Fatal Occurrence 2009P1097
Pilot killed in Courtenay crash experienced: friend
The pilot who died when his plane crashed in a residential Courtenay neighbourhood Sunday was 52-year-old Donald Souter, a pilot from Surrey who had been flying for more than 25 years.
Souter was an experienced certified pilot, said Eric Munzer, a member of the Recreational Aircraft Association's Vancouver chapter with Souter for the last 30 years. Souter had always wanted a plane of his own, Munzer said, and finally bought the Jodel two-seater amateur-built airplane early this year.
He was flying from Surrey to the Courtenay Air Park when pieces of his plane, including a wing, began to fall from the sky. The craft lost control and nose-dived into the side yard of a home at the end of Falcon Crest Drive. The wreckage landed just five metres from a home. No one else was injured.
The plane, which Souter did not build himself, was manufactured in 1967 and is a model common in Europe. Munzer said Souter had been flying his new plane frequently, taking a trip to Edmonton and several trips to Arlington, Wash., where a sport aviation convention was held.
