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UPDATE: Landing gear collapses as small plane lands at Victoria airport

Transport Canada air incident report clarifies how a small plane was forced to land May 12
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A small plane skidded to a stop on the runway after it was forced to make an emergency landing at Victoria International Airport Friday afternoon.

The privately-owned Mooney aircraft experienced a “loss of control and rapid descent in an area of bad weather,” at around 12:47 p.m. according to Transport Canada’s aircraft incident report.

The small plane came close to another aircraft — a Horizon Air-operated commercial flight — before it regained control and diverted to Victoria airport.

According to Transport Canada, the aircraft, owned by Trillion Air Inc. and registered in Canada, overflew the runway to allow people on the ground to check its landing gear. when it landed, the starboard main landing gear collapsed and the plane slid to a stop halfway down Runway 27.

The pilot and two passengers were able to walk away from the aircraft unhurt.

It is unclear if inclement weather was a factor in the emergency landing and the landing gear issues.

“All I do know is what happened on the ground,” said James Bogusz, vice-president of operations and development with the Victoria Airport Authority at the time.

“Of course through investigation I’m sure follow up with the aircraft mechanics will look at that. Perhaps they’ll look at what contributing factors were a result of this landing gear issue.”

As a precautionary measure, emergency responders from North Saanich, the RCMP and BC Ambulance Service all attended the scene, Bogusz said.

He added that thankfully everyone was able to walk away without injury.

One of the airport runways remained closed as crews moved the disabled aircraft from the main runway, which took about 90 minutes.

After causing some flight delays, the aircraft was towed off the airfield around 2:30 p.m. with regular operations resuming after. The plane was towed to the east area of the airfield to an aircraft mechanic.

“Something of this nature is unusual in the sense that we have an aircraft actually having an accident; however, there are declared emergencies from time to time … but it’s not typical you would have an aircraft with a landing gear problem like this.”

The Horizon Air aircraft, according to the Transport Canada report filed Monday, May 15, was en route from Seattle to Victoria when the incident took place.

There was no similar information available on the Mooney aircraft.