Small plane makes emergency landing on Ajax roadway, pilot escapes without injury

A small plane made an emergency landing in the middle of an Ajax roadway on Monday night but the pilot escaped without injury, according to police.

Durham Regional Police said the plane's engine failed and the pilot had to glide the aircraft onto the roadway in the area of Bayly Street East and Audley Road South.

The Town of Ajax said emergency vehicles responded and the area was closed on Monday night as police investigated.

John Gilker, a Durham Region resident, said he and Debbie Gilker were coming home from Whitby when he noticed navigation lights in the sky above them.

He said the lights looked too far apart to be a police helicopter. He soon realized it was a small plane about 15 metres in the air.

The couple turned around to follow it in case they needed to offer assistance, thinking there might be a crash. The plane went over their heads and out of sight briefly, before they saw it on the ground, facing westbound, in the eastbound lanes of the area of Bayley Street and Audley Road.

Gilker said the plane had done a 180 when it landed and stopped east of the intersection. There was debris on the road. The couple said another woman who was in the area told them the plane looked like it was coming right for her.

The pilot had trouble getting out because the body of the plane was damaged and neither door of the plane would open. But he got out and seemed fine, Gilker said.

"I said to him, 'You don't know how lucky you are,'" Debbie Gilker said.

Debbie Gilker, a Durham Region resident, poses in front of a small plane that made an emergency landing in Ajax on Monday night. (Submitted by John Gilker)