'A stupid mistake': Pilot safe after hard landing in Campbell River
Despite 57 years of flying experience under his belt, pilot Joel Eilertsen realized you can't be too complacent. His lesson came after the plane he was piloting made a hard landing on the ocean near Campbell River on Thursday morning.
"It was a little bit of a stupid mistake on my part and that's all there is to it,” Eilertsen says. “As pilots, we have to admit when we make mistakes. We can't be trying to blame anybody else for something."
The 74-year-old runs a charter business out of Coal Harbour on the north end of Vancouver Island and was bringing his plane to Campbell River for maintenance when the mishap occurred.
He was landing in the water off of Painter's Lodge, something he says he has done thousands of times before.
“Everybody is saying, ‘Boy, you were lucky,’ but luck is made,” he says.
Eilertsen wasn't injured in the incident and says he was wearing a shoulder belt and flotation device when his plane hit the water. He says two boats came to his assistance right away.
"I was just coming in and I wasn't paying attention. The aircraft was level and the airspeed had dropped off and I was about 20 feet off the water,” he says.
The nose hit and busted the spreader bar and the aircraft was then leaning to one side.
Asked what his initial thoughts were when the plane was going down, Eilertsen says he thought "Oh boy, this is going to hurt,” he says.
Mike Miller witnessed the mishap from his home near the lodge.
"I was just typing on my computer and looking out the window and boom,” Miller says. “The nose went in, I ran in and got my wife and called 911.”
He says it took a while before the pilot appeared out of the aircraft.
He says the first to arrive on the scene was a water taxi, perhaps two to three minutes after the plane came down, and then the coast guard.
Millers says the sun shining in the eyes of the pilot may have been a factor in the crash.
The 1967 De Havilland Turbo Beaver was towed by a coast guard vessel to the Sealand Aviation facility in Campbell River and is already undergoing repairs.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.