Spectator Cathy Heron says the plane did a loop, inverted, and then dove straight down. Spectators were told to leave.
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Bruce Evans was flying his T-28 Trojan when it crashed at about 1:50 p.m.
“It just sort of disintegrated into dust in the hill”.
“I haven’t been to an airshow before, everything just seemed normal”, he said.
Alain Fontaine, another show goer, saw smoke rising from where the plane hit the ground but noted he did not see any flames after the explosion.
The weekend air show attracted around 20,000 people to Cold Lake, a community that Copeland said is “fully behind” the men and women who serve in the air force and the military.
“I was shocked, both my friend and I were in disbelief”, he said.
“I’m sure there was a mix of emotions going around”, he said.
According to the air show’s website, Evans, who is also known by the name “Frac”, was a geologist who works around the world in the field of resources exploration.
Evans had accumulated over 4,100 hours of flying time over his career.
Evans’ propeller-driven T-28 that he purchased in 2007 is one of these types of restored planes.
The Cold Lake Airshow is a two-day event hosted by the Canadian Forces that features pilots and aircraft from across the continent including Canada’s Snowbirds demonstration team.
The Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the crash site.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story.
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4 Wing spokesman Captain Mathew Strong spoke out after the crash and sent his regrets to the Bruce Evans family.
