Fatal Occurrence 2009P1808

Saturna crash probe to take months

The Canadian Press – December 1, 2009

The Transportation Safety Board says it could be months before it determines the cause of a recent float plane crash off Saturna Island in British Columbia that killed six. 

Wreckage of the plane was raised from the ocean floor Tuesday, packaged and put on a barge headed for Richmond, B.C., where federal investigators will begin their search for answers to what caused the tragedy.

When the plane was pulled from the water, the right wing was missing and the left wing was intact but damaged. Both pontoons had been sheared off.

Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board, said "nothing obvious" so far shows anything broken on the aircraft, but it's too soon to tell what happened.

Pilot not interviewed yet

"We haven't come to any conclusions," he said in an interview late Tuesday. "We don't know if anything was broken in the aircraft. We have to examine it. This is very early in the investigation."

The single-engine de Havilland Canada Beaver, owned by Seair Seaplanes of Richmond, B.C., crashed on takeoff from Lyall Harbour on Sunday afternoon.

Six passengers were trapped in the sinking plane and their bodies were found inside by divers. The pilot and a female passenger managed to escape.

Yearwood said the plane needs to be taken apart and examined thoroughly, so it could be months before investigators determine why it crashed.

He also said investigators have yet to interview the pilot, one of the two survivors.

"We aren't pushing," Yearwood said, adding that the pilot had surgery again Tuesday. "We still need to give him and the passenger that survived some time to recover."

Island community in shock

Seair manager Terry Hiebert said the pilot was recovering in hospital from broken bones and cuts.

"We're still in shock, still dealing with it," he said. "Emotions are up and down."

Seair's float-plane fleet includes five vintage Beavers, the Canadian-designed and built hinterland workhorse.

The aircraft that crashed had been overhauled recently, Hiebert said.

The crash victims were identified Monday as Vancouver Dr. Kerry Margaret Morrissey, her infant daughter, Sarah, Catherine White-Holman of Vancouver, Thomas Gordon Glenn of White Rock, B.C., and Californians Cindy Scafer and Richard Bruce Haskett, who were part-time residents of Saturna Island.