Pilots likely lost control before crash
Posted August 3, 2010 2:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LYTTON (NEWS1130) – Plane crash investigators say it looks like the pilots of a water bomber lost control of the plane before it crashed on Saturday near Lytton. Fifty-eight-year-old Tim Whiting of Langley and 36-year-old Brian Tilley of Edmonton were killed instantly.
Bill Yearwood with the Transportation Safety Board says the debris field of the Convair water bomber is very small, indicating the plane hit the ground at a steep angle.
He says there is also evidence the plane made a small drop of fire retardent before it went down.
“But not in the right place, so it would indicate that the pilots were dealing with something just before impact. In the final states of the flight, they may have lost control of the aircraft. It’s a very steep angle of impact.”
Yearwood admits a flight data and cockpit voice recorder, which are mandatory on passenger planes, would help determine the exact cause. “Yes, from an investigator point of view, the more data that is recorded, we could say any aircraft that crashes, it would be nice for us to have.”
But he says there is no push to have them standard on firefighting aircraft. It’s hoped evidence on this crash can be pulled from the digital fuel controls.
Yearwood says they hope to be able to let the owner of the plane move the wreckage soon.
