
Plane lands on major highway north of Toronto
CBC
Police are investigating after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a major highway just north of Toronto Tuesday morning.
The plane took off from Buttonville Airport in Markham with no apparent issues, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt in a video posted to Twitter.
But a few minutes after takeoff, it began experiencing mechanical trouble and landed on a 10-lane stretch of Highway 407, east of Woodbine Avenue.
Schmidt said the plane, which had recently been maintained, was landed by a pilot and an instructor. This was its maiden flight after being inspected, "so obviously they're going to be looking into what took place," he said.
"Good foresight in respect to the pilots involved. They were able to find a good location to put the airplane down and they did that without any issues," said Schmidt.
Still, he said, it's "something you don't see very often."
York Regional Police are assisting the OPP with the investigation.
No one was injured in the incident, and there was no damage to the plane or any vehicles on the ground, police say.
Officials from the airport and mechanics are on site, and the plane is expected to be towed back to the airport.
One lane of the 407 eastbound remains open.