VANCOUVER - A Kelowna-bound twin-engined airplane operated by Northern Thunderbird Air encountered a problem and was returning to Vancouver International Airport when it crashed Thursday at a busy intersection just short of the runway, sending 11 people to hospital.
Richmond RCMP confirmed this morning that the pilot has died of his injuries. The co-pilot is in critical condition with 80 per cent burns.
Bill Yearwood, regional manager of the federal transportation safety board, said the plane had departed YVR but reported “an indication of a problem” in the area of Golden Ears Provincial Park.
He said the nature of the problem did not cause the crew to declare an emergency.
The plane was returning and cleared to land, but is believed to have clipped a lamp post before veering and hitting a vehicle containing two people, said Don Ehrenholz, YVR’s vice-president of operations and engineering, and Cpl. Sherrdean Turley of Richmond RCMP.
The plane burst into flames upon impact, about 900 metres short of the runway.
The crash occurred shortly after 4 p.m. at the intersection of Gilbert Road and Russ Baker Way. Bridges around YVR, including the No. 2 Road Bridge, were closed into the evening, disrupting the afternoon commute.
Officials said all traffic disruptions have been resolved as of Friday morning.
Two crew members were in “very critical” condition late Thursday night, Turley said. The nine others, including the two people from the vehicle, were in serious condition.
Terry McBratney, a Metro Vancouver district supervisor for BC Ambulance who was at the scene of the crash, said it was “amazing anyone survived.”
The plane landed when there was a break in traffic, he said.
“It was lucky.”
“If the plane had landed 30 seconds later, it would have taken out a row of cars.”
McBratney said the plane took out a light standard and part of a concrete median, losing its propeller along the way.
Nikolai Jensen was walking in the area when he saw the plane going sideways, “one wing was dipping down,” he said. “It was coming straight for me, of all people to go towards, I’m alone and this plane’s coming straight for me.”
He said the plane was trying to use the road straight in front of it as a runway. By the time it stopped it was only about nine metres (30 feet) away from him. “I was thanking the maker by then,” he said, “and I’m not a very religious man.”
He told Global News that when the plane came to a halt, people in cars around the crash jumped out and rushed toward the wreckage to help. “They were dragging these people out,” he said. “ ... Way before police arrived or anyone.”
He said the rescuers seemed unfazed by the burning wreckage — they just wanted to save peoples’ lives despite the risk to their own.
“Heroic qualities really,” he said.
Vincent Varona was driving southbound on Russ Baker Way when he noticed the plane flying erratically.
“Directly ahead of me in the sky I saw the plane bank really hard to its left, and then immediately to its right, as if it were out of control,” he said.
“It was still going very fast, and at that speed it was lower to the ground than a plane making a normal descent would be, so putting all of these things together, I thought to myself, ‘It’s going to crash.’ “
Varona turned a corner, where trees momentarily blocked his view of the plane, “and sure enough once I drove forward another few metres, I saw smoke billowing from maybe another kilometre or so in front of me.”
Yearwood said the Beechcraft King Air 100 is common in the industry, and the Pratt and Whitney engine has a reputation for reliability. “There was nothing on our watch list about this aircraft or this type of operation,” he said.
The transportation safety board had five investigators on the site late Thursday night. The source of the problem will be the focus of its investigation in coming days.
The stretch of Russ Baker Way is expected to be closed until at least this morning.
Mike Harris, operations manager for Prince George-based Northern Thunderbird, would not immediately comment Thursday. “Right now is not really a good time. We’re just kind of dealing with it.”
Two pilots died in 2005 when a twin-engined Northern Thunderbird King Air 200 crashed near Squamish.
Yearwood said that crash occurred when the plane was transitioning from Vancouver to Prince George. The pilot flew up a valley and was in a steep climb trying to avoid terrain when the plane crashed.
In 2001, a Northern Thunderbird single-engined Cessna 185 crashed north of Prince George while under government charter to do a wildlife survey. The pilot and passenger survived.
The Beechcraft King Air 100 was built in 1970, according to aircraft registration information.
Northern Thunderbird’s website states that the company, also known as NT Air, has been providing charter and scheduled services to B.C. and Yukon since 1971.
“Our roots are in the float, ski and off-strip work in BC’s north and although we have moved on to modern aircraft, practices and covering a larger geographical area; it is this historical experience that drives our company today. We take pride in doing the hard jobs and doing it without compromising safety or professionalism.
“We hold our people to a high level of accountability and reward them based on performance and leadership. We put careful thought into what we promise and never make our problems our clients’ problems. Thinking and delivering ‘outside the box’ is what we do best.”
http://www.vancouversun.com
http://www.vancouversun.com
No comments:
Post a Comment