Fatal flight carrying BC fugitives was overweight when it crashed
According to flight records and eyewitnesses, the Piper Cherokee left BC and made several stops before crashing near Sioux Lookout, Ontario.
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The Transportation Safety Board said the small plane carrying the two fugitives that crashed in northern Ontario was overweight and the pilot was not qualified to fly at night.
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According to flight records and eyewitnesses, the Piper Cherokee began its journey in BC and made several stops before crashing near Sioux Lookout, Ontario.
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Police said pilots Abhinav Handa, Hankhun Hong, Jean Larkamp and Duncan Bailey died in a crash near Surlookout after departing from Dryden, Ontario.
British Columbia’s anti-gang unit said Larkamp was wanted in Thailand for the murder of another man with ties to the BC gang, but court records show bail conditions related to a separate case. A man of the same name and age that Bailey was wanted by the police for violating the law is shown.B.C. Murder Plan
TSB said the single-engine plane weighed 170 pounds over its maximum takeoff weight when it crashed, but did not say if or what cargo was on board.
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Also, the pilot had not logged enough night flights to carry passengers after dark, nor was he qualified to fly in weather conditions where poor visibility required the use of instruments.
TSB said its investigation was conducted to improve transportation safety and not to identify fault or determine civil or criminal liability.
Reports say the plane left Dryden’s local airport at 9pm on April 29 and disappeared about four and a half hours later. Emergency locator transmitters and signals activated at the time of the crash helped search and rescue teams locate the accident site.
According to reports, the plane went dark and crashed after hitting trees in a densely wooded area. He hit the canopy at a 90-degree angle and lost control about 30 meters from the first tree he hit.
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All four men were killed.
“The airframe broke apart in a manner consistent with the cartwheeling motion and both fuel cells ruptured,” it said.
The weather forecast suggested broken cloud layers, light rain and fog.
Prior to departure, the pilots submitted their flight plans to Nav Canada, which operates flight information centers nationwide. During the call, a flight specialist from his service gave a brief weather briefing, suggesting that slight visual flight rules may exist, the report said.
Flying according to visual flight rules means that pilots must use visual cues (for example, look at the ground or the horizon) to steer the plane.
Doing so at night can be particularly difficult, and reports said the flight likely did not meet the requirements to operate under visual flight rules.
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“Instead, in such flights, pilots must rely on flight instruments to ensure safe operation of the aircraft,” he said.
Neither the pilot nor the passenger next to him had commercial pilot licenses, but were not qualified to fly under instrument flight rules, it said.
The report found no defects on the aircraft and the engines were found to be operating normally.
There were no signs of carburetor icing, but the report said it could have occurred under the weather conditions prevailing at the time.
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Fatal flight carrying BC fugitives was overweight when it crashed
Source link Fatal flight carrying BC fugitives was overweight when it crashed