Manitoba flight school makes safety changes after mid-air crash killed 2: report
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WINNIPEG – A Manitoba-based pilot training school has made safety changes after two of its planes tangled up and crashed while trying to land.
The changes were announced in a report released Wednesday by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada into the July 8, 2025, crash near Steinbach.
The report concluded that two students flying two Cessnas that morning came together twice while approaching the runway, leading to a crash that killed both who were attending Harv’s Air school.
The students were doing an exercise involving four planes that would take turns landing briefly, then taking off again.
The pilots of the two planes lost track of each other, leading to the fatal collision. The wreckage was located 400 metres from the runway.
The report said Harv’s Air has made changes: more detailed radio calls on flight positions and better training for students on the importance of looking around the cockpit and being aware of blind spots.
“Neither of the two occurrence pilots ever stated their distance from the runway threshold on any of their radio calls,” said the report.
The school is also making changes so that all aircraft lights are on at all times to make the planes more visible. The training exercises involving the fatal crash have now been changed so that only three planes are flying at any one time instead of four.
Both pilots were qualified to operate the aircraft in accordance with existing regulations, the report said.
The consulate general of India in Toronto identified one of the deceased as Sreehari Sukesh.
Weather reports from the morning of the collision indicated wildfire smoke was impacting visibility in southern parts of the province, but the report noted that meteorological conditions were suitable for visual flight training.
The report noted the school experienced a near-collision six months before last year’s crash.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.