4 die in Algonquin plane crash

[Flybaby]

Four people are dead after a small plane carrying family members and a close friend crashed in Algonquin Park.

A husband and wife, an adult daughter and a family friend, all Sudbury residents, were pronounced dead at the scene, said Const. Carolle Dionne of Ontario Provincial Police.

The small plane, a Piper PA28, left Kingston and was supposed to land in Sudbury at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. At about 10:30 p.m., the OPP was informed that the plane was missing somewhere in the North Bay region.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre located the plane at 3:30 a.m. Sunday. The plane crashed in Devine Township in Algonquin Park. The plane was roughly halfway through its journey.

"It's a wooded area known for people who go camping. There's no road access, and it's very isolated," Dionne explained.

OPP helicopters are bringing investigators and Transport Safety Board members to the scene to determine the cause of the accident.

"We can only estimate. We haven't confirmed when they received distress calls, and at what point the plane went missing," Dionne said.

She said poor weather conditions or mechanical failure are potential causes.

"We did get some rain yesterday. I was in Sudbury early in the evening and it got pretty rainy and windy, however I can't confirm it was the weather."

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/art ... lane-crash

[canwhitewolf]

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[KAG]

That is terrible news. I feel for the friends and family. Even worse it's on the Thanksgiving long weekend.

Fly safe all.

[robbreid]

Memorial Facebook Page Emily Houle & Mike Rollin the two younger victims. (Along with Emily's parents who perished in the crash).

[robbreid]

Aircraft involved was a 1968 Piper Arrow PA-28R-180 C-FURX
registered to Tracks and Wheels Equipment Brokers Inc.
based at CYSB.

From the Canadian Registry it shows this aircraft was Canceled off the registry at the end
of 2003 as C-FURX, and was registered in January of this year to its new owner also as C-FURX.
For 5 years prior to January, it was either registered in another country?, or hand not flown.

[mathias_now]

It's such a tragedy to hear about two kids, and two parents be taken by something that the users of this site are very passionate about. My condolences go out to the families and those affected by this very unfortunate tragedy.

Stay safe and keep it the number one priority.

MN

[Quad18star]

Sad incident for sure. They were flying back from Kingston after visiting their oldest daughter who is attending University there. The plane was registered to Kevin Houle , owner of Tracks and Wheels in Sudbury. He , his wife Lorraine , their daughter Emily and Emily's boyfriend Mike were all aboard. Investigation is looking to see if ice build up may have been the cause of the accident.

[canwhitewolf]

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[randallg]

I flew over Algonquin this summer - Sault Ste Marie to Ottawa. It's some of the most inhospitable terrain I have ever seen - no roads or clearings anywhere. It's worse than most of BC in my experience.

Lots of lakes though. Is it better to ditch or go for the trees? Those are the two choices.

[jeta1]

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[Hedley]

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[petpad]

deleted.

[canwhitewolf]

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[tedcuthbert]

Yes, it will be interesting to read the report on this one. While I try not to speculate on any occurrence especially a tragic one, I was at my cottage about 30 miles west of the crash site that day, and noted the weather at about 5:30-6 because I was looking to get a bit of fishing in and canoe over to my dad’s for dinner. There was a 4-5000 ft overcast with visible heavier cloud and likely precipitation 20-30 miles to the north and it was cold (about 5c) with an aprox 20 mph west wind – (so no, I didn’t take the canoe out). Sunset was about 6:30 and there was decent light until about 7, so unless he was very delayed by the headwind (crash site was about 110 miles from the destination) he should have still been in daylight. But he definitely could have run into low cloud/low vis, and or possibly some frozen precip if he was up high. Later in the evening (8-9ish) we had a violent cold front move through. I’d assume he had a GPS for navigation, thought he was about 20 miles north of a straight line between departure and destination, he would have been over much more hospitable terrain, and had better weather, had he been further south. I’ve flown over the area of the crash and with no distinguishable features, it would be easy to get lost/disoriented in poor weather. The area also has some of the highest terrain in southern Ontario with hilltops at 2000ft.

[canwhitewolf]

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[PJ1]

the latest on this tragedy.

TSB probing whether pilot in Algonquin Park plane crash cleared for night flight
(CP) – 2 hours ago

TORONTO — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it is looking into whether the pilot of a small plane that crashed in Algonquin Park was allowed to fly at night.

Four people died when the Piper PA-28 struck several trees and crashed near Devine Lake Saturday night, breaking into several pieces and leaving a debris trail 90 metres long.

Killed were pilot Kevin Houle, his wife Lorry Lemaire Houle, who were both 50, their 17-year-old daughter Emily Houle, all from Sudbury, and her 17-year-old boyfriend Micheal Rollins of nearby Garson, Ontario.

Bryce Fisher, manager of standards and performance at the board, says Houle had filed a flight plan to leave Kingston at 4:30 p.m. and arrive two hours and 15 minutes later in Sudbury.

But he says the board's preliminary information is the plane actually left Kingston at 6:23 p.m., which would have meant Houle was flying in the dark.

Fisher says it's not known whether Houle had a night endorsement but he didn't have an endorsement to fly by instruments only - leaving him at a disadvantage if he ran into bad weather because he didn't have the choice of being able to go above the cloud.

He says a mixture of rain and snow was falling in the Sudbury area earlier than forecast but it's not known if it was a factor in the crash.

Investigators are also looking into Houle's training and the plane's maintenance records.

[tedcuthbert]

"But he says the board's preliminary information is the plane actually left Kingston at 6:23 p.m., which would have meant Houle was flying in the dark."

.....sadly that might explain it, even if he did have his night rating. Just my opinion, I have my night rating but no IFR, & while comfortable flying on a clear night and when I can see lights on the ground, I would never fly over Algonquin park on an overcast night. Again, I hate to be speculating on a public forum, but a big part of the reason I read this forum & others is to learn, and unfortunately much of what I`ve been learning not to do, comes from reading posts on accidents. So Sad, not the first time for this type of accident but hopefully this thread and the TSB report will help prevent more in the future.

[midwingcrisis]

Probably best to let this slur be left for the TSB to conduct an investigation properly. Armchair aviators need not apply. Have faith..

[canwhitewolf]

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[. ._]

I've been holding out on commenting on this.

Some people I know here in Sudbury know the people involved and it is a real tragedy.

I'm a big believer in learning from mistakes. Ours, and others'. As pilots, that is what we must do. It's our responsibility to do that.

So my $0.02 is- mourn the loss, wait for the investigation results, then learn.

My condolences to all involved.

-istp

[Quad18star]

What I find odd is that early reports say that they had left Kingston around 4pm which would have brought them into Sudbury near 6:30pm . Family members said they received a call saying the plane was leaving at around 4pm. When the plane didn't arrive on time , the family called in at 8:30 reporting they had not arrived yet. Now the story has changed that they didn't leave until 6:30pm. You'd think if they were leaving later than expected they'd have called family to let them know of the delay. I think the TSB is going to conclude that they flew into some bad weather and things iced up. Being from Sudbury, I know that on the day it happened, the weather was a little screwy within a 150 KM range of the city. Some places were reporting rain, others reporting snow.

[Hedley]

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[Widow]

CADORS 2009O2284 now indicates a TSB Class 3 investigation.

[Highflyinpilot]

Where can I look up this cador.

I am very interested in this accident as the pilot was my boss' brother in law

[Widow]

Where can I look up this cador.

I am very interested in this accident as the pilot was my boss' brother in law

CADORS: Old Format

CADORS: New Format

Just key in the occurrence number 2009O2284 in the appropriate field (note, that is an "oh" not a "zero" in the middle).