The deadly crash last week of a twin-engined Beechcraft King Air 100 aircraft short of a runway at Vancouver International Airport has brought back bad memories for a group of Richmond residents.
Four years ago a small plane crashed into the ninth floor of the Rosario Gardens apartment building in the 8200-block of Saba Road shortly after taking off from the busy airport.
Now, approximately 100 anxious residents of the 15-storey tower have signed a petition asking Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie to pressure the federal government to relocate small planes away from YVR.
Last week's crash brings back the horror of that October 2007 afternoon for them.
Peter Garrison, 82, of Maple Ridge lost control of his Piper Seneca minutes after takeoff from YVR.
The Transportation Safety Board ruled the likely cause of the crash was Garrison - who was being treated for hypertension and diabetes, and had suffered a heart attack - being incapacitated before he crashed.
In July 2009, both crew members died when their Piper Chieftain cargo plane ran into wake turbulence from an Airbus 321 it was following as it approached YVR to land, and crashed into a warehouse in Richmond.
"Almost every two years there's a plane going down," Aaron Leung, property manager for Rosario Gardens, said Thursday.
"It took Rosario Gardens owners 1 1/2 years before they could resume their normal lives.
"Whenever they hear a plane flying low, they are afraid that a plane could be coming down," said Leung.
"It's very scary for them."
Brodie said city officials are going to meet soon with Vancouver Airport Authority brass to start working on a regional airport strategy, which would see the number of small planes flying in and out of YVR decline.
There are five other airports in the Fraser Valley: Abbotsford International, Boundary Bay, Chilliwack, Langley Regional and Pitt Meadows Regional.
"Each is operated by an independent body with a specific mandate and chartered to community needs," Brodie noted.
"The concept of a regional airport strategy would be you could take some of the traffic from YVR and reroute it to other regional airports."
YVR is Canada's second busiest airport. It averaged more than 800 takeoffs and landings per day last year.
