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Fumes forced Coq landing

UPDATE: 11:50

Police said an aircraft that made an emergency landing on the Coquihalla Highway near Merritt was undamaged, and the pilot was uninjured.

The single-engine aircraft touched down safely about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Chilliwack man said his cockpit filled with fumes and he had to make a mayday call.

The pilot said he was flying from Chilliwack to Merritt and he was worried about power lines and loss of power to his plane.

He located a break in traffic and was able to touch down safely in the northbound lanes of Highway 5 and taxi into the median, out of danger, according to Merritt RCMP.

Numerous travellers reached out to Castanet after seeing the aircraft parked on the grass.

Tail letters on the plane show the Bushby Mustang II is owned by an Everett Block, who has owned the aircraft since 2016.

The Canadian Civil Aircraft registration site shows the home-built aircraft is based out of Abbotsford Airport and was built in 1979.


ORIGINAL: 10:30 a.m.

Motorists driving on B.C.'s Coquihalla Highway were treated to a bizarre sight this afternoon when a small airplane landed on the highway median.

Debra Sharkey was driving from Vancouver to Kamloops when she witnessed the Mustang II flying low above the highway approximately 10 kilometres south of Merritt.

She says she watched the plane fly lower and lower, before taking a long, gradual decline.

The pilot then landed on a grassy median between the divided highway lanes.

Sharkey says she immediately slowed down, pulled over to the shoulder of the highway, and called out to the pilot — who said he was fine.

Sharkey adds she doesn't know what caused the pilot to bring the plane down on the median, but the craft appeared to be in good shape.

"Traffic was a little loud, so I hollered at him and asked him if he was OK and he replied, 'Yes, I'm fine,'" Sharkey told Kamloops radio station CFJC.

"He was proceeding to get out of his plane and get things together and I said, 'Well, do you need a ride somewhere?' And he said, 'No, I've got my cellphone and I've got some service. I'll make a couple of calls. I'm all good, I'm not leaving my plane.'"

The aircraft was seen being loaded onto a flatdeck trailer about 6:30 p.m.

– The Canadian Press



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