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Plane makes emergency landing along Kananaskis highway

CALGARY- A small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a highway west of Calgary on Friday morning.

Two men were inside a Cessna 182 that left the Springbank Airport around 8 a.m., for a sightseeing trip through Kananaskis. About 20 minutes in, the pilot noticed a sudden drop in oil pressure. A short time later, the engine quit.

The pilot turned the plane around and tried to land on Highway 40, but a truck was in the way so he landed the Cessna in a ditch.

“I tried landing on the road here, but just my luck, a white truck was coming,” explains Milt Janzen, who hails from Nelson, B.C. and has been flying since 1963. “Then I tried going in the field, but as I swung into the field I saw the low power lines there, [which] left me no alternative so I had to thread the needle into the ditch.
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“I did an OK job but…it was tight.”

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The plane rolled for about 100 metres, and hit two signs before coming to rest.

Incredibly, both men survived without serious injury. The passenger, a man from Calgary, said it was a frightening experience.

“I was worried,” says Rick Bujnowicz. “I thought that this might be it, lights out. Not too many plane crashes that land, let’s say, agreeably.”

The Transportation Safety Board has been notified, but is not sending investigators to the scene.

Highway 40 was reduced to one lane as a result of the crash.

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