Small plane crashes on road north of Toronto, disrupts traffic, police say

A small plane crash-landed on a Markham road near Buttonville Airport on Monday, York Regional Police confirmed.

Police said the plane, a Slingsby T67C, was coming in to land around noon when it somehow wound up on 16th Avenue, near the airport. 

Neither of the two people on board were injured, police said, while images from the scene showed the plane appears to have sustained minimal damage. 

Fire crews were called to the scene, but police said there was no fire.

It’s still unclear why the pilot landed on the roadway.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), an independent agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline and train transportation incidents, said it will be sending a team to gather information and assess what happened.

The TSB notes it does not assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.

York police closed a section of 16th Avenue between Woodbine Avenue and Highway 404 to investigate but the road has now reopened. Traffic cameras didn’t capture the landing but did show a number of vehicles on the road following the incident.

This isn’t the first time this has happened in this area.

In 2021, a small plane took off from Buttonville before experiencing mechanical issues, forcing it to land on the much-busier Highway 407, just east of Woodbine Avenue.