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Hammoud said he woke up his wife and joked, “I have an airplane, let’s go for a vacation.”

“I even woke up the kids and told them, ‘I’m flying you guys to school.’ And they all ran to the window to see the airplane.”

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Andrew Greig said he and his father had just turned onto 36th Street during their commute to work when they heard something. They looked around in all directions before realizing a plane was about 2.5 metres above their truck.

“(It) just went right through the intersection, right through the lights, and landed right in front of us,” he said.

After they pulled over, Greig jumped out and phoned 911.

“The door (of the plane) opened and they kind of walked out,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, so they seem to be alright.'”

Greig said it was lucky it was as early as it was and that the landing was relatively smooth.

“It could have been worse,” he said. “It could have been not the greatest picture this morning.”

Photo by Leah Hennel / Postmedia

Police had a stretch of the major thoroughfare blocked to traffic for much of the day, as federal Transportation Safety Board inspectors began trying to determine what caused the accident.

CTrains passed by the impromptu landing site as astonished passengers took photos from the windows. A steady stream of onlookers stopped in the residential area next to the plane to catch a glimpse of the unusual sight.

Marge Wawryn, who lives nearby, joined the crowd to take a look, surprised the pilots had been able to land the plane safely without colliding with any vehicles.