Driver ‘shouldn’t be here’ after crash with plane in B.C. speared rod through seat

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He was on his way to work driving along Foothills Boulevard in the northern B.C. city when the plane came down, Pawliuk saying it was “speeding right towards us.”

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Pawliuk says he believes his vehicle’s suspension took the brunt of the impact since the plane struck downward from above.

He says he knows he’s “extremely lucky” to have walked away from the crash.

“I really shouldn’t be here,” he said in an interview.

“After the impact, I was able to know I was still alive, and I was covered in glass and small cuts,” Pawliuk said. “I opened the door and walked around my vehicle until shock set in, then I was sitting.”

Pawliuk was taken to hospital for assessment and released, although he says the shock of the crash kept him awake much of the night.

It was impossible to avoid the plane due to its speed, he added.

“I remember just missing the engine on the wing as I swerved as hard right as I could to get myself in the ditch,” Pawliuk recalled. “But the plane was moving at such an incredible rate, and I was struck in the rightmost lane.”

He said he did not remember the plane’s engine making any sound in the crash.

“As the plane passed my vehicle it was quiet,” he said. “A whistling sound and metal twisting and glass shattering were the sounds I remember hearing.

“None of my airbags went off. The plane kept going out of my sight.”

Photos shared online show a pickup truck with the tip of a wing embedded in the windscreen, and a man with a bloodied face standing alongside.

Other photos show a third vehicle in a ditch, and the plane on the roadside, it’s wing damaged and its door open.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2026.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press