Lone occupant not hurt as small plane goes off Summerside runway

A two-seat private airplane went off the runway at Summerside Airport Wednesday evening, leading emergency crews to rush to the site.

While there was extensive damage to the front end of the plane, the pilot, who was the only person in the plane, was not injured.

"This is the best outcome we could hope for in any incident involving a plane," said P.E.I. RCMP Cpl. Gavin Moore.

Summerside and Miscouche fire departments, RCMP, Summerside police, and Island EMS all responded to the call.

Moore said that strong response is typical in responding to any call from an airport.

"We always would rather have emergency crews on a scene ready to respond rather than be looking for them," he said. "In this case this was a non-injury incident and thankfully the individual was able to walk away without any harm."

Summerside fire Chief Ron Enman said his department responded with two trucks and about 15 firefighters to the call at around 9:12 p.m.

"It basically took a nosedive into the grass," Enman said. "I'm not sure if the wind caught it as it was doing its landing and it just kind of pushed him off into the side... As soon as he went into the grass, the propeller hit the ground."

The Transportation Safety Board has already concluded a brief investigation into the incident.

In an email to CBC News, a board said it had determined the incident was unlikely to yield any new safety lessons if a team were to be deployed to the site.