SURREY — A small airplane crashed in Surrey on Sunday morning near the Serpentine River, but nobody was hurt.
It happened at 10:30 a.m., on a private landing strip in the 4700-block of King George Boulevard. The pilot and passenger, both Port Coquitlam residents, were taking off when the single engine airplane crashed.
“The plane dipped to the right,†Surrey RCMP Staff Sgt. Murray Hedderson said. “The landing gear caught in bushes at the end of the run, and the plane nosed into the ground.â€
Neither the pilot or passenger was injured but the airplane was damaged. Surrey firefighters and the B.C. Ambulance were called to the scene and Hedderson said the Transportation Safety Board has been advised of the crash.
There have been several crashes in Surrey involving small aircraft.
In 2007 a Delta pilot crashed nose-first into a farmer’s field after taking off from a private airstrip in the 900-block of 176th Street. He managed to climb to about 150 feet before apparently losing power. He was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital where he was treated for leg and other injuries.
In 1998 a pilot and passenger died when the two-seater ultralight airplane they were flying crashed into a farmer’s field shortly after taking off from the King George airstrip.
In April 2001, a Korean man died when he crashed 15 minutes after his mini helicopter took off from the airpark and in 2000 two men were injured in separate crashes, in March and August, shortly after takeoff from the King George airstrip.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com