Aviation In Canada

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Avoiding Becoming a Statistic

In a recent article on Aviation.ca, it was reported that three aircraft were heading from St.John's, NF, to Halifax via Port aux Basques, NF. When they encountered bad weather, one landed at an airstrip, one carried on to Halifax, and the third, the one that garnered the attention, landed on a highway.

The part of the article that had my interest was the wording. They said the RCMP received a "complaint" about an aircraft landing on the highway. Was this simply a term chosen without thought, or was it really a complaint? Perhaps "report" might have been better? If it was truly a complaint, the complainant should be educated.

While I wonder why the pilot didn't head for the airstrip like the other fella did, at least he used his brains and chose not to continue on in deteriorating weather. He could have become a very different form of "complaint" call if he tried to continue. It's always a tough decision to make a precautionary landing, especially somewhere like a highway. I doubt he made that decision lightly. It may be a demonstration of strength of character rather than total idiocy. Of course, with two sides to every story, we'd have to know more to draw any such conclusions, but at least the pilot of this aircraft and his passenger are still alive to talk about it.

Here's the link to the article in question from a few days ago. Cessna Landing Story