Article LinkPilots eject safely before military plane crashes
Last Updated: Friday, April 18, 2008 | 10:54 PM CT Comments14Recommend32The Canadian Press
Two pilots in a military training jet were able to eject safely from their aircraft before it crashed Friday afternoon during a routine training mission at a base in Saskatchewan.
The CT-155 Hawk crashed about 4 p.m. local time Friday within the perimeter of 15 Wing Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw.
"I'm very relieved to announce the air crew ejected safely," Acting Wing Commander Lt.-Col. Paul Goddard told reporters at a news conference late Friday night.
"They were immediately met by medical response and transported to the Moose Jaw hospital. They sustained non life-threatening injuries and are currently being evaluated and receiving medical care."
The two pilots are German Air Force Maj. Frank Wagener and Canadian Forces 2nd Lt. Rock Veilleux, of Larouche, Que.
Wagener is an instructor at the training school at the base, and Veilleux a student, Goddard said.
The ages of the pilots were not released.
Goddard said the aircraft had just taken off and was flying level in a climb heading away from the airfield when it encountered problems and turned back to return to the airfield, "at which point the air crew had to make the decision to eject."
A flight safety team is scheduled to arrive Saturday to begin investigating the accident, said Capt. Genevieve Mitchell, public affairs officer for the base.
The Hawk fleet will be grounded and "flying operations will resume once we are satisfied there is no inherent risk," Mitchell added.
The Hawk is used for advanced jet pilot training under the NATO Flight Training in Canada program, which trains pilots from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, Hungary and Singapore as well as Canada, at the Saskatchewan base.
On May 14, 2004, a pilot and student both ejected from a Hawk when a seagull was sucked into the jet's engine during a flight from 15 Wing. The plane crashed into a farmer's field.
The student was unhurt but the instructor suffered a broken femur.
It was the only ejection from a Hawk jet in the approximately eight years the aircraft had been used for training at 15 Wing.
An accidental ejection from a CT-156 Harvard II training jet in April 2007 at the base caused minor injuries to a flight instructor and a student.
The plane was still on the ground when the student was ejected.
A Canadian Forces report on the incident determined that a tangled communications cord that got wrapped through the handle of the ejection seat was the likely cause of the ejection
