Helicopter spotted flying low in east Ottawa

Transport Canada says there will be a follow-up with the owner of a helicopter recorded flying low in Ottawa’s East End earlier this week.

A post on Reddit showed video of a black helicopter appearing to fly under power lines on a country road. The poster said it happened on Wall Road between Tenth Line and Trim on Sunday afternoon.

In a statement to CTV News on Monday, Transport Canada said it had not yet officially reported the incident to them, but added that they were speaking to the plane’s owner.

“There will be a follow-up with the owner of this aircraft,” a spokesman said.

“The department encourages anyone who witnesses unsafe or illegal flight activity to contact Transport Canada. The report should include as much information as possible (ie, clear photos or video, date, time, drone type, other identifiers),” Transport Canada said, linking to the incident reporting page.

The original poster, who asked not to be identified by his real name, said he submitted a report to Transport Canada on Tuesday.

“My wife and I were very surprised to see it fly so low. So we walked down the street to take a closer look,” he said in a Reddit chat about the incident. “That’s when we realized the plane had landed in the middle of the road. We got to about 100 feet and actually had to stop completely and wait about a minute for them to pull away. When they finally did, we were shocked to see them fly under the power lines only to land back onto an adjacent access road.”

He said he also submitted a report to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). The TSB said it was aware of the incident but confirmed it was not investigating and said it was a regulatory matter better handled by Transport Canada.

Transport Canada did not confirm who owned the plane. Posts from other Reddit users revealed that a helicopter owned by a numbered Quebec company based in Montreal had been flying in the area where the video was captured.

Helicopter pilots are subject to Canadian aviation regulations, which require a minimum altitude of 1,000 feet above a built-up area and a minimum separation distance of 500 feet from any person, ship, vehicle or structure.

“Transport Canada reviews all complaints and reports of possible violations related to a helicopter or aircraft to determine whether an investigation is warranted and whether a criminal offense has been committed under the regulations,” the federal agency said.