Canada Plane Crash: Two student Pilots die in mid-air collision during training at Harv's Air Flying School

Canada: Tragedy struck as two pilot students died on the spot after colliding mid-air during a training session at Harv's Air Flying School in Canada south of Steinbach Airport on Tuesday July 8. 

According to the reports, the 2 pilots in training were practicing their takeoff and landing when they collided mid air as they were approaching to land and both were unaware of each other’s presence. 

The two students, one male and one female were later identified as 23-year-old Sreehari Sukesh, an Indian student from Kerala, nearing completion of his Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and 20-year-old Savanna May Roye, a Canadian student and daughter of a commercial pilot in training. 

The devastating crash allegedly occurred during routine exercise as they were both operating small single-engine Cessna aircraft when they collided about 100 yards away from the small runway they were both aiming to land on. 

The collision is said to have taken place at 8:45 (local time) on Tuesday when the President of Harv’s Air who lives not far away from the training centre heard a loud bang along with a few other residents and shortly after saw black smoke rising from the site where the incident took place. 

The President of Harv’s Air, Adam Penner while speaking, expressed his condolences to the family of the two pilots. He said that the tragic accident happened as the two students tried to land at the same time without seeing each other and ended up colliding a few hundred yards away from the runway.  

The two appeared to have not been communicating although the aircrafts were equipped with radios and neither did they see each other which led them to collide mid air as they were about to land. 

Police reported that the two pilots were pronounced dead on the scene and they were the only passengers onboard. 

The fatal incident marks Harv’s Air first crash in 50 years of the pilot school which began operating in the early 1970. The school has been training pilot students from Canada and all around the world for professional and recreational purposes. The school has been offering its services for more than 51 years and trains about 400 students a year. 

Savanna’s family described their 20-year-old as the essence of pure joy and the only thing she wanted to become was a pilot.

The Indian Consulate General in Toronto also took to his X account extending his deepest condolences to the family mourning the death of the young Indian pilot Sreehari Sukesh. 

With profound sorrow, we mourn the tragic passing of Mr. Sreehari Sukesh, a young Indian student pilot, who lost his life in a mid-air collision near Steinbach, Manitoba. We extend our deepest condolences to his family. The Consulate is in contact with the bereaved family, the…

— IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) July 9, 2025

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is still conducting investigations into the accident that claimed the lives of the two student pilots.