Cessna makes emegency landing in downtown Montreal

Small plane makes spectacular landing in downtown Montreal

MONTREAL One of Montreal’s major thoroughfares was turned into an impromptu runway Sunday afternoon when a small plane was force to land minutes from the downtown core.

A Cessna was spotted flying close to the ground as it crossed over the east side of Mount Royal, where hundreds of Montrealers traditionally gather on Sundays to play bongos or simply lounge on the grass.

The plane then lined up with Parc Avenue, one of the city’s major north-south arteries, and promptly touched down in front of scores of baffled onlookers.

Though police had little advance warning and were unable to cordon off the street, the pilot managed to land the plane without incident.

One witness has even posted pics of the plane (CF-FRV) after it landed.

Mark CF-FRV
Serial No 17262394
Common Name Cessna Model 172M
Base Of Op. - Country CANADA
Base Of Op. - Province Quebec
Base Of Op. - Location St-Hubert
Type of Registration Commercial
Year of Manufacture 1974
Owner Registered Since 1985-07-24
Last Certificate of Registration Issued 1990-11-26

Owner Information
Name ( 1 of 1 ) Publicite Aero-Gramme Inc
Address 4420 Legault
City St-Hubert Province Quebec
Postal Code J3Y 3W9 Region Quebec

Source: Transport Canada

I hear the pilot had a craving for a smoked meat sandwich. Faked the engine out, parking too expensive on Parc and he couldn’t understand the parking regulations because they were all in French. :wink:

Eh, they would have surrendered anyway if they were French…

ZING!

Oooh, Snap!

You see, this is all funny because he was flying with a guy who owned a nearby Deli. He knew all the best spots. :wink:

story below from CBC

cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story … ml?ref=rss

Officials are investigating after a Cessna Skyhawk lost power while flying over downtown Montreal, forcing the pilot to land amid the tall buildings, people and cars on Parc Avenue.

The Cessna’s pilot, Gian Piero Ciambella, was giving a man and his son a bird’s eye view of the city on Sunday when the engine reportedly stalled while they were flying over the southwest end of the city’s downtown core.

The pilot glided the powerless Cessna Skyhawk to a landing on Parc Avenue near Mont Royal Avenue, without injuring his passengers or the many onlookers.
(Tanya Birkbeck/CBC)
There was no time to get scared, said Bill Berenholc, the owner of Lester’s Deli in Outremont, who was taking the ride with his 10-year-old son, Sammy.
“We lost power to our engine,” Berenholc said. “We were over downtown Montreal, big buildings: there was very little open space.”

Plane ‘trapped’ in road median

As the plane glided northbound towards Parc Avenue, Ciambella radioed air controllers to declare an emergency, recalled Berenholc.

The next thing he knew, the plane was touching down in the busy northbound lane on Parc, near Mont Royal Avenue.

“All things considered, that we had no engine, that we were just coasting straight ahead, we caught the median, and there was no choice because our wheel got caught between the median itself, and there was an open space,” said Berenholc.

“So we were sort of trapped in that median for a while. But [the pilot] brought the plane to a beautiful, straight halt.”

No one was hurt during the emergency landing. The traffic light had just turned red and passing cars were stopped.

The action unfolded in front of a large crowd of amused onlookers lounging on Mount Royal Park’s green hillside. They hovered around the plane and snapped photos with their cellphones and cameras.

‘Is this a joke or is this for real?’

Montreal police, who were the first emergency workers called to the scene, said they had no time to cordon off the street to provide a safe runway for the Cessna.

Const. Robert Mansueto, a police spokesman, said he’d never seen anything like it in the city.

“I think this surprised a lot of police officers,” Mansueto said.

“Everybody did a double take, you know, saying is this a joke or is this for real.”

It wasn’t immediately clear why the engine cut out. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has launched an investigation.