Thank god this was a small plane. When I first heard about it, it freaked me out...i thought it was a Boeing or an Airbus in the middle of Richmond City Centre....up in flames, all those casualties....but then i saw images on tv and it wasn't so bad, still scary though.
Could this affect Richmond's development policies on No. 3 Road? YVR has been telling them to build away from the airport for quite some time.
Plane crashes into apartment
Pilot dies, two residents injured when twin-engine Piper flies into ninth-floor Richmond building
Kelly Sinoski, Chantal Eustace and Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, October 20, 2007
A small plane flying fast and low crashed into a ninth-floor unit in a downtown Richmond high-rise condominium Friday afternoon, killing the male pilot and injuring two residents.
Police did not know late Friday what caused the Piper Seneca twin-engine plane to smash through a balcony window of the condo, just south of Richmond Public Market.
The fuselage of the plane was lodged inside the condo, leaving a gaping five-metre-wide, floor-to-ceiling hole, while the back of the plane fell onto a parkade roof.
The condo's two residents were taken to hospital, Richmond RCMP Cpl. Dave Williams said. One is listed in serious condition, but the injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.
Police evacuated the rest of the building for fear leaking aviation fuel would catch fire.
The building's residents were taken to undisclosed accommodations set up by the City of Richmond Emergency Social Services Unit.
They will not be able to return to their condo units until engineers can confirm the building -- the Rosario Gardens, situated at 8297 Saba Rd. -- is structurally sound.
The six-seater plane had taken off from the south runway at Vancouver International Airport on its way to Pitt Meadows just after 4 p.m. when it crashed, said Kate Donegani, a spokeswoman for the airport authority.
The pilot was the only person on board when the plane crashed. His name had not been released on Friday.
The crash drew a swarm of onlookers, who were held back a short distance away behind yellow police tape near a Pizza Hut restaurant.
Witnesses reported seeing the plane zooming through the air before it crashed with a loud bang into the glass-and-concrete building at about 4:15 p.m.
Jonathan Jeon, who works at the Vancity Tower at Westminster Highway and No. 3 Road, said the plane zipped past his office and just missed striking another condo tower next door.
"This plane was heading eastbound and was at about a thousand feet and all of a sudden he banked to the right and started going really fast," Jeon said.
"He barely flew over [the condo building] and we were stunned because it's not a normal route to fly.
"He was going so fast. I said to my colleague, 'That plane is going to crash,' and then, 'Boom.'"
Kevin Zhong, who manages the building across the street from Rosario Gardens, ran to the Richmond Public Market after hearing the noise of the impact.
He ran upstairs to the fourth floor of the public market, which connects with Rosario Gardens via the parkade with a rooftop garden, and saw a woman in her 60s frantically waving from inside the condo's gaping hole and calling out in Cantonese.
"The water was falling down from the ninth floor," Zhong said.
Zhong tried to calm the woman down and told her he had called 911.
Wayne Linfoot, who works for a freight-forwarding company next door to Jeon, also saw the woman standing inside the condo, yelling to bystanders below. He couldn't understand her.
"She was frantic and trying to get out," Linfoot said.
Police and fire officials flooded the scene, while the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority asked for staff going off shift to stick around in case they were needed.
"We're in a code orange, which just means we're ready to receive mass casualties," Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Clive Camm said. "Staff are being asked to stay at their posts a bit longer. We're on alert."
Sinclaire Wong and his wife Eva, who are visiting Vancouver from Calgary, were walking down Westminster Highway when the crash occurred.
Sinclaire Wong said they noticed the plane flying at about a 45-degree angle and were worried about the path it was taking. It went behind a building and was obscured from their view when he heard a loud crash.
"I hear very big noises, like an explosion, louder than a car crash," he said.
At that point, Wong said he knew something was wrong.
He looked up at the building and saw white smoke coming out, and started praying for the pilot.
"It's terrible," Eva Wong said. "I hope they're safe."
William Kwong, who lives in the building across from the one hit by the plane, said he was watching TV when he felt the impact of the crash.
"I felt there was something flying over my head. Then, all of a sudden there was a bang," he said. "And I thought something was hitting my building. Then when I looked out, it was the other building opposite to me which was involved."
Moe Taha, whose office is about 50 metres from the apartment building, said he went outside and saw people running to see what had happened.
He said it sounded "like a car crash" when the plane hit the building.
"No one knew exactly what was going on," he said, adding that it was difficult to see anything.
Taha was one of about 50 people who remained, watching, at the corner of Cooney Road and Westminster Highway, despite the heavy rain.
Bob McAfee, who works in an accounting business nearby, said he heard the crash and then saw the emergency vehicles racing to the scene.
"One of the neighbourhood homeless gentlemen, he says: 'Oh yeah, the plane hit the other side of the building.'
"I thought he was making it up or was crazy or something, but then I saw the crowd forming and sure enough there's a big hole in the other side of the building," he said.
"I couldn't get to where the ground below the building or even see it.... I walked halfway up the block until I got to a point where I could see that side of the building, and about seven or eight floors up. The police vehicles have been multiplying like rabbits out here."
The Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
The section of downtown Richmond between Westminster Highway and Cook Road, and No. 3 Road to Garden City Road was a madhouse of traffic snarls, emergency crews, media, onlookers and downtown residents who were trapped outside the police corridor and unable to get home.
ksinoski@png.canwest.com
With files from Sunny Freeman
and Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun, and Nelson Bennett, Richmond News.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
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