The Cold Lake Air Show was cancelled after a deadly plane crash Sunday afternoon, said a CFB Cold Lake official.
Capt. Matthew Strong, a public affairs officer with 4 Wing at CFB Cold Lake, says the T-28 Trojan went down during a performance at the show shortly before 2 p.m. Pilot Bruce Evans, from Calgary, died in the crash, Strong said.
The Trojan is a propeller driven aircraft that was used to train pilots in the 50s and 60s.
Spectator Cathy Heron says the plane did a loop, inverted, and then dove straight down.
Cold Lake Sun Multimedia Editor Peter Lozinski was at the Air Show, and he recounted the events for CTV Edmonton:
“The first couple of minutes, no one really knew what happened,” Lozinski said. “A lot of people heard [the crash], but weren’t looking. Other people who were watching, saw it, but weren’t really sure what to think. But then within a couple of seconds, the alarm went off. Guys in uniform started running towards the crash site – sirens were going and ambulances were racing onto the runway area. The public address announcer came on and said, ‘everyone stay calm and listen to wait for instructions.’ People eventually sort of orderly walked themselves to the exits and they cleared off the area.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is deploying a team of investigators to the site of the accident to gather information.
With files from The Canadian Press and Michel Boyer
