The man piloting a cargo plane that crashed on the North Shore mountains earlier this year was intoxicated, the BC Coroners Service revealed Wednesday.
Captain Robert Brandt, 34, and first officer Kevin Wang, 32, both died on impact after the Carson Air aircraft plummeted into a heavily wooded area on Coliseum Mountain the morning of April 13.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board, but the Coroners Service said post-mortem toxicology tests show Brandt was drunk, with a blood alcohol content of 0.24 percent.
That's three times the legal limit for drivers, but pilots are held to stricter standards. Under Canadian aviation regulations, crew members are barred from being under the influence of alcohol, or even drinking within eight hours of the start of a flight.
No other substances were detected, and no drugs or alcohol were found in Wang’s system.
The TSB said part of its investigation will involve determining whether anyone at Vancouver International Airport, where Brandt and Wang departed from minutes before the crash, knew the captain was intoxicated.
The two men, who were both residents of the Vancouver area, were the only people on board.
Bill Yearwood, TSB regional manager of aviation, said the agency is still months away from issuing a final report into the crash.
Source: http://bc.ctvnews.ca
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