A small plane crashed a few hundred meters from the crowd gathered for the Osheaga festival on Saturday in Montreal, killing a passenger and injuring the pilot. The accident occurred in Dieppe Park, across from Île Sainte-Hélène, where the concerts were in full swing. No one on the ground was injured.
Earnest M., a security officer stationed under the Concorde bridge, on the other side, witnessed the whole scene. She quickly dialed 911 at 6:01 pm She first noticed a small plane flying over the St. Lawrence River at low altitude and towing a banner that read “Chantal Will You Marry Me? “.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FÉLIX LANGLOIS
The small plane flew over the St. Lawrence River at low altitude and towed a banner that read “Chantal Will You Marry Me? “.
“The plane was flying very low,” she explains. Little by little he was losing speed. The banner came loose in the water. He wanted to turn around and he crashed. There was a fire and a huge cloud of smoke. ”
The Cessna which crashed on Saturday evening belonged to Gian Piero Ciambella and his company, Aerogram, which specializes in aerial advertising. The device left the factory in 1974.
His brother Gian Carlo Ciambella, who lives in Ottawa, was in shock when Press contacted him on Saturday evening. He had been able to confirm that his brother was in control of the aircraft. At the time of publication, he did not know his state of health, but had learned that he was in the emergency room of the Montreal General Hospital. He did not know the identity of the passenger who perished.
The plane had taken off in Saint-Mathieu, west of Highway 15, on the South Shore of Montreal. A few hours after the accident, Press went to the Saint-Mathieu aerodrome. There, the owner Philip Lane looked low, in shock. He was unable to confirm the identity of the victim or that of the injured person, “out of respect for the families involved”.
The Osheaga festival site was not affected by the accident and performances continued normally, organizers said.
Upon arrival of Press at the scene of the accident, the flames that had ravaged the small plane were extinguished. A whitish moss covered the grass around the almost completely destroyed aircraft. Only a wing and the rudder (rear portion of the aircraft), with the edges blackened by the flames, could still be distinguished.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
About fifteen SPVM cars protected the vast security perimeter, located near Habitat 67. Two trucks from the Montreal Fire Department were also on site.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) confirmed that the crashed aircraft was a Cesna 172 pulling a banner. Investigators went to the scene of the accident on Saturday to gather information and clarify the circumstances of this event. The investigation will continue over the next few days.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The outgoing mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, reacted to the tragic accident. “My team and I are closely monitoring developments following the crash of a small plane in Dieppe Park. My thoughts are with the family of the deceased, ”she wrote in a Twitter post.
“Equal parts” assumptions
At this stage, all the elements which could explain the accident are “in equal parts”, explains the airline pilot Marc-Antoine Plourde.
The pilot might have wanted to watch the spectacle unfolding on Île Sainte-Hélène. “Did they slow down? Did they pick up [du ciel], a bit like a water ski that goes too slowly and falls into the water? », Asks Mr. Plourde.
To this hypothesis are added those of a weather incident, a physical malaise of the pilot, a mechanical problem, the height of the aircraft’s flight, or even the possibility of a problem caused by the banner.
The aircraft was in communication with the Montreal airport control towers. Press got the audio recording in which the pilot can be heard calling for help. “Mayday,” said a male voice. The operator asks the person to repeat what they said. His question remains unanswered.
Note that a cut of about 1 min 30 s was made between the two extracts.
The Cessna 172 is a very popular aircraft, explains Marc-Antoine Plourde. “It’s a basic plane, all young pilots who start in private aviation start with the Cessna 172,” he says. “It’s a device that is stable, perfect for learning to fly,” he continues.
A very experienced pilot
The owner of the aircraft, Gian Piero Ciambella, has been piloting airplanes since 1976 and has over 37 years of flying experience with this Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE FACEBOOK PAGE OF GIAN PIERO CIAMBELLA
Gian Piero Ciambella and his plane
He owns a building in Longueuil where the offices of his aerial banner advertising company are also located. Two of his tenants, Martin Roy and Marie-Josée Schinck, described him as a kind man who takes good care of the building.
A friend of Mr Ciambella, Alexandre Bergeron, was at the Osheaga festival when he saw the plume of smoke coming from the crash site. However, he only made the connection with his pilot friend after being contacted by Press. The two have known each other for several years and played volleyball together.
Simon Choucroun used the services of Aerogram on May 30 for a banner bearing the text “We stand with Israel”. Mr. Choucroun described to Press a very nice pilot and contractor, ready to make adjustments and who respects the rules of safety.
He refused to have anyone on board, for safety reasons and because it was not allowed.
Simon Choucroun, client of Aerogram
In 2006, Gian Piero Ciambella made the headlines when he landed urgently on the very busy avenue du Parc, in the heart of Montreal, with the same plane. “When I saw that the light was red, I darkened”, he had confided to Press at the time, adding that he had managed an almost perfect landing, only “a little too far to the left of six inches”. “I touched a sign prohibiting a U-turn!” », He had specified. The plane was carrying two passengers. The pilot had received the Robert-Piché trophy for this feat.
A TSB report concluded that the failure was caused by the presence of water in the gas tank. This could not be properly purged before departure because the aircraft was not level.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, PRESS ARCHIVES
Landing on avenue du Parc, in 2006
In 2013, in a newspaper article Metro who wondered about the possibility of a plane crashing in downtown Montreal, Gian Piero Ciambella said he frequently flew over the metropolis and constantly monitor “the most appropriate places in the event of a landing: large parks, soccer, shopping malls, three- or four-lane streets ”. “If you want to plan ahead, you can always fly at a higher altitude,” he said. The higher we are, the better the chances of being able to glide away from the center. ”
More recently, the banners towed by Mr. Ciambella’s plane have made the headlines several times.
Last week, another Aerogram plane towed the “Mange de la marde Pierre” banner ordered by Véronique Cloutier as part of a humorous approach linked to her show on 107.3 FM.
In 2012, Mr. Ciambella’s plane was grounded after he was hired to tow a banner denouncing Stephen Harper’s government over Ottawa. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police questioned the pilot before releasing him. The latter had defended his work, claiming never to have entered the protected airspace around Parliament Hill.
The most popular aircraft model
The plane that crashed on Saturday was one of 44,000 Cessna 172 Skyhawks that have rolled off the American company’s assembly lines since the 1950s, making it the most popular aircraft model in the world. It is a small and light aircraft, equipped with a single 180 horsepower engine and can accommodate a maximum of four passengers. According to Cessna, it can reach 230 km / h and travel more than 1,100 km between refueling. According to several trade publications, it is a safe and relatively easy to maneuver aircraft. Cessna also boasts of its use by a large number of flight schools. Mr. Ciambella’s Cessna left the factory in 1974, according to its Transport Canada registration. It had belonged to him since 1985. In 2006, at the time of an emergency landing on avenue du Parc in Montreal, “the aircraft was equipped with long-range fuel tanks”, according to a federal investigation report.
Philippe Teisceira-Lessard, Press