Video taken at Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday afternoon captured the moment a suspect was arrested for the alleged hijacking of a small plane on Vancouver Island and eventually landing it at YVR.
Footage from ground support worker Azhar Akhtar shows armed police apprehending a man on the ground at YVR.
The suspect has not been named and his motive remains unclear at this time.
Richmond RCMP said they initially received a report at 1:10 p.m. on Tuesday that a Cessna 172, a small passenger aircraft, had been hijacked from the Vancouver Island area and was entering into airspace near YVR. The suspect was the lone occupant on board.
Audio from air traffic control warned other pilots in the area.
“We do have an aircraft that has been hijacked that is in the vicinity of the airport,” the message says.
“I’m just going to let you know that so that you can continue looking out the window. It’s a 172. And just in case anything starts heading towards you, you’ll have the ability to move at your discretion.”
The Victoria Flying Club owns the plane.
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Global News learned that an instructor was with the aircraft at some point but was not injured.
The Cessna took off from Victoria Airport just before 1 p.m. with only the unauthorized pilot on board.
He headed across the Salish Sea, almost directly to YVR, and circled the airport at low altitude, between 600 and 1,000 feet, according to FlightAware.com.
Air traffic control audio confirmed that an aircraft with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was en route, indicating officials were preparing to have fighter jets intercept the plane.
The Canadian military confirmed that F-15s were scrambled but the rogue pilot landed at YVR before the fighter jets arrived. He got out with his hands up and was arrested on the north runway.
In a statement on Tuesday, Vancouver airport officials said, “Shortly before 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, a security incident involving a small private aircraft in the airspace near YVR prompted a temporary ground stop for arriving aircraft. RCMP responded, the aircraft landed safely, and the lone occupant was taken into custody.”
“During the 39-minute ground stop for arrivals, nine inbound aircraft were diverted to alternate airports. Airlines, YVR, and our partners are working to support getting those passengers to their destinations.”
The suspect has not been identified at this time.
John Gradek, a faculty lecturer in supply networks and aviation management at McGill University, told Global News he is not surprised more information is not being released.
“That is typical procedure when you have a security threat, which this was a serious breach of airport commercial airport protocol, that there is going to be a lot of investigation, a lot of conversations taking place with law enforcement. RCMP, as well as Transport Canada, not only with the pilot in Vancouver but also with the organization that originated this aeroplane in Victoria,” he said.
“There was some fault in process and in the way in which this person received access to an aircraft, which needs to be examined.”
He added that YVR acted “by the book,” and the ground stop and rerouting of some flights was necessary due to the security threat.
“There is the potential for charges related against this pilot and they are significant,” Gradek said.
“Jail time potentially there as well. So you don’t pussyfoot around commercial airspace. It really is designated as commercial airspace because people’s lives depend on it.”
— with files from Jordan Armstrong, Richard Zussman and Aaron McArthur
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