Pilot confirmed dead in small plane crash near Ottawa airport
Two people were taken to hospital in stable condition. The extrication of a third person was continuing well into Thursday evening.
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Ottawa paramedics confirmed Friday the death of the pilot of a small aircraft that crashed into a forested area near Ottawa International Airport.
Paramedic Service spokesperson Marc-Antoine Deschamps confirmed that the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Deschamps said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada had taken charge of the investigation, limiting the information that could be released.
A man and a woman on board the plane were taken to hospital in stable condition following the crash.
The plane, a 1977 Grumman Cheetah, left the Gatineau Airport around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, said Micheal Rafter, the airport’s general manager.
Rafter said he could not confirm the name of the pilot.
Jean-Pierre Regnier, a regional investigator with the safety board, said the plane was on “a recreational sight-seeing flight in the local area.
“At some point in the flight, the pilot had engine problems,” Regnier said. “The engine sputtered and failed. The right engine cowling of the aircraft came open and there was a substantial loss of engine oil that was sprayed over the wind screen.”
Regnier said the pilot flagged an emergency situation with Ottawa air traffic control and was cleared to land on a runway at the airport.
However, the privately-registered aircraft struck power lines during its approach to the Ottawa airport, said Nicholas Defalco, a media-relations specialist with the TSB.
Nicholas DeFazio, public-information officer with Ottawa Fire Services, called it a “complex situation,” with the plane approximately 20 feet above ground and on top of a tree and live hydro wires.
“Ottawa Hydro arrived quickly and shut down the power so our firefighters could get to work,” DeFazio said, adding there was no residential structural damage caused by the crash.
The plane was stable in the trees, but firefighters had to perform the extrication of the first two occupants with ladders.
Fuel was leaking from the plane, according to DeFazio, with runoff leading into a creek that flowed into the Rideau River. The hazardous materials and water rescue teams were on the scene to contain the spill.
Road closures along Riverside Drive between Hunt Club and River roads remained in place until mid-evening.
Alexander Rabinovitch, 17, said he and a friend were on the other side of the airport, watching planes go by and using Live ATC — an app that tunes into air traffic control towers — when staff began discussing a possible emergency.
“I immediately got the sense that something’s not right here,” he said.
Rabinovitch said staff were concerned that the plane would not be able to land due to possible engine failure.
He said the plane attempted to land on the runway closest to Riverside Drive, but missed it and headed into a nearby line of trees.
“It couldn’t make it and it crashed,” Rabinovitch said. “Air traffic control said … The plane made it short, almost made it, but couldn’t finish.”
Sam Hickman, 40, was unloading his truck when he heard the plane crash about 250 metres from his home. He first assumed the sound had come from a neighbour’s construction equipment falling, so he first went check on that, but another neighbour yelled back that a plane was stuck between trees.
“I think everybody in the community called 911,” he said.
Hickman said he never heard the plane coming in, only the crash. Usually, in a community as close to the airport as that, residents would hear the planes’ engines running.
“Normally you would hear the plane coming in and it idles as it goes over top,” he said. “There was no idling.”
The closest residence to the plane was roughly 30 metres away, but Hickman said there was still plenty of space between the crash site and that house.
The plane was red, grey and silver and was not facing the “direction of travel,” Hickman said, adding that it looked as if it had rotated before hitting a tree and that it was wrapped up in electrical lines, which were sparking.
“We had to take a step back and wait for the authorities to come in,” he said, noting that emergency responders arrived “amazingly fast.”
Neighbours within the neighbourhood near the Rideau River acted quickly to remove their vehicles and create as much space as possible for emergency responders.
Hickman noted that several members of his community were flying enthusiasts.
“(Flying) is supposed to be free and liberating, and that’s not what they anticipated taking off today,” he said. “It’s really sad to see something like that happen. Nobody ever wants to see it happen.”
The Ottawa International Airport said regular flight operations had not been affected by the crash of the small private plane.
Bambu, an Asian fusion restaurant located near the scene, reported a two-hour power outage after the crash occurred. A staff member confirmed that other businesses in the area experienced the outage as well.
With files from The Canadian Press
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