Operations at the Canadian Rockies International Airport were able to resume quickly after an incident involving a small aircraft on Thursday morning.
Tristen Chernove, Managing Director at CRIA, confirmed that a small private, pilot-owned aircraft had crashed parallel to the runway in the grass.
Chernove said the plane was landing, or possibly doing a 'touch-and-go' to take off again, "and that's when things didn't go quite to plan for the pilot."
The pilot was transferred by BC Ambulance to the hospital.
"We did have dialogue with the pilot prior to transport, he seemed to be in stable condition," Chernove said. The aircraft itself is a likely a write-off, however.
The airport was able to resume operations quite quickly. "It was a multi-agency response, that on all accounts was very successful," Chernove said. "Response from Fire Services from Cranbrook, RCMP, BC Ambulance, and our own airport staff and help from some of our great airport tenants."
The RCMP will handle the initial investigation, and Transport Canada and in turn the Transportation Safety Board will look at further details and handle that investigation.