‘Equipment issue’ blamed in plane crash that killed 3 on Gabriola Island
Posted December 13, 2019 1:24 pm.
Last Updated December 13, 2019 7:05 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Equipment failure appears to be responsible for a deadly plane crash on Gabriola Island Tuesday, according to a preliminary report from Transport Canada.
The plane was en route to Nanaimo from California when it “reported an equipment issue and deviated from the approach prior to dropping off of radar.”
The preliminary report says three people died.
The plane was completely torn apart due to the impact of the crash, making the investigation and identification of the victims a challenge.
The B.C. Coroner’s Service confirmed two men and one woman died.
“BC Coroners Service identification specialists, in coordination with other agencies, have been gathering information from the scene to establish the identities of the decedents. Based on preliminary information collected at the scene, the deceased are a male in his 60s from Mill Bay, B.C., and two other decedents, one male and one female. Confirming identification of the other two decedents is subject to post-mortem testing results and other investigative work,” says a release.
Wednesday friends and family identified one of the people on board as 61-year-old Alex Bahlsen.
Bahlsen was an experienced flight instructor, charter pilot and had previously owned an airstrip before moving out of Alberta.
Ben Loree is a friend of Bahlsen.
Loree says Bahlsen had just moved to Vancouver in the last year to live with his wife and left behind a lot of close friends.
“He used to own a flying center, they had a few airplanes they could train on,” he adds. “So a lot of people around here learned to fly from Alex.”
He says it was a shock to learn Bahlsen was killed in the plane crash, adding it’s been difficult for many in the small community to accept.
“It’s hard news to take. He was good. We were friends and he was one of the guys you would look up to,” Loree says. “If you had a question, he would be the one who knew the answer or would point you in the right direction. So it was really sad to hear the news.”
Bahlsen was born in Germany and moved to Cayley about thirty years ago.
Ben Loree is a friend of one of the people involved in the crash, Alex Bahlsen who was an experienced pilot and well known in the community of Carley, Alberta.
