2009P1097

Date:  2009/08/03
Location:  Courtenay Airpark, BC
Fatalities:  1
Injuries:
CADORS:  2009P1097
TSB:  A09P0231
TSB O/C:  5
Working:  No
News:  www.timescolonist.com/news/Pilot+killed+Courtenay+crash+experienced+friend/1861533/story.html

Pilot killed in Courtenay crash experienced: friend

Times Colonist
August 5, 2009

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.

Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

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