Engine failure led to plane crash at Toronto sports field, federal investigators say

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A small plane that crashed at a sports field near a school in Toronto’s east end had an engine failure mid-flight, federal investigators say.

A spokesperson with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which investigates air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation incidents, told Global News in an email Tuesday the plane was heading to Billy Bishop Island airport in Toronto from Orillia, Ont., when the incident occurred Monday night.

The pilot and two passengers were onboard, they said.

“En route there was an engine failure, and the plane crash-landed in a field in Monarch Park. No injuries were reported,” they said, added TSB investigators are probing the incident.

Firefighters are seen responding to a small aircraft that crashed next to the field at Monarch Park Collegiate Institute, in Toronto, in a Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, handout image published by Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop to social media site X.

@ChiefJessopTFS/The Canadian Press handout

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At 8:17 p.m. Monday, Toronto police said in a post on X it had received reports a plane had crash in the park, which is near Coxwell and Felstead avenues in East York.

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Global News witnessed the wreckage adjacent to a sports field, which had several people playing soccer on it at the time.

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Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop told reporters Monday night the plane was probably 50 feet shy of the field.

Jessop posted a photo of the crash scene on social media, which showed the single-engine aircraft in one piece, but angled nose-down on pavement.

An investigation is underway.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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