Federal safety report lists 59 incidents at YVR in 2013
Incidents of wake turbulence are expected to increase with more aircraft flying in the Vancouver area and with improved navigational systems that allow planes to more accurately follow the same precise landing approaches.
A radio-controlled helicopter posed a "serious risk of collision" with an Air Canada passenger jet during its landing approach, according to federal aviation safety reports for last year at Vancouver International Airport.
On March 29, the Air Canada Boeing 777-300 was flying at 600 metres when the crew observed the radio-controlled helicopter pass within 20 to 30 metres of the aircraft at the same altitude. The crews of subsequent aircraft also reported seeing it flying above 450 metres. RCMP were dispatched but no helicopter or operator could be found.
Lew Potts of the Sea Island Model Flying Club, based in Delta, said most enthusiasts of gas or electric model aircraft belong to a regulated club offering liability insurance and operating usually at altitudes no higher than about 120 metres.
But he said radio-control helicopters - which can have an aluminum or titanium frame, fibreglass shell and carbon-fibre rotor - do not require landing strips and in this case may have involved a "rogue operator" who wanted to test the limits of the aircraft.
Noting that some models can be the size of an eagle, he said: "You wouldn't want it sucked into an airplane, that's for sure."
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