Woman Dies After Being Struck By Plane While Mowing Airfield Runway

A 27-year-old woman, who was mowing the grass at an airfield in Quebec, died after being hit by a plane that was making a landing. The incident happened at the aerodrome in Saint-Esprit, said a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).

“You hear about somebody struck by lightning, it’s overwhelming, but by a landing airplane -- never heard nothing like that before,” said Pierre Remillard, a neighbor, as reported by WCAX.

The woman, whose identity hasn't been revealed, was operating a tractor on Monday afternoon near the runway. "What we can understand is that the woman was on a tractor mowing the lawn and when the plane did its descent to land on the airstrip the airplane hit the woman," Quebec municipal police spokesman Marc Tessier told CNN.

Even though the woman was taken to a hospital, she couldn't survive, Tessier said. She was employed by a company that was responsible for maintenance at the airport. The pilot of the plane was not injured, but the incident left him shocked. He was taken to a hospital to be examined.

Tessier said that the airfield is used by private aircraft and that it is utilized for skydiving purpose as well. The pilot was in his own aircraft. Tessier could not confirm whether the plane was used for skydiving or not.

TSB is looking into the incident. A team has already interviewed witnesses, checked the aircraft and the tractor and collected other evidence available at the site. "In the coming days, the investigators will continue gathering information. The occurrence is still being assessed to determine the next steps in terms of the scope of the investigation," said a TSB spokesperson Marc-Antoine Brassard.

The plane was a single-engine Nanchang CJ-6, which is a training plane that is generally used by private pilots in Canada, said a TSB spokesman Chris Krepski. He added that at the time of the incident, the weather "was appropriate for visual flight rules flying" and that there were light winds and a few clouds at 4,000 feet.

Tessier said that it could take a few weeks, or even months, to find out what happened.

As many as 170 air transportation accidents were reported to the TSB last year, and 114 involved non-commercial or private aircraft, according to the agency. There were 16 air transportation deaths in 2020.