There was a lot of confusion and concern in the air last month as a plane was involved in not one but three near misses within a matter of minutes above the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
The incident, which occurred on July 4, involved a privately registered Cessna which took a series of unexpected turns, explained the Transport Canada report.
The plane had originally departed from the Langley Regional Airport and instead of coming in for a landing at the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport, it flew through the approach and had its first of several incidents when it cut off a Canadian Aviation College plane.
The Cessna was then instructed to turn back to the Pitt Meadows runway, but it instead turned south and cut off a Vancouver Aviation College plane this time.
In response, the plane was instructed to turn directly to the airport, when it instead flew northbound and went into the path of a Montair Aviation Inc. plane.
All of these unexpected turns also led to six other planes having to remain out of the control zone in order to avoid the wayward plane.
Several other aircraft were also grounded and delayed until the Cessna eventually returned to the Langley airport.
Despite this concerning incident, the Transportation Safety Board is not currently investigating, explained media relations coordinator Liam MacDonald.
"It is not a reportable incident to the TSB as the aircraft was less than 2,250 kgs and was not operated under Part 7 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations," said MacDonald.
"Additionally, the air traffic controllers at Pitt Meadows were an effective safety defence and no risk of collision was reported by Nav Canada or the other aircraft involved, therefore, the TSB is not investigating."
No one was hurt in this incident, but there is currently no explanation as to why the unidentified pilot failed to follow the instructions from air traffic control.
