Three people, including the driver of a pickup truck, were hospitalized after an unusual accident in Western Canada on Tuesday. The Cessna 182’s landing gear clipped the driver’s side windshield as it was landing at Langley Regional Airport, about 30 miles east of Vancouver. The truck, owned by the local municipality, was on a public road that borders the airport.
After hitting the truck, the 182 went through a fence and into a swampy area next to the runway and caught fire. Passing motorists were able to get the pilot out of the wreckage before the fire consumed the plane. The passenger escaped on her own. Both were taken to a local hospital by air ambulance. The driver of the truck, a municipal employee, initially went to the hospital but was released and is recovering at home.
A bunch of hosers, eh?
What’s the old saying? Low and slow is no way to go.
Hit a truck? Were they looking UP at the birds? Reminds me of reading about a 182 clipping a van with a main wheel while buzzing the DZ in Dublin, Virginia in the ’80’s, if memory serves. There was a skydiver inside as it flipped and rolled and the jump plane crashed. Also remember that the FAA closed the DZ.
Retired A&P
Did the 182 hit the truck or, did the truck hit the 182?
I guess the 182 should have hit the brakes and give right away to the truck?
Pickup didn’t check final, lol. I’ll admit to being in a similar situation once decades ago when I was a student pilot. Concentrating on the runway, and a vehicle passed in front of me on a service type road near the end of it. Don’t remember exactly when I noticed it. It was a situation where a go-around should have happened, or at least a level off and land longer. But yeah, maybe city em-ploh-ees driving on those roads ought to keep a better lookout…
The engine failed on final. He was trying to make it to the runway.
Thank you for that key additional information.