Officials have cancelled another public demonstration of the Swiss air force out of respect to three pilots who died in two separate crashes in the past few weeks.

The Air and Space Days at the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne is taking place on October 8. But the head of the air force, Aldo Schellenberg, and Defence Minister Guy Parmelin decided to cancel air demonstrations by the Super Puma and PC 7 display teams.

Air-related events will still take place on the ground, the defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. A similar annual air display was called off last weekend in Axalp, canton Bern, out of respect for pilots who died recently.

They follow the crash of a military helicopter on September 29 that killed the pilot and co-pilot and injured a flight assistant, and an accident on August 29 that claimed the life of an F/A-18 fighter jet pilot.

The Super Puma helicopter came down in the central Swiss Alps after dropping off members of an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission inspecting Swiss army installations.

The F/A-18 jet crashed into a rock face at the Susten Pass, central Switzerland, during exercises.

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