‘We just got a random vehicle in the middle of the runway:’ Motorhome crashes through fence at Abbotsford airport
Police say the 53-year-old driver was not impaired when he crashed through the airport’s perimeter fence and drove onto an active runway
Last updated 7 hours ago
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A pilot was preparing to land at Abbotsford International Airport over the weekend when an urgent call came over the radio: “Pull up and go around; pull up and go around immediately.”
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A few seconds later, the tower controller came back on the frequency to add: “I am not talking to that vehicle. They are going on the runway.”
Radio traffic from the Abbotsford airport, as archived on LiveATC.net, captured the disruptions in the air and on the ground that unfolded Saturday at around 4:30 p.m. as a motorhome crashed through the airport’s perimeter fence and was driven onto an active runway.
None of the commercial flights to Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto operating out of Abbotsford were in the airspace at the time — one plane had left early in the morning, with the others all scheduled for later in the evening — but a handful of general aviation aircraft were either flying or getting ready to take off.
“Just … keep flying a circuit at circuit altitude,” the controller can be heard telling a pilot. “I don’t want you to descend.”
And, to an aircraft on the ground:
“We just got a random vehicle in the middle of the runway there, that motorhome; not talking to them.”
Less than five minutes after the motorhome crashed through the fence, pilots were getting new clearances to take off and land on a different runway while police were on their way.
William Hogan, a 53-year-old Abbotsford man, has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and mischief. He was arrested Saturday and remained in custody over the weekend while awaiting a bail hearing on Monday afternoon.
“At this stage, investigators have ruled out impaired driving as a contributing factor in the incident,” AbbyPD had said in a statement on Saturday.
There were no injuries.
Police are asking any witnesses who saw the motorhome go through the fence, or saw it on airport property before driving through the fence, as well as anyone with relevant dashcam footage, to contact AbbyPD at 604-859-5225.
