Homestead Coulee rancher finds DC-10 plane parts in farmyard

    A curious discovery not far from a Homestead Coulee resident’s home helped officials from Transport Canada locate parts of an airplane that had mechanical difficulties in November of last year.     Jim Faubion made the discovery of two chunks of debris that appeared to look like pieces of an aircraft. One piece he found measured about three feet by three feet square. About 150 feet away, was another aluminum panel that measured four feet by about nine feet.
    The items were located about an eighth of a mile from his home.
    “It was sort of an aluminum arched panel. When I looked at the first piece I was trying to figure out what it was because it had sort of a ‘Y’ shaped screw head,” said Faubion. “When I saw the other piece, I thought maybe this is off a plane.”
    Faubion called officials from Transport Canada, and they confirmed it was from an aircraft, although it was still an oddity.
    “We’re directly below west bound planes. He told me that even if it looked like a piece of landing gear, it was too far out for them to open the doors,” said Faubion.
    The official told Faubion that Empress is typically where the planes start to descend, and if there were a problem with landing gear, it would have happened in the Strathmore area.
    Faubion forwarded some digital photos of the plane to the official who he had spoken with, and within the day he received a response.
    He was told on November 27 of last year, a DC-10 cargo plane was flying from Winnipeg to Calgary. A DC-10 is a three-engine wide body plane. The craft experienced a vibration in flight causing the #2 engine light to be illuminated. When the plane landed, they discovered a thrust reverse shield was missing.
    Faubion was impressed they were able to solve the mystery so quickly.
    “It is amazing how well documented they had everything,” he said.
        The official is planning to pickup the plane part this Thursday.
    When asked if it made him nervous seeing parts from a plane falling from the sky near his home, he replied, “No. What are the odds? One in 40 million? I’d rather have the 40 million.”