Highway landings happen all the time but not usually with paying passengers, as happened in central Manitoba, Canada, on Friday. The pilot of a Gillam Air Services Britten Norman Islander set down on a straight stretch of highway near Thompson, about 500 miles north of Winnipeg, after an apparent engine failure. There were five pax on the nine-passenger twin. The pilot told authorities he couldn’t maintain altitude on one engine so he put down on the highway and taxied to a picnic area so as not to disrupt the normal occupants of the asphalt. There was no damage and no injuries.
The aircraft was headed from Laurie River south of Lynn Lake to Manitoba Hydro’s Kelsey Dam, which is located just southeast of Split Lake. There was no word Saturday on just how the aircraft will be recovered from the picnic area.
