A contractor from British Columbia was hospitalized with serious injuries after his plane crashed a short time after taking off from the parking lot at Calaway Park May 1.
The contractor had been working at the outdoor amusement park and was taking off in his Storm S280 plane, when it crashed at 3 p.m. near the park’s entrance.
The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries and he has since been upgraded to stable condition.
Rocky View councillor Jerry Arshinoff expressed his concern over what he described as, “a remarkably ridiculous situation,” and said that residents who live near Calaway Park should be outraged.
“All five of my kids attended those adjacent schools. I never knew planes could take off from Calaway Park or land there other than in emergencies,” said Arshinoff.
“I can’t believe this is allowed.”
Arshinoff has lived down the road from the park for 30 years and says that it is beyond his comprehension why planes would be allowed to take off or land beside a school, adding that, “Springbank Airport is literally just down the road.”
According to media reports, a Calaway Park representative said the man was given permission from Springbank Airport to fly out of the park’s property and that this was a one-off occurrence.
“We never gave permission for this plane to take off from Calaway Park,” said Larry Stock, general manager with the Calgary Airport Authority at Springbank. “The first we heard of this plane was after the crash.”
Rocky View County does not hold any authority over the Springbank Airport or flight plans as they are both under federal control. The county does have authority over Calaway Park.
NAV Canada spokesman Ron Singer says there has been some confusion with this incident and that the pilot had the go ahead from NAV Canada’s tower at Springbank Airport to use the air space.
“He (the pilot) did advise us that he would be flying in that area and we gave him clearance to fly,” said Singer.
“What NAV Canada does, though, is control the air space to ensure that there are no air traffic conflicts, we can’t actually deny authorization to take off since he wasn’t taking off from a controlled air strip, we told him that the take off was at his discretion.”
Arshinoff was incredulous over the apparent absence of regulations and how the pilot was able to gain clearance to fly out of Calaway Park.
“If acreage owners wish to construct a little shed on their property there are a variety of bylaws, rules, regulations and permits they must contend with, and yet, here, a parking lot adjacent to two schools has become an airport, this is unbelievable,” said Arshinoff.
The councillor says he intends to find out what happened to allow the flight to occur and what can be done to avoid a situation like this in the future.
Rocky View Schools (RVS) will be corresponding with both Transport Canada and Calaway Park to record their concern surrounding the incident and to get assurance that no such activity will be authorized in the future, according to RVS communications coordinator Angela Spanier.
