A small plane that crashed in Algonquin Provincial Park on Tuesday night had wandered into the restricted airspace above the Governor-General’s residence just after the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
A small plane that crashed in Algonquin Provincial Park on Tuesday night had wandered into the restricted airspace above the Governor-General's residence just after the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
The Cessna 150, which had left from the Buttonville municipal airport near Toronto, was on its way back from Ottawa later in the evening when it got lost and ran out of fuel. A military search operation located the crash site on Wednesday morning and found that the two men aboard, a pilot and a passenger in their 20s, had died.
The incident over Rideau Hall was minor and did not result in any actions from authorities. The restricted airspace is located near Ottawa's Rockcliffe airport, where the plane was heading.
According to Transport Canada records, about eight hours before it crashed, the plane had strayed into CYR538, the restricted airspace over Rideau Hall, the residence of Canada's governors-general.
Records show that the incident took place at "1644 Z," meaning 4:44 p.m. Co-ordinated Universal Time, or around 11:44 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. At that moment, the Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa was concluding at the National War Memorial.
At the RCMP's request, since February, 2012, pilots cannot fly without authorization into the airspace above Parliament Hill and Rideau Hall, to an altitude of 3,000 feet above sea level.
At the time the Cessna crossed into the Rideau Hall restricted zone, it was flying at 1,400 feet.
The information is contained in Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System, which compiles initial details about incidents involving Canadian aircraft or occurring in Canadian airspace.
The incident report says the plane was a Cessna 150M with the tail marking C-GJAO. Built in 1976, the aircraft is owned by Flyblocktime Inc., a rental company based in Caledon, Ont.
Officials said the plane had left Buttonville airport, northeast of Toronto, and the pilot had intended to return there.
Under the classification "Prohibited/restricted airspace violation," the report says the Cessna was going to land at Ottawa's Rockcliffe airport when it was "observed crossing CYR538 Rideau Hall, ON at 1,400 feet."
There was "no impact on operations," the report said.
A second report filed later that day said the Cessna was returning from Rockcliffe airport in the evening when it had to declare an emergency.
"Flyblocktime Cessna 150M (C-GJAO) from Ottawa/ Rockcliffe, ON (CYRO) called a MAYDAY … and relayed lost and low fuel," the report says.
Regional air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft south of Algonquin Provincial Park, in the Haliburton area east of Bracebridge, said Captain Alexandre Cadieux, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at CFB Trenton was alerted and a CC-130 Hercules Aircraft was dispatched to the area.
The Hercules located the Cessna's distress beacon in a forested area.
Early Wednesday, a CH-146 Griffin helicopter found the wreckage and used a hoist to lower search and rescue technicians to the ground. They found that the two men in Cessna were dead.
Members of the Ontario Provincial Police's emergency response team later arrived to investigate.
The crash site is 20 kilometres south of Whitney, in rough terrain that has no cellular-phone coverage and can be reached only on foot, OPP Sergeant Kristine Rae said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it was sending a team of investigators.
With a report from The Canadian Press.
Tu Thanh Ha