Floatplane Crash Revives Memories - ATV News
A-News, Vancouver Island
November 30, 2009
CAMPBELL RIVER - The crash of a DeHavilland Beaver Sunday on Saturna Island is reviving memories for several Campbell River families who lost loved ones in a float plane tragedy nearly five years ago off of Quadra Island.
Five men were killed when a floatplane bound for a logging camp crashed shortly after taking off from the Campbell River spit in February of 2005. Only one mans remains were ever found from the crash leaving grieving families searching for answers.
Kirsten Stevens has acted as a spokesperson for the families since the accident and took their concerns to Ottawa in April as part of a round-table discussion on the safety of float planes and air-taxis. Stevens says the memories of what she and the others have gone through continues to come up whenever float planes go missing or crash. She says the crashes always hit home and she always feels tremendous empathy for the victims families.
She also notes that Sundays crash on Saturna marks the 26th fatal aviation occurrence in Canada since those discussions and the death toll has now reached 45.
Click here for more information on the Saturna Island crash.
On December 6th, the following article was published by the Canadian Press.
Study calls for floatplane safety changes years before six die in B.C. crash
By: Terri Theodore, THE CANADIAN PRESS
6/12/2009 3:52 PM
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Transport Canada has known about the problem of people dying in submerged float planes long before the tragic deaths of six people last month near Saturna Island, B.C.
But rather than act on various reports and studies that made safety recommendations around life vests for passengers and quick-release doors, Transport Canada concluded more work needed to be done on the subject.
In the meantime, according to a 2008 internal government memo, any safety changes should be put on hold in "deference to other civil aviation priorities."
Various reports and studies in recent years have recommended that passengers wear life vests that would inflate in the event of a crash, and that the aircraft be equipped with quick-release doors.
And they have warned that luggage in a float plane can be an impediment to passengers trying to escape.
In 2005, several float plane accidents and the public concern around floatplane safety prompted the federal government to launch a safety review, which was completed in 2006.
The May 2008 that referred to other priorities was between two high-profile Transport Canada officials.
Both the memo and the safety review were obtained using federal Access to Information laws by Kirsten Stevens, whose husband died in a float plane crash in 2005.
She has since become a crusader for air safety and has launched SafeSkies, a watchdog group for the aviation industry.
Among the recommendations in the 2006 review is that life vests be worn and doors left unlocked during takeoff and landing, and that there be a way to ensure that cargo and baggage doesn't interfere with people scrambling to get out of the plane.
"The team believes the benefits of seaplane operations outweigh the costs," said the 2006 review.
An official from Transport Canada was not immediately available to comment.
The investigation into the crash at Saturna Island is just over a week old and it's too soon to conclude whether the changes recommended in 2006 would have made a difference to the six who died.
In the internal memo on the report dated May 22, 2008, Martin Eley, the director of national aircraft certification for Transport Canada, said he reviewed the 2006 report and thought more work needed to be done.
"The additional work done, from a different perspective, did in fact confirm that there was no readily identifiable solution that would have a major impact on the existing level of float plane safety," Eley wrote to Merlin Preuss, the director general of civil aviation for Transport Canada.
"In a subsequent discussion you and I agreed that in the absence of a clear way forward, this file would be put on hold in deference to other civil aviation priorities," the letter said.
Stevens agreed there is a lot of debate about whether passengers should wear life jackets and whether they hinder a passenger's ability to get out of a crashed plane, but she said life jackets are available that are thin and don't inflate until the person activates them outside the plane.
"The thing is having the darn thing on before you have a problem because you're not going to have a chance to get it out (when you crash)," she said.
Bill Yearwood with the Transportation Safety Board said none of the bodies removed from the crash off Saturna Island had life jackets on.
In fact, they didn't even make it out of the plane. Divers pulled the bodies of the six victims - including a six-month-old infant - from inside the de Havilland Beaver.
The victims of the Seair flight last Sunday have been identified as Dr. Kerry Margaret Morrissey, her infant daughter Sarah, and Catherine White-Holman, all of Vancouver, Thomas Gordon Glenn of White Rock, B.C., and Californians Cindy Shafer and Richard Bruce Haskett, who were part-time residents of Saturna Island.
Stevens is familiar with the plane. Her husband was in the same type of aircraft when it crashed in the water near Quadra Island, between central Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland.
After reading countless safety board reports on float plane crashes since his death, Stevens can imagine the scenario.
"When you're under that water, you become completely disoriented. Imagine how cold it is, somebody's worrying more about their baby than they are about themselves and they're trapped. That's what happens," she said.
Yearwood said in an email that there was luggage on board the plane, but he couldn't say how much. No cause of the crash has yet been determined.
A follow-up review requested by Eley said the idea of unlatching doors had the potential to help people to get out of a submerged float plane, but it also had the potential to increase the likelihood of the cabin filling with water faster.
It said more research was needed on both issues.
The report noted that military Beaver aircraft have quick-release doors and helicopters have pop-out windows.
It also suggested training for passengers in float planes that may land in water and emergency breathing systems, giving passengers extra air to escape.
No recommendations were made on those suggestions.
Many B.C. coastal companies whose employees often use float planes provide the so-called egress training - teaching them how to prepare themselves in case the plane crashes and submerges in water.
Forest company TimberWest offers the training to its employees and company spokesman Steve Lorimer said there is often a high participation level in the classes.
"It's the type of thing that's nice to have, but you never want to have to use it," he said.
Lorimer, who is often in floatplanes for his work, has taken the course himself.
"It alerts you to the thinking you need to do, when to take off your seat belt, how to open your door," he said.
Stevens would like to see life jackets made mandatory for floatplane passengers and commercial floatplane pilots forced to take the egress training.
She said that way, pilots can better prepare their passengers when they give a passenger-safety briefing prior to flight.
"A lot of the pilots who have taken the egress training will then start to wear their life jackets and encourage other passengers to do so."
Read the "Floatplane Safety Review" acquired through Access to Information.
