Alberta town loses electricity when plane clips power lines

DIDSBURY, ALTA. Thousands of people in and around the central Alberta town of Didsbury were without electricity for about four hours Tuesday when a small plane knocked out power lines.

RCMP say a single-engine Piper PA28-180 Cherokee was coming in to land at the Olds-Didsbury Airport sometime after 8 p.m. when it flew under the power lines adjacent to Highway 2A.

The wires came in contact with the propeller, wing and tail and broke the windshield.

The pilot and lone occupant landed without injury.

Staff Sgt. Chad Fournier, an RCMP spokesman, said the pilot couldn’t immediately explain how the accident happened.

“After the collision, he did a good job landing the airplane safely,” Fournier said Wednesday. “I would assume airplanes colliding with power lines, especially being a small aircraft like this, would have caused a collision.”

It’s believed the pilot was landing at the airport because he keeps his plane there.

Police initially heard about the accident from a witness who said she was driving on the highway when she spotted a low-flying aircraft come in contact with the lines before she saw a large spark and heard a boom.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is involved in the investigation, but there was no immediate word on whether charges will be laid.