Survivors of a dramatic emergency plane landing in Prince George, B.C., that claimed one life and left several others injured are sharing their stories.
Jaime Pawliuk says he was driving to work on Thursday afternoon when he saw the aircraft barreling toward him.
“All of a sudden it was on top of me,” he said.
“I tried to swerve as much as I could to get into the ditch, but unfortunately I was only able to make it just a little ways before the wing just sheared the entire top of my vehicle off and showered me with glass.
“I have superficial cuts all in my hands. I have glass still in my hair and, luckily, I was able to walk out of it.”
He shared photos of his destroyed vehicle, including a shattered sunroof and a metal rod sticking through the passenger seat.
Jaime Pawliuk was driving to work when a plane making an emergency landing came barreling toward him. He describes the ordeal, which left one person dead and others injured.
The plane, a twin-engine Beech King Air 200 aircraft, made its emergency landing just before 2:30 p.m. PT Thursday, landing on Foothills Boulevard, a four-lane road connecting several residential neighbourhoods in Prince George.
Pawliuk and others had to leave their vehicles at the scene while the investigation continued.
On Friday afternoon, several smashed and damaged vehicles were taken away from the scene on the back of flatbed trucks.
Mohit Arora told CBC News he saw a pickup truck get struck by the plane’s wing, but the driver survived.
He shared photos showing a piece of the plane through the truck’s windshield. He also shared images showing a propeller in the middle of the road, and another with a yellow car in a ditch.
A family member of the occupants in the yellow car told CBC News through a private message that the pair in the yellow vehicle were uninjured, but had been forced off the road, and propeller blades tore off some of the roof.
4 vehicles hit: TSB
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB), which is leading the investigation, said Friday that it had deployed investigators to document the scene, gather evidence and arrange interviews.
It said the aircraft had departed Sturdee Airstrip, a remote gravel airfield roughly 450 kilometres northeast of Prince George, at about 1:25 p.m. PT with two crew and six passengers aboard.
The plane, which was bound for the Prince George International Airport, was forced to make an emergency landing when one of its engines lost power, according to the TSB.
While police had initially said two vehicles were involved in the incident, the TSB said Friday that the aircraft collided with four vehicles on Foothills Boulevard.
Transportation Safety Board records show the plane was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corp. in 1980 and is currently registered to Sekani Air Ltd., a industry charter flight company based in Prince George. CBC News has reached out to the company.
The plane was contracted and no injuries to those inside the plane have been reported.
The TSB says six passengers and two crew members were in the plane, and video from inside the plane verified by CBC News shows the moments leading to the incident as it flies over the city.
Some of the plane’s passengers had to walk away from the scene and call a taxi to be taken home.
Officials say 10 people were assessed for injury, with two taken to hospital in stable condition and one person, believed to be in one of the vehicles hit by the plane, is dead.
Split-second decision making
Former TSB investigator Bill Yearwood said pilots facing an emergency situation are forced to make split-second decisions and sometimes, he said, “there’s no easy choice.”
“The pilot would choose something that has the least risk,” he said. “If he’s stuck with a road, his hope is that the traffic isn’t too busy or he can try to avoid [drivers], but obviously in this case, it was busy enough.”
Looking at woods, homes and a road, he said, the pilots were unlikely to do better than the road.
“You’re going down, you can’t waste time choosing a spot and if there are few spots, you’re stuck with those,” Yearwood said.
But he said it was “puzzling” that the plane wasn’t able to remain aloft if its second engine was still working.
“A twin-engine aircraft like this should be able to sustain flight,” he said, adding there may have been other circumstances that forced the landing.
Recovery to take time
The road reopened on Friday evening. Prominent skid marks still remained on the pavement.
Local resident Kevin Wang said he’s seen the plane being towed further up the road by a truck and shared photos of it being moved.
In a statement, the TSB said the plane had been moved to a temporary storage facility where it will secured and assessed — but Yearwood said he expected it to be some time before it could fully be removed from the scene.
“Eventually you have to get it onto a flatbed, and removing the wings is probably the first thing,” he said.
‘I haven’t stopped shaking’
Meanwhile, those impacted by the crash are still waiting for answers.
Pawliuk said he’ remains in a state of shock and is seeking support to help him process what he lived through.
“I haven’t stopped shaking,” he said, adding he had been unable to sleep well the night before.
“It was absolutely unbelievable. It’s something you only see in movies.”
Pawliuk said he counts himself lucky to be alive, and says he’s relieved there weren’t more vehicles on the road because he’s certain it would have led to more fatalities.
But he also said he’s mourning the victim who didn’t make it.
“My heart goes out to that family,” he said. “That’s going to stay with me for a very long time.”
