'Wonderful, and kind of terrifying': Pilot captures Orlans tornado from above

Jonathan Hilairewas helping fly aCold War-era fighter jet home from an air show early Sunday evening when he spotted amenacing funnel cloud form over Ottawa's east end.

He pulled out his phone and aimed his camera at the tornado, which damaged homes and trees in Orlansjust before 6 p.m. before dissipating.

• Tornado confirmed in Orlans
• Sunday's tornado in photos and video

Hilaire, a volunteer withACM Warbirds of Canada, an organization that restores vintage and flies aircraft, said he felt no fear while he was filming the phenomenon. Instead, he feltawestruck by the "rare moment," he told CBC Monday.

It[was] very nice and beautiful.It was a rare moment that I was witnessing.- Jonathan Hilaire, volunteer pilot

"I didn't realize what we [were] going through.I was just a witness of a wonderfuland kind of terrifying moment of nature's power," Hilaire said.

"It was just when we landed that I basically realized there could have been damage on the ground, there could'vebeen injuries."

Hilaire wasflying back to Gatineau in anAero L-29 Delfnwhen he and a co-pilot first got word from air traffic control that there could be a tornado.

"We began to look around us and we saw a great thunderstorm cell," he said. "At the base of the clouds, we saw [a] triangular shape form....It[was] very nice and beautiful.It was a rare moment that I was witnessing."