Student pilot charged after plane crashes into South Shore home

A 33-year-old student pilot was charged after the plane he was allegedly flying flew low and crashed into a home south of Montreal.

The student pilot who allegedly crashed a small airplane just under three years ago in Saint-Rémi, on Montreal’s South Shore, has been charged with dangerous flying and causing harm to another person.

Jean Frederic Pinard Decelles, 33, was a student pilot on April 21, 2023, and took his Cessna 150G for a flight with his friend, according to a Transport Safety Board (TSB) report.

At around 7:20 p.m., the aircraft flew low over a residential area where about a dozen people were at an outdoor gathering. One of those at the party called the pilot, “asking him to put on a ‘show.’”

“The aircraft began to fly in a steep nose-up attitude and then, after executing a manoeuvre that the investigation was unable to identify, ended up in a vertical descent,” the TSB report said.

“The aircraft then severed power lines before crashing onto the roof of an automobile parked in the driveway of a house approximately 100 feet from the gathering.”

A fire broke out, and several people ran to help the pilot and the other man, who were seriously injured and taken to the hospital.

The fire spread to the house and was put out by firefighters.

The pilot is now facing two charges.

The TSB report says that student pilots must only fly under the direction and supervision of a person qualified to provide training, and that they are not permitted to carry passengers.