The driver of one of two vehicles struck by a small plane as it made an emergency landing on a road says the aircraft was "speeding right towards us" before crushing the roof of his SUV, as seen in Prince George, B.C., in a Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Jaime Pawliuk (Mandatory Credit)

By The Canadian Press

Driver ‘shouldn’t be here’ after crash with plane in B.C. speared rod through seat

Aug 21, 2026 | 9:33 AM

Jaime Pawliuk said he didn’t hear anything as the plane flew just over his SUV on busy Foothills Boulevard in Prince George, B.C.

Then there was “a whistling sound and metal twisting and glass shattering.”

Pawliuk said he was lucky to be alive after the twin-engined plane hit his vehicle as it made an emergency landing on the road on Thursday.

The Transportation Safety Board deployed a team to investigate the landing, and said in a statement Friday that the flight was en route from the remote Sturdee River airstrip, about 400 kilometres northwest of Prince George to the northern B.C. Interior city, when the plane lost power in one engine.

The TSB said the plane then made an emergency landing on the urban highway, hitting four vehicles and resulting in one fatality on the ground, although none of the two crew members or six passengers were injured.

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Pawliuk, a resident of the northern B.C. community, said he only suffered cuts and minor whiplash, but given the severity of the crash that sent a thick metal rod spearing through his roof and into the backseat at chest height, he “shouldn’t be here.”

Pawliuk shared photos showing his red Ford SUV with its roof mangled from the plane’s impact, the rod embedded in the backseat.

He was on his way to work driving along Foothills Boulevard around 2:20 p.m. when the plane came down, “speeding right towards us.”

Transport Canada registration data shows the plane was manufactured in 1980, and is owned by Sekani Air Ltd., based in Prince George.

Sekani Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pawliuk said he believed his vehicle’s suspension took the brunt of the impact since the plane struck downward.

He said he was “extremely lucky” to have walked away from the crash.

“I really shouldn’t be here,” he said in an interview.

“After the impact, I was able to know I was still alive, and I was covered in glass and small cuts,” Pawliuk said. “I opened the door and walked around my vehicle until shock set in, then I was sitting.”

Pawliuk was taken to hospital for assessment and released, although he said the shock of the crash kept him awake much of the night.

It was impossible to avoid the plane due to its speed, he added.

“I remember just missing the engine on the wing as I swerved as hard right as I could to get myself in the ditch,” Pawliuk recalled. “But the plane was moving at such an incredible rate, and I was struck in the rightmost lane.”

“None of my airbags went off. The plane kept going out of my sight,” he added.

Photos shared online show a pickup truck with the tip of a wing embedded in the windscreen, and a man with a bloodied face standing alongside.

Other photos show a vehicle in a ditch, and the plane on the roadside, its wing damaged and its door open.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2026.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press