While a fatal crash at the Cold Lake Air Show has given local air show organizers pause, the show in Villeneuve will go on next month as planned.
Dean Heuman, the Edmonton Air Show’s executive producer, said Bruce Evans’ unfortunate death will nonetheless have an impact on the Aug. 6-7 show at the Villeneuve Airport, and those who put it on.
“You always know this could happen, but this obviously hits close to home given that Bruce did fly in the show last year, and that he was going to be a static display at the show again this year,” he said.
Evans lost control of his T-28 Trojan during an aerial performance and crashed on Sunday at the Cold Lake Air Show.
Heuman spoke very fondly of the pilot based on his own experience.
“He was a great guy. Very professional, had a wonderful plane and a wonderful sense of humour, and we’ll certainly miss him,” he said. “I know he’ll be missed at other shows as well.”
He also emphasized safety is first and foremost for any air show and will continue to be safety, and said he expects once the Transportation Safety Board has investigated the crash they may have recommendations to further improve safety.
“If there is something to be learned from this we’ll learn from it,” Heuman said. “At the same time we’re following some of the most stringent rules around and will continue to do so.”
For those who witnessed the crash, the event has left them shaken and sombre.
St. Albert Coun. Cathy Heron was at the airshow with a group of friends including many kids. She witnessed the crash.
She said they had noticed Evans’ plane earlier, noting it had an unusual looking nose, then later saw it in the air and took notice.
“It did kind of a right-hand turn and looked like it was going to go back up, but the next thing you know it just did a bit of a nosedive down to the ground,” she said. “There was no explosion, no fire, and it wasn’t even that loud.”
Heron said those in charge of the air show, and the emergency responders on the scene, handled the situation professionally. The announcer said they would take a break and emergency crews rushed to the scene, including a search and rescue helicopter that had been on display at the show.
“When it left the tarmac empty with no patient in it, we all know the pilot had been declared dead on scene,” she said.
Then came the announcement the show had been cancelled, and police helped guide the throngs of traffic away from the site.
“It was unfortunate, but obviously they had planned ahead and were prepared for it,” Heron said.
She said she hopes to see some sort of tribute to Evans at the coming Edmonton Air Show in Villeneuve, and Heuman said those plans are already in the works.
“We’ll definitely do something,” he said. “We haven’t come up with an actual plan at this point, but I can guarantee we’ll be doing something.”
