Crossfield Mayor Nathan Anderson and his friend Kurtis Kristianson were taken to hospital following a plane crash west of Airdrie at Big Hill Springs Road and Panorama Road, July 21.
RCMP said the men were able to pull themselves from Anderson’s downed Murphy Renegade ultralight airplane and said the incident was a result of a failed takeoff around 11:30 a.m.
“The pilot said that he experienced insufficient lift to get the ultralight airborne, decided to abandon the takeoff and actually came through (under) the power lines and above the fence,” said Sgt. Wim Nan of the Airdrie RCMP.
The two departed from a plot of land owned by Anderson’s parents, but shortly after takeoff the plane smashed into the ground and skidded before coming to a rest upside down.
The crash was not deemed suspicious and Nan said neither man was impaired.
Alberta Health Services transported the men to the Foothills Hospital immediately after they were out of the plane as a precaution.
“One was serious but stable and other was stable non-life threatening,” said Stuart Brideaux with AHS shortly after the accident.
Both men live in Crossfield and have since been discharged from hospital with minor injuries.
“We each have a black eye and a couple of scratches, but we were able to walk away from the crash,” said Anderson. “I’m sore as heck, but I’m in one piece.”
A high-definition video camera mounted on the plane’s strut was focused on the two and caught the terrifying flight that lasted about two minutes.
“It was really quite a spectacular video,” said Anderson.
The two went up so Kristianson, an adventure photographer, could take photos of the Collicult Siding Golf Course and a new RV dealership in Crossfield.
Before impact, Anderson said his only concern was “preservation of life.”
His plane’s cockpit is designed with the passenger seat in the front. Anderson was worried if they landed too hard the engine may come through the plane and critically injure Kristianson.
“I knew there was no way to put that plane down good,” said Anderson.
Airdrie-Chestermere MLA Rob Anderson said it was a relief when he learned his brother was in stable condition following the crash.
“We’re just happy that he’s OK,” said Anderson. “He’s fine and that’s all that matters.”
The MLA said his brother couldn’t fight the hot, thin air and didn’t have the power to fully lift off. Cooler air has a higher density than hot air, making a warm day takeoff more difficult for a lower-powered airplane.
Acreage owner Mike Lazorko said he was in his backyard about 1.5 kilometres east from the crash site when he saw the plane fly by.
“I looked up and there was this plane in the air, a bit above ground level just trying to gain altitude and fly off,” Lazorko said. “It stayed level and it was gaining altitude, then all of the sudden it reached a point where it really lost altitude and kept going down more and more. Then I lost sight of it over the horizon.”
Anderson, a licensed pilot since 1997, has more than 1,300 flying hours. He thought the ground would be suitable to land on given the situation, but that wasn’t the case, said Nan.
“The plane experienced some rougher landing ground than expected and flipped,” Nan said.
“Ultralights can take off from fields like this. They happen (to take off) sporadically in the area because of all the farm fields... but I wouldn’t classify it as a frequent occurrence.”
