Two student pilots killed in mid-air crash during lesson

Two student pilots were killed when they crashed mid-air while training at a flying school in Canada.

The beginners’ single-engine planes collided in southern Manitoba Tuesday morning while practicing takeoffs and landings with Harv’s Air flying school — which was under investigation earlier this year when a student was seriously injured by a propeller, according to the CBC.

They were identified as Sreehari Sukesh, an Indian national, and Savanna May Royes, a 20-year-old Canadian trying to follow in her father’s footsteps by becoming a pilot.

“We don’t understand how they could get so close together. We’ll have to wait for the investigation,” said Adam Penner, president of the flying school where both students were training to become commercial pilots. “We’re devastated.”

The students’ bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the planes — a four-seater Cessna 172 and a two-seater Cessna 152 — after the crash at around 8:45 a.m. in rural Hanover, officials said.

One pilot was just a couple of months into training, while the other nearly had a commercial licence, Penner said, without identifying which student was which. There were no passengers onboard.

Royes’ grieving family described her as “the essence of pure joy” who was chasing her lifelong goal of becoming a professional pilot, like her father.

“Savanna’s faith and laughter will forever touch everyone who was lucky enough to have known her, during her short life,” the family said.

India’s consulate general in Toronto identified Sukesh as the other victim, without providing his age or other biographical details.

“We extend our deepest condolences to his family,” the consulate said in a social media post. “The Consulate is in contact with the bereaved family, the pilot training school and local police to provide all necessary assistance.”

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

The agency probed Harv’s Air Service earlier this year following an incident at St. Andrew’s Airport north of Winnipeg in which an employee suffered “serious injuries” from a small aircraft propeller while helping a student start the plane, according to the CBC.

Penner said the flight school has been operating since the 1970s and trains about 400 students per year from all around the world for recreational and professional pilots’ licenses.

Students typically receive one-on-one with an instructor — and it’s normal for them to fly solo during their training, he said.

“It’s been a shocking morning,” Mohamed Shahin, an instructor at Harv’s Air and former student told the CBC.

“Really heartbreaking, and we feel really sad for the parents of the students we lost.”