A pilot who made a successful emergency landing of a small plane in North Vancouver is sharing his story, saying despite the risk, he was confident he’d be able to keep everyone onboard alive.
Octavio Hernandez took three friends on a scenic flight from Langley to Tofino in a small Cessna 172 Skyhawk on Sunday afternoon. As they made their way back, at approximately 4 p.m., the engines cut out near the Lions Gate bridge.
“We had to execute a forced landing, an emergency landing, somewhere,” Hernandez told CTV Vancouver on Monday.
He considered Highway 1 or nearby parks, but they were too busy.
“I didn’t want to put other people at risk,” he said.
He headed toward the water, deciding to touch down in a small parking lot.
“You know you’re going to hit and you’re just hoping it’s not going to be a horrible outcome,” he said.
Despite the danger, Hernandez said he was confident he and his three passengers would survive.
“Something told me it was not going to end up bad,” Hernandez said with a smile.
Remarkably, Hernandez and his friends walked away nearly injury-free. One person suffered a broken arm, while Hernandez had bruises from his seatbelt.
Investigators with the Transportation Safety Board said Monday that the plane ran out of fuel before the crash landing. TSB spokesperson Sophie Wistaff told The Canadian Press that they determined that one of the plane’s fuel tanks was empty and the other was almost out of fuel.
However, in a Facebook post early Monday, Hernandez said, “at the moment of the crash I still had 16 gallons of fuel.”
With files from CTV Vancouver
