Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

On June 20, 1941, two Norwegian pilots training at the Island Airport were killed. The seaplane was taking off from the Airport, when a ferry boat travelling from the mainland to the Toronto Island crossed their path. The plane crashed into the upper level of the ferry, then sank into Toronto Harbour.

On February 22, 1943, a Norwegian flight instructor was killed when his Curtiss plane did not pull out of a dive and crashed at the airport. Witnesses did not see the plane make any moves to pull out of the dive. 2nd Lieutenant Conrad Mohr radioed the base that he would do a power dive. It was his last planned flight before leaving for England to rejoin his family, which had recently escaped Norway.

On August 23, 1952, a bi-plane piloted by Charles McKay and John Pretner took off from the island airport and crashed in the backyard of a home on Markham Street, near Dundas Street West in Toronto. Both men were killed in the crash and ensuing fire. The plane was used by owner Charles Catalano's Aerial Advertising Service to pull signs behind it over the annual Canadian National Exhibition. It was not pulling a sign at the time of the crash. McKay was a pilot for Catalano and Pretner was his guest aboard the plane. According to Catalano, the plane had passed an airworthiness test two weeks previous. According to witnesses, the pilot appeared to lose control of the plane when it went down. According to Donald Saunders, the Ontario District Air Regulations supervisor at the time, it was the first plane crash within Toronto since the island airport opened in 1938.

On September 12, 1953, a blimp parked at the airport was destroyed by a violent wind storm. The blimp, which had been advertising the Loblaws grocery chain, while flying over the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), was toppled from its mooring mast and then cut to shreds. Its pilot, Robert Brown of Lakehurst, New Jersey suffered back and head injuries while attempting to adjust its position. A crew attempting to deflate the blimp at the time was not injured.

In October 1954, Hurricane Hazel destroyed planes parked at the airport, including one of Charles Catalano's Tiger Moth aerial advertising planes. The airport ferry had to be disconnected from its dock and floated in the middle of the channel to avoid its destruction, taking the ferry out of service.

On April 14, 1958, a Cessna 180 plane on a testing flight from the Island Airport, crashed in Highview Park in Scarborough. The two occupants were able to escape the wreckage unharmed. The plane was flying 1,500 feet above Scarborough when the engine failed. The pilot successfully avoided children playing in the park, but the plane clipped a hydro pole, crashed into a fence and skidded to a stop in the park.

On November 23, 1960, race car driver Ted Hogan and friend Bruce Tanner died when Hogan's light plane travelling from Oshawa Airport to the Island Airport crashed into Lake Ontario near Highland Creek in Scarborough, Ontario. Witnesses said that one wing appeared to be damaged, the plane then went into a spin, exploded, caught fire and crashed into the water 200 yards off-shore.

On June 8, 1961, Henry Sharpe, a Peterborough, Ontario farmer, was killed when his plane crashed into Lake Ontario between four and eight miles east of the Island Airport. Sharpe had taken off from Peterborough at about 7:00 am that day, and encountered an electrical storm on his flight to Toronto for a milk producers' meeting.

On December 7, 1964, a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft crashed 1,500 ft from the Island Airport runway. The pilot, Bruce MacRitchie of Toronto was saved when Toronto Harbour Police reached the aircraft about 30 seconds after the impact. The plane was returning to the Island from the Oshawa airport, when its engine failed and the plane impacted with the water.

On September 2, 1966, United States Navy Blue Angels pilot Lt. Cmdr. Dick Oliver was killed when he crashed his F-11 Tiger into a breakwater at the Island Airport, while performing in the Canadian International Air Show. The airplane was travelling west-to-east across the waterfront, lost altitude and crashed. Debris injured two bystanders at the Island airport.

On July 23, 1976, a Cessna 401 crashed and sank into Lake Ontario, one half-mile west of the airport. The pilot and two passengers, on a flight from Chicago Midway International Airport, perished in the crash. Donald Frankel of Chicago was the president and founder of the Flying Physicians Association, Inc. and was flying his plane to Toronto to attend the association's meeting.

On January 12, 1987, a Trillium Air Britten-Norman BN-2A-20 Islander crashed into Lake Ontario. The two people on board the aircraft, the pilot and a passenger, were rescued after the accident, but the pilot later died as a result of hypothermia.

On January 12, 1992, Graham Sellers, the pilot and only occupant of a Piper Twin Comanche two-engine four-seater plane, died when both engines failed on his final approach to land at the airport. Sellars was test flying the aircraft after it had been serviced for engine problems. His plane clipped the treetops, crashed through the airport's perimeter chain link fence and came to rest on the grass next to Runway 33.

On October 9, 1993, Nigel, Louise and Sarah Martin and Dennis Kaye died in the crash of a Beech Baron which had just taken off from the island airport. The plane crashed into Lake Ontario one mile west of Ontario Place, south of Sunnyside. The plane burst into flames upon impact and burned before sinking into 15.2 metres (50 ft) of water. The pilot radioed that he had engine trouble and was going to return to the airport. The plane had had engine work done the week before.