By Skies Magazine | September 15, 2023 Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 25 seconds.
Questions continue to swirl after a bizarre incident involving a stolen private aircraft that crashed and damaged two other planes at Rockcliffe Airport on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, in eastern Ontario.
Ottawa Police say a privately-owned airplane was stolen and crashed on airport property, near the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, along the Ottawa River.
The airport was closed to all outbound and inbound traffic until an investigation concludes, police said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Local media spotted a small plane with a badly damaged left wing in a grassy area near the airport, but could not confirm if it was the stolen aircraft involved in the incident.
One man was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition, CBC reported, citing statements from Ottawa paramedics.
Police have released few details about the incident, but confirmed one person is in custody.
The Rockcliffe airport caters primarily to general aviation pilots, and is operated by the Rockcliffe Flying Club, according to the club website.
The Rockcliffe site is a former Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) station, created in 1920, according to an official history of the airport. Its first aviation activity predates the airfield by two years, when the first experimental airmail flights between Toronto and Ottawa took place Aug. 27, 1918, with a Curtiss JN-4 (Can) aircraft.
Active military flying at the Rockcliffe airfield ceased in 1964. The original airfield was located about six kilometres northeast of Canada’s Parliament buildings, according to a museum history document.
