‘This is something serious’: Pilots killed in plane crash near Steinbach, Man.

Both pilots are dead in a crash between two planes in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, Manitoba RCMP say.

The crash, south of Steinbach, involved two small, single-engine aircraft. Both pilots were pronounced dead on-scene and there were no passengers aboard either plane.

Lucille Plett, who lives near the scene of the crash, said she didn’t see the accident take place, but she certainly heard the crash.

“We heard some kind of crackling, banging sound and then the engine turned off — I recognized that because sometimes they do stunts around here and they turn the engine off, but they turn it back on,” she told Global Winnipeg.

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“Next thing we heard is a big crash and a big bang… and we knew, this isn’t a stunt, this is something serious.”

Plett said her husband could see smoke from their yard, as they tried to catch a glimpse of the crash.

“We saw smoke — my husband walked to the back yard, and he said, ‘oh my gosh, this is more than just a little accident’.”

The pilots were both students at a local flying school.

Mohamed Shahin, a flight instructor at Harv’s Air Flying School, told Global Winnipeg the crash was shocking news.

“We were all a big family, so we’re feeling really, really sorry and really sad for the students and for the parents.”

Shahim said it’s a heartbreaking situation for the entire school.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been notified about the crash, and says it’s deploying a team of investigators to look into what happened.