# Small Plane Crash in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939 "2011-04-02T13:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/1 "2011-04-02T13:51:15Z")
Yikes! A small plane lost power and crashed on a busy intersection in Saskatoon! [Plane crashes on Wanuskewin Drive; one killed, two in Saskatoon hospital](http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Plane+crashes+Saskatoon+street/4546332/story.html) > [@](#): > > A twin engine airplane crashed into a sound barrier along a busy street in Saskatoon’s north end Friday evening, killing one person on-board. > > “I looked up and the plane was right above us and I saw the faces of the pilots. I remember seeing their faces. They looked terrified,” said eyewitness Jayden Ernst. > > Just before 6:30 p.m., the airplane plunged from the sky, skimmed condominium buildings to the southeast of the intersection of Wanuskewin Road and 51st Street and smashed into the sound wall on the east side of Wanuskewin. > > “It looked like they were going to hit the houses. They were trying to land on the road, but there were cars everywhere, so he went for the wall,” added Ernst, who was in the Extra Foods parking lot across the street when the crash happened. > > Traffic was steady in both directions along Wanuskewin with those in vehicles heading north apparently unaware of the approaching plane. > > “The drivers hadn’t even noticed because it was right behind them. The wing was right over the cars and then (the drivers) slammed on the brakes.” [Photo Gallery of crash site](http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Photo+Gallery+Fatal+plane+crash+Saskatoon+roadway/4546787/story.html) ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/2 "2011-04-02T14:20:24Z")
This is sad. Apparently, the aircraft is owned by Fugro, a geophysical survey company out of Ottawa. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/3 "2011-04-02T16:23:36Z")
The aircraft is a [CASA C-212](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASA_C-212_Aviocar). ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/4 "2011-04-02T16:37:29Z")
That’s a bigger plane than I thought when they said “small plane”. If it lost one engine, shouldn’t it still have been able to make the airport? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/5 "2011-04-02T17:08:24Z")
Wanuskewin north of 51st is probably the best street in the vicinity to try to use as an emergency runway (though it’s perpendicular to the airport approach which I find a bit odd), but it’s only going to be clear of traffic if northbound traffic has a red light and no one in the eastbound lanes can turn left. I go through that intersection every day on my way home from work, and in fact made a BBQ Pit traffic rant thread on it once. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/6 "2011-04-02T23:07:16Z")
I’m originally from Saskatoon. I will be interested to hear the details of what happened. I am sure the pilot did his best, but if problems started 5 kilometers from the city, how do you end up skimming the top of apartment buildings? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/7 "2011-04-02T23:56:52Z")
> [@Mikemike2](#): > > I’m originally from Saskatoon. I will be interested to hear the details of what happened. I am sure the pilot did his best, but if problems started 5 kilometers from the city, how do you end up skimming the top of apartment buildings? 5km from the airport, is my understanding, which using the approach they were on would be just coming across the river over Lawson Heights. Though I still don’t understand how you end up landing going north on Wanuskewin rather than west on 51st, so I’m clearly not entirely correct about the flight path. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/8 "2011-04-03T00:38:30Z")
Crash photos indicate loss of power in starboard engine. (fully feathered). It will be interesting to see what happened. Any word on how far short he was? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/9 "2011-04-03T00:51:14Z")
Actually, playing around with Google Maps a bit it makes more sense to me. If you look [here](http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=&daddr=52.174604,-106.640356&hl=en&geocode=&mra=mift&mrsp=1&sz=18&sll=52.174313,-106.640173&sspn=0.003198,0.005713&ie=UTF8&ll=52.176406,-106.647635&spn=0.05095,0.09141&t=h&z=14), I’ve marked the approximate crash site with the B direction marker. The airport is at the extreme left. If he was lined up on the runway, he would have come west across the river approximately over Pinehouse Dr. He’s losing altitude and reportedly barely makes it over the condos on Cree Place, just SE of the 51st & Wanuskewin intersection. From there, 51st doesn’t really present itself as an option - you’d need to turn right to get over top of 51st, and then left to line up with it - while a little bank to the right lines you right up on the bit of Wanuskewin before it curves more easterly. On preview, the crash site is about 3km from the end of the runway. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/10 "2011-04-03T01:10:02Z")
Reviewing the pictures, it looks like both props were fully feathered. Small wonder the crew looked terrified. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/11 "2011-04-03T01:33:32Z")
[Toronto Sun story here](http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/04/01/17848261.html) Looks like they may have lost both engines on final, about 5 minutes apart. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-plane-crash-in-saskatoon-saskatchewan/576939/12 "2011-04-03T06:53:42Z")
> [@longPath](#): > > This is sad. > > Apparently, the aircraft is owned by Fugro, a geophysical survey company out > of Ottawa. I was going to say it looked like some kind of survey plane with the boom sticking out of the tail. I was thinking it was a small twin until I saw the pictures. I’ve been in a twin engine glider before (scud running at night) and the pucker factor is pretty high. Fortunately the pilot got one of the engines restarted quickly. I’d add that the rule of common sense when losing an engine is to climb. Screw the normal glide slope.