Highway near Medicine Hat closed down due to Mayday call

[Posthumane]

I was driving home last night and found myself as the last car on a stretch of highway just as the police were closing it down. Turns out that someone, somewhere received a Mayday call which prompted the police to close the highway to make a possible temporary landing area. It's now looking like the mayday call was a fake as there were no aircraft in the area at the time.
http://medicinehatnews.com/news/nationa ... air-force/

What I found odd about it is that the portion of highway they closed would not be a particularly good landing area as it is not straight or level, and in fact goes down a steep hill, across a bridge, and back up a steep hill, and has a bunch of street lamps on it. Also, it is very close to the medicine hat airport which has two lit runways and has a fair amount of open prairie on one side of it.

[ahramin]

What the smeg? As if they could close down a highway in time to do anything! Someone needs some more training.

[Hockaloogie]

Maybe it was Stefan Trischuk, isn't he from around there?

[CpnCrunch]

Apparently someone heard it on a CB:

http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/2/c ... d2015C3449

[Meatservo]

Not sure what it was all about, but two men are now facing charges for the fake distress call.

[Posthumane]

I still find the whole thing a bit bizarre. Someone sends out a distress signal on a radio, someone else hears it and calls the police. All normal there. But then they determine that the aircraft may be in the maple creek area and heading towards Medicine Hat. So the police close off the a hilly, curvy stretch of road for two hours which nobody in their right mind would consider landing on, where an aircraft coming from Maple Creek would have to fly over the Medicine Hat airport to get to it. Odd.

[New_PIC]

Two arrested for bogus distress call.

http://medicinehatnews.com/news/provinc ... ress-call/

Doesn't add much though.

[MrWings]

I haven't used the CB in my aircraft in years. Probably the last time was when I was calling ahead for ink for my mimeograph.

[Eric Janson]

What I found odd about it is that the portion of highway they closed would not be a particularly good landing area as it is not straight or level, and in fact goes down a steep hill, across a bridge, and back up a steep hill, and has a bunch of street lamps on it. Also, it is very close to the medicine hat airport which has two lit runways and has a fair amount of open prairie on one side of it.

My thinking on this is that it is part of their emergency plan for the airport.

Road closure is to allow easier access for emergency services to the airport and immediate vicinity.

Doubt it has anything to do with a landing area.

You'd have to check with the airport operator for confirmation.