Mississauga family seeks answers after huge chunk of ice crashes through roof

Carmela Caccavo was sound asleep inside her Mississauga home when was startled awake by a loud crash at around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Initially, she assumed it was a common culprit of suburban mischief: raccoons.

But upon further inspection she discovered a bowling ball-sized chunk of ice had blasted through the roof of her bedroom closet, just metres from where was sleeping.

“The noise was enormous,” she told CityNews on Wednesday. “I saw the big piece of ice and all the insulation. I started to panic.

“I was lucky. It could have hit me on the head.”

Once the shock wore off, the family was faced with daunting and costly repairs, and they wanted answers.

The logical conclusion was the ice had fallen from a plane. The family home at 1317 Burgess Cres. is about 25 kilometres from Pearson International Airport.

“Maybe the airplane wasn’t cleaned properly,” mused Caccavo’s son, Michael. “(There should be) some sort of accountability because it’s a life on the line.”

Michael said he called Pearson but didn’t get any answers.

“In the end, they said they couldn’t really do much,” he said. “They said they can’t find who was in the air (and) there are so many airports in the area. In the end, they just said to contact the insurance and have them deal with it … which is not satisfactory.”

According to flight path data, an Air Canada Rouge flight due to arrive at Pearson from Las Vegas at 6:41 a.m. passed over an area close to the Caccavo home.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the plane, a Boeing 767, has since departed for Barbados and stressed that it “received regular maintenance and there were no signs of any issue that would create this situation.

“As well, it is important to bear in mind that aircraft land every few minutes at YYZ (Pearson) so there are several planes operated by many airlines in the sky at any one time over Pearson,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that there are no reports of anything amiss on any Air Canada flights from Wednesday morning.

CityNews reached out to WestJet, Caribbean Airlines, FedEx, and Air Transat, which all had arrivals at Pearson between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

WestJet told CityNews it had no reported incidents. The others haven’t yet responded.

CityNews also reached out to Transport Canada and is awaiting a statement.

In the meantime, the family is staring down a repair bill estimated at around $20,000.

“The insurance won’t cover everything,” Caccavo said.

Contractor Gerry Johnson was at the family home on Wednesday, working to repair the gaping hole.

He said it’s the third time he’s seen similar damages from falling ice over his years on the job.

“It’s coming from the sky, guaranteed,” he said. “Someone’s going to get killed.”