Friday July 18, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated July 22, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
On Tuesday July 15 a small plane was flown from the Victoria International Airport across Haro Strait and the Strait of Georgia to the Vancouver International Airport.
Premier David Eby commented on the handling of the incident during his media availability on Thursday July 17, held outdoors at Government House following a cabinet shuffle announcement.
“This is a pretty wild story. I want to thank all of the calm, and responsive and effective people who were part of the group responding to this bizarre moment at one of the busiest airports in Canada,” said Eby in response to a question from a CTV reporter.
The premier’s thanks is “for everyone from the air traffic controllers managing all of those planes, to the airport staff to the police and others”.
“It’s what they train for and I think maybe a moment that they didn’t really expect and certainly hoped would never materialize. That is was resolved without loss of life and it was resolved without a more significant disruption.”
“That is a testament to their skill, to talk this person down, to get them into custody, and to ensure the business of the airport could continue,” the premier said. “I’m grateful for that,” said Premier Eby.
“I understand the individual has been charged by federal prosecutors with various offences including terrorism-related offences. I’m sure we’ll learn more as it moves its way through the court system,” said Eby.
NORAD was on call:
Reportedly North American Aerospace Defence (NORAD) had dispatched some F-15 fighter jets to the airspace around Vancouver International Airport in response to what was being called the hijacking of a small aircraft.
But the local airport personnel were able to resolve the situation. A spokeswoman for the NORAD Command says additional F-18 fighters were also being readied to respond, but the Cessna landed at YVR before those planes were deployed.
About the small plane:
The Cessna took off from Victoria International Airport (YYJ) just before 1 pm PT with only the unauthorized pilot on board. That pilot was later identified as Shaheer Cassim, 39 (a former pilot with K-D Air) has since been charged.
A controller in the day’s flight recordings is heard to say at about 1:13 pm PT that the pilot of the Cessna said he had hijacked the aircraft and was heading to Vancouver, and flight data show the plane circling above the airport for about 25 minutes.
YYJ said in a statement that the Cessna was operated by the Victoria Flying Club.
The weather was sunny, warm and clear that day.
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