No charges will be laid against civilian pilot who violated G7 airspace during summit

A wayward pilot whose actions forced officials to scramble four CF-18 Hornet fighter jets during the G7 leaders’ summit in Alberta earlier this year won’t be facing criminal charges.

During the summit in June — which included leaders from Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and the European Union — no-fly zones were in place over Kananaskis Village and the Calgary International Airport.

There was one violation over Kananaskis, the day the leaders were set to arrive.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command deployed fighter jets to intercept the fixed-wing civilian aircraft above the Kananaskis area and tried to get his attention before resorting to final warning measures to contact the pilot.

Police said the Royal Canadian Air Force and NORAD were able to have the man exit the controlled airspace and directed him to land in Brooks, Alta., 285 kilometres to the east, where he was met by RCMP.

“The RCMP concluded their investigation with no charges,” said RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney in an email.

The findings of the original RCMP investigation were forwarded to Transport Canada.

“Transport Canada has reviewed the circumstances of this incident to determine whether the Canadian Aviation Regulations were followed,” said Transport Canada in a statement.

“Transport Canada maintains strict requirements, oversight measures, and enforcement tools to ensure compliance.”

The statement said the department publishes a non-corporate offenders list to serve as a deterrent and to increase public awareness and education — but to comply with the Privacy Act, it excludes names and any other information that could identify individuals.

It isn’t clear if the offending pilot would be added to the non-corporate offenders list.