Tom Cruise returns to filming Pablo Escobar movie - in a spooky replica of the plane that crashed and killed two crew members last year

Tom Cruise has resumed filming on his biopic of drug smuggler Barry Seal, after shooting was suspended last year following the death of two crew members in a plane crash.

The actor, 53, was seen in the cockpit of a small plane in New Orleans, Louisiana on Wednesday as he returned to the project titled Mena.

Hauntingly, Cruise was using the same model of plane, a twin-engine Aerostar, that was used for filming last year, which crashed and killed two men in September.

Back to work: Tom Cruise resumed filming on Mena on Wednesday in New Orleans, after shooting was suspended last year following the death of two crew members in a plane crash

He's got a handle on this: The 53-year-old actor, who is a trained pilot, was seen in the cockpit of a small plane

Carrying a leather bag and dressed in a button down shirt and jeans, Cruise sported retro sideburns as he slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses once inside the small aircraft.

The actor, who is a trained pilot, was later seen filming in a large airplane hangar filled with propeller planes.

In September last year a small plane assigned to the crew of the movie starring Cruise crashed in the Colombian Andes, killing two people, including a Los Angeles-based film pilot, and seriously injuring a third, the country's civilian aviation authority said at the time.

An official with the aviation agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, said Cruise was not on the aircraft.

Crash: This photo released by the San Predro de los Milagros Fire Department shows the wreckage of the small that crashed in a rural place of San Pedro de los Milagros, Colombia on September 11 2015

He's still a Maverick: Cruise plays American pilot Barry Seal, a drug runner recruited by the CIA to try and capture the late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar

Tragic: In September last year a small plane assigned to the crew of the movie starring Cruise crashed in the Colombian Andes, killing two people

Resuming: This is the first time Cruise has been pictured on set of the film since the tragic events of September

The official said an American, Alan Purwin, was killed along with the Colombian Carlos Berl. A third person aboard, American pilot Jimmy Lee Garland, was rushed to a hospital in Medellin, where he was in intensive care. 

The official said the twin-engine Aerostar ran into bad weather late in the afternoon on September 11 after taking off from the colonial town of Santa Fe de Antioquia for a short flight to Medellin. No emergency was reported to air traffic controllers.

The Piper Aerostar-600, with tail number N164HH, appears to be the same aircraft that Cruise, a trained pilot, was photographed exiting the cockpit from upon his arrival in Medellin on August 20 to start work on his new film. 

Victim: American Alan Purwin, who was one of two people killed, is seen left with Cruise. American pilot Jimmy Lee Garland, right, was rushed to a hospital in Medellin, where he was in intensive care

Journey: Colombian soldiers are seen together with Cruise earlier this summer. Cruise arrived in August in Colombia to film a movie called Mena, about the American pilot Barry Seal

Cruise arrived in August  to film Mena, about American pilot Barry Seal, a drug runner recruited by the CIA to try and capture the late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. Seal was shot and killed in 1986 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, allegedly by assassins sent by Escobar's Medellin cartel.

Cruise's spokeswoman, Amanda Lundberg, had no comment at the time of the crash last year.

Purwin was founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Helinet Technologies, a company providing aerial surveillance technology to law enforcement. On the company's website, he's described as 'one of the top film pilots of his generation' with a list of credits from television and major Hollywood movies such as Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Career: Purwin was founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Helinet Technologies. He is seen on the right with Prince Harry 

He sat at the controls of a helicopter for the first time at age 16 and two years later took his first flying job crop dusting in Indiana, according to Helinet's website.

'Alan's enduring passion for film and flying has created aerial footage loved by millions around the world,' according to an online bio on the website of Shotover, an aerial cinematography subsidiary of Helinet.

In his last Tweet sent two days before the crash in September, Purwin expresses joy at landing on a dirt runway between the towering jungled mountains surrounding Santa Fe de Antioquia.

Helinet's Vice President Jack Snyder declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press in September.

Garland, the sole survivor, is a flight instructor and manager of a regional airport in Georgia's Cherokee County, near Atlanta. 

On the big screen: Cruise will reportedly play Barry Seal, left.  Cruise is seen on the right filming in Georgia last summer