This month’s Close Call takes us back to the early 1960’s into the northern Ontario bush. Our pilot was a geologist who would fly his Cessna 170 float plane into remote locations in the northern portions of Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. One particular exploratory excursion had our pilot flying southeast from Timmins, Ontario to New Liskeard on the shore of Lake Timiskaming where the Wabi River enters the lake. A very familiar route. In preparation to land on the lake he overflew his landing zone to assess its suitability for landing. He observed high swells on the lake, the result of some recent winds. Our pilot determined that his intended landing spot was unsafe due to the swells so began his search for an alternate place to land.

He thought that the adjacent river a couple of hundred yards away would be much more suitable. While it was obviously more narrow than the lake, he estimated it’s width to be about triple his wingspan, and the water surface conditions appeared more appropriate for landing. Our pilot readied himself to land and began to descend onto the river. As he was approaching a nearby bridge suddenly at about eye level, directly ahead of him and crossing his path came into view a wire!

With absolutely no time to think and completely by reflex our pilot pushed forward hard to duck under the wire barely missing it. Now only about 20 feet above the ground he brought his 170 down to a fairly abrupt landing on the water.

“I had never actually looked for wires around the bridge. I thought I knew the area from driving and flying through it dozens of times.” Admits our pilot “It was just plain stupidity.”

A nearby teenager who watched the landing approached our pilot commenting on how impressive he thought it to be. The only thing our pilot could think was “Does he have any idea of how stupid I am?” He adds “I did not take his comment as a deserved compliment.”

Clearly, there was no more critical judge of the situation than our pilot himself. He recognizes what he should have done and admits that he simply didn’t do it. The good news is that he emerged from the scenario unscathed and believes that he had become a better pilot after having learned such a harsh lesson on that day almost 50 years ago. Our pilot concludes “In hindsight it was a heck of a good lesson in keeping your wits about you.”

Now I’m not a float pilot so the only advice I’ll give to wrap up is to remember your training and follow your checklists. If you have any doubts or lack confidence in any aspect of your flying or simply need to shake off those winter cobwebs, consult with an instructor and hone your skills.

Thanks to our pilot for sharing his humbling experience. May we all learn from it.

Anthony Nalli is the Director of Canadian Development, General Aviation Collision Avoidance and President of SciDac Corporation/PCAS.ca. PCAS.ca is dedicated to the implementation of affordable collision avoidance devices in General Aviation with a mission to eliminate mid-air collisions and dramatically reduce close calls. Anthony can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , 1-888-PCAS-123 (GTA: 416-225-9266), and www.PCAS.ca