal accident happened at an airshow in Montana in 2007, when Capt. Shawn McCaughey was killed.
The Snowbirds were due to perform in San Francisco for Fleet Week on Oct. 11.
With files from The Canadian Press
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