OTTAWA - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating after a man died and two were injured in small airplane crash near the Ottawa International Airport on Thursday.
Ottawa paramedics said emergency crews responded to a wooded area near Riverside Drive and Hunt Club Road just before 6 p.m. after reports that the small plane crashed into trees.
Supt. Marc-Antoine Deschamps said responders worked together to extricate the plane’s three occupants.
Deschamps said the adult male pilot of the plane was pronounced dead at the scene, and a man and woman were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the plane was a privately registered Grumman AA-5A.
Regional investigator Jean-Pierre Regnier said Friday morning that the airplane was a registered aircraft based out of an airport in Gatineau, Que., near the capital.
“It departed the Gatineau airport at approximately 17:35 local last night for a recreational sight seeing flight in the local area,” he said.
“At some point in the flight, the pilot had engine problems. The engine sputtered and failed. The right engine cowling of the aircraft came open and there was a substantial loss of engine oil that was sprayed over the wind screen.”
Regnier said the pilot flagged an emergency situation with Ottawa air traffic control and he was cleared to land on a runway at the airport.
“Unfortunately, the aircraft lost altitude and collided with terrain in behind me at a distance of approximately 970 meters, or 3,100 feet from the threshold of runway,” he said.
Regnier said four TSB investigators were at the scene along with police, fire, hydro crews and paramedics to conduct the investigation.
He said a flatbed and a crane would be on the scene on Friday to recover the aircraft.
“The TSB will continue its investigation looking at aircraft data, pilot information, weather, NAV Canada audio and radar tapes, etcetera,” he said.
Ladas Giriunas, who lives near the airport, said he saw emergency crews rushing to the crash location on Thursday but he didn’t see the crash or hear any sound.
“Because we’re so close to the airport, we see planes flying every day over our heads ... so we always think of that, someday something could happen. And so it did happen, but it wasn’t luckily a large plane,” he said.
“That’s always on your mind when you’re living at the airport.”
The Ottawa International Airport Authority said the airport’s fire services responded to the crash along with city firefighters, but airport operations were not affected.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
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