'It was very smooth': Passenger aboard plane that landed on rural Manitoba road shares story

A passenger who was on board a flight that made a temporary landing on a rural Manitoba road says the incident will go down as one of his most interesting life experiences.

Bryon Cassie was flying to Winnipeg from Sachigo Lake, Ont. Thursday night. He is a UV service technician and was in the community doing operator training at the water plant.

On the way home, Cassie said they were informed one of the engines in the plane had gone out.

“It’s a twin-engine plane so I wasn’t very concerned. Nobody else seemed very concerned. Planes can fly on one engine, so after the pilot got it stabilized, we just continued on our way,” he recalled in an interview with CTV News on Friday.

Cassie said the plane continued on for another 20 minutes or so when the pilot turned around, asking the people on board to make sure they had their seatbelts on and to brace for landing.

Seconds later, they were on the ground – having landed on a road near St. Andrews, Man.

The plane had run out of fuel and needed to make an emergency landing.

“It was very smooth. It was actually smoother than when we landed at Sachigo, just because the road condition was a little better. The runway might have been a bit bumpy.”

(Source: Bryon Cassie)

Cassie said they ended up landing near a house. A child who lived there ran out and started taking pictures.

“I’m sure he’ll be telling his friends at school," Cassie laughed.

He said everyone on board was very calm, particularly the pilot, who he described as very confident.

RCMP said Thursday night its Selkirk detachment was told a plane that had seven people on board might have crashed as it lost contact with St. Andrews Airport as it was coming to land.

"The plane apparently ran out of fuel but was able to land safely on Pigeon Bluff Road with no injuries," RCMP said in an email to CTV News Winnipeg Thursday evening.

Mounties and airport staff helped haul the plane to Highway 67, block off the area and refuel it. The plane was able to take off again and fly to St. Andrews Airport.

Meantime, Cassie says the experience has not put him off flying. He’s had more nerve-wracking experiences riding his motorcycle, he said, and found this to be more of an interesting life experience than a dangerous one.

“If they had let me and they had fuel, I would have gotten back on the plane and flown the rest of the way home. I would have gotten there quicker than by truck.”

- With files from CTV’s Devon McKendrick and Glenn Pismenny