News Releases

By Holly Bridges

3 WING BAGOTVILLE—Captain Colin Marks survived the crash of his CF-18 fighter jet yesterday and ejected safely, approximately 100 kilometres northeast of Bagotville, Quebec.

" I feel fine and it's really due to the ejection procedures that I followed," said the 28-year-old fighter pilot at a news conference after a trip to the Wing hospital and being released.

" Our first priority was our pilot," 3 Wing Commander Colonel Yvan Blondin told the same news conference. "We are happy to see that all the safety systems on board the CF-18 functioned properly and that our pilot was able to escape safely."

The Wing Commander also assured media that once Capt Marks had been safely airlifted by a 439 Combat Support Squadron CH-146 Griffon helicopter, officials secured the scene, and ensured no fire was burning in the forest where the incident occurred.

Although a 12-year veteran of the Canadian Forces, Capt Marks is a relatively new fighter pilot, having been recently posted to Bagotville from 4 Wing Cold Lake where he learned to fly the CF-18. Marks was on a training flight shortly after 8 30 a.m. yesterday when something went wrong, causing the pilot to eject.

" He was doing some maneuvers” said 3 Wing spokesperson Captain Dany Jacob-David, adding that the pilot was flying about 1,500 metres above the ground when he ejected.

Flight Safety investigators from the Chief of the Air Staff arrived on the scene yesterday afternoon. An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the incident.

The factual information from the preliminary Flight Safety Investigative report will be summarized in a From the Investigator report which isn’t expected before mid to late September 2005.