2009P1808
Date: 2009/11/29
Location: Saturna Island, BC
Fatalities: 6
Injuries: 2
CADORS: 2009P1808
TSB: A09P0397
TSB O/C: 3
Working: Yes
News: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/probe-begins-into-deadly-bc-crash/article1383529/
Probe begins into deadly B.C. crash
Transportation Safety Board to examine float plane crash that killed six; pilot one passenger survive
IAN BAILEY, ROBERT MATAS AND WENDY STUECK
SATURNA ISLAND and VANCOUVER — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Tuesday, Dec. 01, 2009 3:37AM EST
Dr. Kerry Telford left early from a work-related retreat on Mayne Island, in the Strait of Georgia near Victoria, to spend more time in Vancouver with her husband and 21/2-year-old daughter. She had brought along her six-month old daughter, Sarah, and the pair hopped a De Havilland Beaver floatplane around 4 p.m. Sunday for the 20-minute flight. Others at the retreat opted to take the ferry back to the city later that afternoon.
The plane stopped moments later at nearby Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island to pick up U.S. citizen Richard Haskitt and his Canadian wife, Cindy Schafer, also en route to Vancouver. But as the flight took off from the dock, something went horribly wrong. The plane rose up and then crashed into the water near the mouth of the harbour.
Alert island residents rushed out in their boats moments after the crash. The winds were gusting as more than 50 people helped in the search-and-rescue operation over the next six hours. The pilot and a woman who was in the seat next to the pilot were pulled out of the water just before the plane vanished into the 15-metre depths. Two military aircraft from 442 Squadron worked with the Coast Guard, the RCMP, fire and ambulance workers, commercial boat operators and volunteers to continue the search.
They retrieved six bodies: Dr. Telford; her daughter, Sarah Morrissey; Mr. Haskitt, 49, of Huntington Beach, Calif.; Ms. Schafer, 44; Vancouver resident Catherine White-Holman, 55; and White Rock resident Thomas Gordon Glenn, 60. The pilot and the woman who survived were in stable condition yesterday afternoon at a Victoria hospital. Their names were not available at press time.
A Transportation Safety Board investigation into the cause of the crash was expected to begin later today, after the floatplane was pulled out of the water.
The airline, Seair Seaplanes Ltd., has a reputation as being well run with planes in good condition, aviation expert Chris Weicht said in an interview. Transport Canada conducted a maintenance and manufacturing inspection last year and did not find any significant safety issues, a spokesperson for the federal agency said.
The pilot had worked for three years in the region with Seair Seaplanes, TSB spokesman Bill Yearwood said. "He was an experienced pilot - experienced on the coast and with this aircraft," he said.
Dr. Telford, 41, worked at the South Community Birth Program, a midwifery, doula and maternity care centre in south Vancouver. She was on Mayne Island for a strategic planning retreat. Her daughter, Claire, and husband, Pat Morrissey, were waiting for her to return to Vancouver.
Linda Knox, a midwife who was at the retreat with Dr. Telford, said the doctor had wanted to go home early to spend more time with her husband and older daughter. "We spent the weekend with her, hugged her goodbye and she left," Ms. Knox said in an interview yesterday.
Dr. Telford had been a family physician at the birth centre since 2005. She was committed to helping marginalized people, Ms. Knox said. After spending nine months working in a hospital in the Peruvian jungle, she became involved in overseas missions. She makes an annual visit to the Centro de Salud Santa Clotilde, a mission hospital in the Amazon basin of northeastern Peru, the mission called perumission.ca states on its website.
Rhonda Nowak, a family friend, said Dr. Telford was a devoted Christian and participated in overseas missions through Vancouver's Tenth Avenue Alliance Church. "People who knew Kerry experienced the love of God in a real and practical way, both in her work as a doctor and as a friend and daughter and wife."
Senior associate Pastor Mardi Dolfo-Smith, of the Tenth Avenue Alliance Church, said she had also provided advice to others who went on the missions. "If you needed advice, she was a great person to go to. I saw her in the church a couple of weeks ago. She was smiling, walking along," the pastor said.
The California couple, Mr. Haskitt and Ms. Schafer, were part owners of the Lighthouse Pub on Saturna Island. They had purchased a home on the island several years ago, Bruce's father, Dick Haskitt, said yesterday in a phone interview from his Seattle-area home. "It was a place for them to relax, to get away from everything - traffic, telephones, computers - they just really loved it," Mr. Haskitt said.
To squeeze the most time from their frequent visits, they would fly from their home in Huntingdon Beach to Victoria and then travel by floatplane to Saturna. Bruce Haskitt was a district manager with pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Ms. Schafer was a professional photographer who was training for a half-marathon. The couple, avid skiers and mountain bikers, had made close friends on Saturna. They had no children.
Catherine White-Holman was a social worker with Vancouver Coastal Health.
The crash has shaken many people in the small island communities that regularly use floatplanes to go to Vancouver and Victoria.
In the main hall of St. Christopher's Church on Saturna Island, Jeanette Amundson, a retired pastor, said some islanders were astonished that a flight that was so much a part of the routine of island life had crashed. "They have come to pray - whatever prayer can be offered for families or people who have gone through this or are on the other side," she said.
At the local bakery, island resident Christopher Garrish said the crash was a complete shock. "We haven't had a disaster like this here - ever," he said. "It's not a nice way to get on the map."
TBS spokesman Mr. Yearwood said floatplanes remain safe despite the accident. "We know the operations on the coast here are carried out by professionals and done to the best of their ability," he said.
Seair Seaplanes suspended their scheduled flights to Nanaimo and the Gulf Islands yesterday. Service to Nanaimo was to resume today but services to the Gulf Islands will be suspended today and tomorrow. All regular services were slated to resume Thursday, but that may change, Evelyn Gatcho, a spokesperson for the airlines, said in an interview.
Ms. Gatcho said the services were suspended out of respect to the passengers who had died. Peter Clarke stated in a news release that the company's focus is "on providing support to the survivors and to the families of those whom we lost in this tragic accident."
