A Cessna 172 operated by Manitoba-based flight school Harv’s Air was conducting a night flight from Regina back to Steinbach, Manitoba, on Friday evening when it failed to arrive as scheduled.
According to Harv’s Air president Adam Penner, the aircraft was reported missing after it did not reach its destination. The aircraft was later located near Kisbey, Saskatchewan, with both occupants deceased.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said the aircraft was destroyed in a post-impact fire. Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the crash, with a preliminary summary expected later this week.
The accident has also brought back painful memories for the family of Savanna Royes, a Harv’s Air student pilot who was killed in a mid-air collision during a training exercise on July 8, 2025. Another student pilot, Sreehari Sukesh, also died in that collision.
Savanna’s mother, Loraine Royes, said the news of another Harv’s Air crash immediately reopened the grief her family has carried since losing their daughter.
“Our hearts just literally stopped,” Loraine said, describing the moment her family learned that two more lives had been lost.
She recalled how her husband, Tim, had followed Savanna’s flights and discovered that her aircraft had stopped moving before the family received confirmation of the tragedy.
Loraine remembered Savanna as the youngest of three children and described her as a kind and caring person who always put others first.
For the Harv’s Air community, the latest crash is another devastating loss. Penner said both pilots had close connections with fellow students and instructors and that the entire school was shocked and saddened by the tragedy.
The crash marks the flight school’s third incident involving crashes and injuries in less than two years, according to the report.
Investigators will now work to determine what happened during the night flight, including the circumstances leading up to the aircraft’s disappearance and the factors that contributed to the crash.
