Pilot dead after plane crash on Vancouver Island

The lone occupant of a small plane died in an early morning crash on Vancouver Island.

A pilot is dead after a small plane crashed on Vancouver Island early Thursday morning.

The Cessna 172 aircraft went down at approximately 3 a.m. in a rural area near Twilight Way, southeast of Nanaimo.

Const. Sherri Wade of the Nanaimo RCMP says it took police about an hour to locate the wreckage, which was eventually found in a wooded area just metres away from two homes.

“The plane was in a large debris field and there were no survivors,” the RCMP statement said in a brief statement.

Officers were called to the scene by residents who reported the plane “flying very low overhead and then a crash,” Wade told reporters Thursday afternoon.

“There was one person deceased, and right now it is a coroner’s investigation,” she said.

‘Sounded like a dirt bike in our hallway’

One of the residents who heard the plane told CTV News she woke up in the middle of the night to what “sounded like a dirt bike in our hallway.”

“It got louder and louder and then it was just nothing. I was expecting to hear a big bang at the end,” Kelsey Tyler said.

“A few hundred feet to the right and it would have been in our ceiling—so very scary.”

Bill Alder, president of the Sealand Flight school in Campbell River, says the pilot was on a private flight when the plane crashed.

“We are devastated,” Alder said in an emailed statement. “Aviation is a small community, and Sealand Flight is like a family.”

The Transportation Safety Board says it is aware of the crash and is working with partner agencies to gather information on the incident.

“Our hearts go out to the pilot’s family during this incredibly difficult time,” Alder added.

Don Goulard, vice-president of operations at the Nanaimo Airport Commission, confirmed to CTV News that the plane went down approximately eight kilometres from the airport.

Goulard said in a statement that airport authorities are co-operating with the RCMP and TSB investigators.

“Out of respect for those affected and to ensure the integrity of the official investigation, the Nanaimo Airport will not be providing additional comments at this time,” he wrote.

“Airport operations remain unaffected and are proceeding as scheduled.”