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Two CF-18 fighter jets were preparing for a landing at a Florida airport that closed seven years ago but were warned off by air traffic controllers the facility no longer had a functioning runway.

The jets, from Cold Lake, Alta., were in Florida for a training exercise and had planned to land Tuesday at Tyndall Air Force Base just outside Panama City, Fla. But because of a minor in-field emergency at Tyndall, the CF-18s were diverted to Northwest Beaches International also in the same area.

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The Royal Canadian Air Force jets began their approach on what they believed was Northwest Beaches but instead turned out to be SweetBay, an airport that closed in 2010.

SweetBay is now the location of a new housing development, and while a runway still exists on the site, it is no longer functioning.

Local residents watched as the fighter jets came in with their wheels down before they aborted their landing.