Three people were injured when a light plane hit a pickup truck and then crashed while attempting to land at the Langley Regional Airport Tuesday afternoon.
The crash happened at 3:00 p.m. when the plane crashed just short of the runway, according to Langley Township deputy fire chief Russ Jenkins.
It struck the roof of a truck on 216th Street, crushing much of the cab and shattering the windshield, before tearing through a fence and crash-landing on airport property not far from the runway and catching fire.
216th Street runs along the eastern side of the airport, and at the corner with 56th Avenue, landing planes routinely fly low over passing cars.
The pilot and a passenger were both taken to hospital by Air Ambulance, according to Cpl. Craig Van Herk, spokesperson for the Langley RCMP.
The driver of the pickup was taken to hospital by ground ambulance.
Township fire crews extinguished the burning plane before 3:30 p.m.
There was no information about what had caused the crash. The plane appeared to have been heading west, Jenkins believed.
The Langley RCMP had closed down 216th Street near the scene of the crash after 3 p.m., and 56th Avenue was apparently open but traffic was a crawl passing the site.
Late Tuesday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced it was deploying a team of investigators to “following a collision with a vehicle and collision with terrain involving a privately registered Cessna 182” at the Langley Regional Airport. “The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence,” the statement said.
It added the TSB is an independent agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline, and rail transportation occurrences. “Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.”
Anyone with information that might assist with this investigation is asked to call Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200.
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