Critical injuries in plane crash on Highway 401 near Cornwall, Ont.
Two occupants of a small plane were seriously injured when it crashed into the Highway 401 median near Cornwall, Ont. Monday night.
Officials said the Cessna 150 was attempting an emergency landing on the highway west of the Ontario-Quebec border, near Lancaster, Ont. Police said the plane crashed into the highway's centre median in front of the Bainesville ONRoute.
A 26-year-old man was taken to hospital by air ambulance in life-threatening condition, OPP acting Sgt. Erin Cranton said. The other occupant of the plane, a 39-year-old man, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Cranton said police were called to the scene just before 8:15 p.m. Monday. The plane took off from the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield Airport in Quebec, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River about 17 kilometres east of where the crash happened.
The federal Transportation Safety Board is helping with the investigation and has deployed a team of investigators to the scene. Isabelle Langevin, the TSB's director of regional operations for Quebec, said the plane had a problem in the air.
"They attemped to do an emergency landing on the 401," she said. "While lining up to land on the highway they struck a power line that crosses the highway south to north at that particular spot and following that collision, the aircraft collided with the ground."
The highway was closed for about eight hours for the crash. It reopened around 4:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based in Trenton, Ont. is also helping with the investigation.
Hydro crews were also on site because some wires were struck.
Images from the scene showed emergency crews, hydro vehicles and tow trucks assembled at the Bainsville ONRoute, on the north side of Highway 401.
A Cessna 150 is a small two-seater, single-engine plane. It was produced for about 20 years from the late 1950s to the late 1970s.
Jean-Yves Chevalier, a local pilot who has been flying for more than two decades, said he thinks the flight was a training flight, for which Cessnas are commonly used.
"Normally you are never lower than 1,000 feet over populated areas and 500 feet over wild areas," he said. "For them to be this low, they had to be landing for some mechanical reason."
He said the Cessnas are generally "very, very easy to fly," which is why they are used for training. The plane was right near Lancaster Airpark, a small landing strip, but since it's not lit at night they would not have been able to use it.
"They were expecting a normal emergency landing," Chevalier said. "They would not have expected to hit wires. ... When you hit wires, usually the airplane will flip and then it's just dropping.
"I just hope they recover soon."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Ellen DeGeneres addresses the 'hurtful' end of her talk show in new stand-up set
Ellen DeGeneres is reflecting on how her talk show came to an end in her newest Netflix special, 'Ellen's Last Stand ... Up Tour.'
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
What to pack during an emergency
Knowing what to have at home, or take with you for an evacuation, can be useful and even life-saving.
Regulated area for invasive box tree moth expanded to parts of the Maritimes
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has added much of the Maritimes to a regulated area for an invasive species.
Already expensive, planning for fertility treatment difficult as costs vary widely
Being unable to have a child naturally can be extremely difficult. But when you factor in the high costs of fertility treatments, the range of individual circumstances and the fact that the industry itself is secretive about fees, it can make the whole ordeal even more devastating and hard to plan for.
A healthy lifestyle can mitigate genetic risk for early death by 62%, study suggests
Even if your genetics put you at greater risk for early death, a healthy lifestyle could help you significantly combat it, according to a new study.
Avs forward Valeri Nichushkin suspended at least six months
Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months without pay and placed in Stage 3 of the league's player assistance program.