VANCOUVER — Staff at Northern Thunderbird Air are reeling over the loss of Luc Fortin, an experienced 44-year-old pilot who died in Thursday's fiery plane crash near Vancouver International Airport
"It's very sad. People are shocked," said Bill Hesse, the company's general manager.
"He was highly experienced. He's basically been around the world flying these types of aircraft. He's one of our senior captains and it's a big loss," he said of the North Vancouver-based pilot, who had been with the company for four years.
Fortin died after the small aircraft he was flying crashed and burst into flames just short of the airport in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday.
The B.C. Coroner's service reported that Fortin was pronounced dead at 9:10 p.m. Thursday local time of "severe fire-related injuries." An autopsy was to be conducted Friday.
Fortin was a 14,000-hour pilot who had worldwide flying experience taking him to Canada's North, Antarctica, the Maldives and many other places around the globe, Hesse said.
Bill Hesse, general manager of Northern Thunderbird Air, said Fortin leaves behind a wife and child.
Hesse added that Fortin's co-pilot, Matt Robic, 26, who only had been hired in June and had 1,400 hours of flight experience, was still in hospital in critical condition.
Meanwhile, several of the seven passengers have been identified in media reports.
They are:
- Kelly Jablonski, general manager of Ultimate Skateboarders Distribution. Jablonski reportedly suffered multiple fractures and smoke inhalation. He is in intensive care, but was reportedly alert and talking to family.
- Lorelei and Cameron Sobolik, a married couple with five children. Cameron Sobolik is president of Teligence, a Vancouver-based IT company that runs several dating chat lines. Both were in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
- Troy Zanatta, owner of Restwell Sleep Products in Surrey, B.C. The White Rock, B.C., resident is now at home recovering after being discharged from hospital.
- Carolyn Cross, CEO of Ondine Biopharma Corp., a Vancouver-based company that works on anti-microbial technologies, was also on the plane.
- Another man identified himself as "Jeff" to passerby Eric Hicks, the man who pulled him from the wreckage.
The group apparently were on their way to a business retreat in Vernon, B.C.
The plane was chartered by Northern Thunderbird Air and was bound for Kelowna. It departed Vancouver at about 3:40 p.m., encountered difficulties while flying over Maple Ridge about 15 minutes into its flight and turned around to try to land back at the Vancouver International Airport.
The plane missed the south runway by about 900 meters and appeared to have struck a lamp post before crashing into a vehicle on the northbound lanes of Russ Baker Way.
All aboard were taken to hospital. Two people on the road were also reportedly struck.
Lead crash investigator Bill Yearwood told a news conference Friday that it was an oil indicator light that prompted the pilots to turn back for Vancouver airport while flying about 4,600 metres above Golden Ears Provincial Park.
About 900 metres from the runway back at Vancouver International Airport and with its landing gear down in a stable approach, the plane veered 90 degrees to the left and crashed into Russ Baker Way, Yearwood said.
"That's our challenge: to determine why what appeared to be a benign indicator problem turned into such a tragic event," Yearwood said.
As it crashed, the plane hit a lamppost and a car. The car wasn't badly damaged, but its occupants were taken to hospital, Yearwood said.
"It was fortunate that it was clear enough for them to come to a stop before colliding with too many objects or people."
Recordings and radar data from the control tower have been taken by investigators and witnesses have been interviewed, Yearwood said.
The plane's black box containing the pilots' cockpit conversation — but no physical data such as the plane's altitude — was recovered roughly intact.
The recordings were sent to the Transportation Safety Board lab in Ottawa on Friday to be downloaded. Yearwood said he expected to have the audio from those last few minutes before the crash in his hands by the end of next week.
Hesse said the company also wanted to offer its deepest condolences to the passengers and families affected.
"It's beyond words. I can't imaging what they are going through," he said. "It's a very, very difficult time and our hearts are just heavy for them."
"Our entire focus at this point is just to deal with the people that were involved in this, and the family of the passengers and crew, and of course, our own people who are deeply affected by this," he said.
A veteran Canadian small-aircraft pilot who was at the scene of the crash said the pilot died a hero in his eyes.
"He is a hero, I would say," said John Lovelace, the well-known TV host of the Wings Over Canada series and a Richmond, B.C., resident who has been flying small planes for 35 years.
"The bottom line it looks like the passengers survived, so he did his job, didn't he? He brought that airplane down from 15,000 feet," Lovelace said.
"He wanted to make that happen for everybody, and unfortunately, it didn't work out for him in the very end."
NT Air has been in business since 1971, when it was created by the merger of two northern airlines, according to the company website.
The company has a fleet of at least 10 aircraft, and 70 employees with seven scheduled destinations, as well as charter services. It is headquartered in Prince George, B.C.
Transport Canada spokeswoman Sara Johnston said Friday that the federal department last conducted an inspection of Northern Thunderbird, including the aircraft involved in Thursday's crash, in April 2010 and did not uncover any problems.
In discussing their safety standards online, the company states: "The management team at Northern Thunderbird Air believes safety is of utmost importance and is dedicated to ensuring that our employees and the travelling public see our corporate identity reflecting safety as a crucial element in all operations at all times. As a company we strive to have zero accidents and to eliminate dangerous situations that may result in injury to personnel or damage to equipment."
The company has had two previous incidents. One, in 2005, resulted in the death of two pilots, when their twin-engined aircraft crashed near Squamish. In 2001, one of the company's single-engine Cessnas crashed north of Prince George, but the pilot and passenger survived.
Hesse said that his company flies about 10,000 hours a year.
"We work very hard to mitigate these risks," he said.
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