‘Wow that plane’s going down’: Small aircraft makes emergency landing in Calgary

For nine hours on Wednesday, traffic was normal on southbound 36th St. N.E. in Calgary just south of the Trans Canada Highway.

Meanwhile over in the northbound lanes during the same time, a Piper Navajo owned by Super T Aviation was all by itself, after making an emergency landing just before 6:00 a.m. with six people on board.

A witness named Brent was in the nearby Home Depot parking lot and saw the plane on its way down, hearing the engine sputter.

“I could see the pilot’s face, couldn’t make it out clearly, I thought wow that plane’s going down,” he said.

According to a statement from Super T, the plane experienced a “loss of power of unknown cause,” while police reported in the morning it had low fuel.

The pilot managed to land it on NB 36th St. around 5:45 a.m. and a video from a security camera of a nearby home shows a car driving alongside it in the same direction as it landed.

The pilot’s name is unknown, although she did have another pilot on board and there were four passengers, with no injuries.

Mike Adam with the Transportation Safety Board said there was no black box or other recorder on the plane.

“It’s certainly not a common event, but it has happened in the past,” he said. “I can’t determine about the skill of the pilot at this time, but we’re fortunate the aircraft is intact and there were no injuries.”

Adam said the official term for the incident is an accident.

For hours, Calgarians parked their cars to get a glimpse of the unusual sight of an airplane on a usually busy Calgary road, many taking selfies with the aircraft in the background.

There was some noticeable damage, as the end of the right wing was clipped off.

The plane was eventually moved just before 3 p.m. onto the grassy shoulder and the closures on northbound 36th were eventually opened.

An official on site told 660 NEWS the plan was to tow the plane to the Calgary Airport around 10 p.m.

Jamal Hammoud didn’t see the aircraft go down, but it was his camera that recorded the landing.

He said after he woke up in the morning to get some water and saw the plane on the road, he immediately opened up his computer.

“It just missed a vehicle,” he said. “You never think it’s going to happen especially on 36th because the street is so narrow and kudos to the pilot, it could’ve been much worse.”