Delays in completing flight safety reports and — as a result — implementing the preventative measures they recommend have been a recurring issue for the air force.

The air force's 2015 flight safety report said there were 405 overdue reports in the previous year, or about 13% of all reports that year — but that figure didn't include the 151 overdue reports from previous years.

"Priority of effort must shift to the accurate and timely capture of lessons learned and their prompt publishing in order to prevent accidental loss of personnel and critical resources," the report said. It recommended that those in charge "assign the right amount of resources to keep their Flight Safety (FS) program at an acceptable status."

Munoz, in his response to BuzzFeed Canada, focused rather on the number of reports that had been completed, saying that "the RCAF Flight Safety program is considered to be effective, and is a program that compares favorably with those of our Allies."

Experts have noted that the military has very strict safety protocols because of the risky nature of the work, and that the air force's overall flight safety record is excellent.

Munoz said it was important to point out that "the vast majority of investigations are conducted at the Wing and Unit level and deal with minor incidents."