81-Year-Old Pilot Makes Emergency Landing on Glacier, All Passengers Survive
"They're lucky they're alive."
— -- An 81-year-old pilot had to make a quick decision when his plane stalled in the mountains of British Columbia on June 5.
Vern Hannah and his passengers, Zbigniew Jedynakiewicz, who goes by Peter, and Alan Widelski, survived a day and a half in the Canadian wilderness after making an emergency landing on a glacier. They were rescued when a snowmobiler spied their downed airplane, according to Jeff Olssen of the Canadian Coast Guard.
The trio took off from Pitt Meadows Airport without filing a flight plan, which is not required for small aircraft, Olssen told ABC News.
Jedynakiewicz is a pilot in training himself with only a few hours of flight time under his belt, according to Stephen Marois of King George Aviation of Surrey, British Columbia. Marois said the emergency landing must have been incredibly difficult to pull off, considering the dangers of the ice field.
"They were a second away from disaster," he said. "They're lucky they're alive."
Hannah's decades of flying experience paid off, and the three men were found in "good health and good spirits" when rescued a couple miles from the landing site, according to Olssen.
Jedynakiewicz praised Hannah's skills in an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC, saying, "It was a soft landing, soft like on a pillow."