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

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 during an emergency landing on the road on Thursday afternoon, killing a person on the ground. 

The Transportation Safety Board said Friday that the flight from remote Sturdee River airstrip to Prince George about 400 kilometres to the southeast lost power in one engine.

It said in preliminary findings from investigators that the plane hit four vehicles, killing one occupant, when it made the emergency landing. None of the plane’s two crew members or six passengers were injured, the TSB said.

Mineral exploration company Evergold confirmed in a statement Friday that two members of its exploration team were aboard the aircraft, but were uninjured. 

“In addition to Evergold’s personnel, other passengers on board included personnel from several other mineral exploration companies as well as the pilot; they too are safe and uninjured,” the statement said, also offering its condolences to the loved ones of the person who died.

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.

Data from the Transportation Safety Board shows the aircraft had one prior “occurrence” on a medical evacuation flight from Arizona to Kelowna, B.C., in January 2024 when it was operating under a previous owner.

The TSB summary said the plane had cabin pressure issues outside Kelowna resulting in oxygen masks being deployed in the cabin as it descended, and the crew declared an emergency.

The flight eventually landed safely, and the problem was traced to a pressurization controller.

The plane was returned to service after a test flight checked out.

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.”

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.

“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 also show a black 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.