1 dead, another critically injured in plane crash west of Calgary

Emergency responders were called Friday to the scene of a fatal plane crash just outside of Springbank Airport near Highway 1, west of Calgary in Rocky View County.

Cochrane RCMP said they received reports of a crash with injuries at 3:38 p.m. 

The pilot, a 45-year-old man, died at the scene and paramedics rushed the passenger, a 22-year-old woman, to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said in a statement Friday night. 

EMS spokesperson Stuart Brideaux told CBC News that EMS arrived around 3:20 p.m. and confirmed that a man was declared dead at the scene. The woman was taken to Foothills Medical Centre, he said. 

Brideaux said the plane crashed just north of Highway 1, "a bit short of the airfield."

He added that members of the Springbank fire station were also at the scene.

The privately registered aircraft, a Mooney M20K, was conducting a local flight from Springbank Airport before it crashed into the ground around 3:17 p.m., Chris Krepski, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told CBC News.

"The Transportation Safety Board has been notified and we are deploying investigators to the site," he said.

RCMP said both the body of the plane and the wing were damaged. 

The Calgary International Airport tweeted on Friday that they were aware of the plane crash and would support the RCMP and Transportation Safety Board of Canada in their investigation into what happened.

"Our condolences to those impacted by this loss."

Both the international airport and Springbank are operated by the Calgary Airport Authority.