Plane carrying 4 missing in BC (08/2010)

[CpnCrunch]

Here is info on the alleged drug connection from a more reliable source:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news ... fe&k=76880

Matt Schrader, a friend of Tello's, told the CBC Friday that his buddy was flying his brother to Victoria to go to school. He pleaded with anyone who might have seen the plane to come forward. Schrader, who splits his time between Kelowna and Abbotsford, is a former associate of Anton Hooites-Meursing, a longtime gangster and drug trafficker who pleaded guilty to two murders three months ago. Schrader was also an associate of United Nations gangster Elliott (Taco) Castaneda, who was gunned down in Mexico two years ago.

Capt. Quentin Wyne, spokesman for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre of Victoria, said Friday that there were no plans to expand the search area. He said rumours about the plane being involved in a drug smuggling operation were "completely unsubstantiated."

[HO Driver]

PENTICTON, B.C. — All four people who were on board a crashed British Columbia plane were found dead on Wednesday, officials confirmed.


RCMP said the aircraft is "believed to have crashed on the side of Apex ski hill, west of Penticton."


The plane left that southern Interior B.C. community on Aug. 17 bound for Victoria.


A police source confirmed last week that the plane was linked to the drug trade and rewards of up to $100,000 were offered for its recovery.


Rama Tello, the pilot of the doomed plane, had "relatively few" hours of flying time, search officials said.


The Kelowna businessman's brother was a passenger, along with two other men.


Penticton is about 415 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.


with files from the Vancouver Province



Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Missing+pl ... z0xezvBqpF

[North Shore]

A police source confirmed last week that the plane was linked to the drug trade and rewards of up to $100,000 were offered for its recovery.

He said rumours about the plane being involved in a drug smuggling operation were "completely unsubstantiated."

....So which is it?

I have a hard time thinking that you'd smuggle any quantity of drugs in a small plane with 4 guys on board...

[CpnCrunch]

RCMP said the aircraft is "believed to have crashed on the side of Apex ski hill, west of Penticton."

That is exactly where someone crash landed a 172 a month ago:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loca ... lumbiaHome

[Ogee]

A police source confirmed last week that the plane was linked to the drug trade and rewards of up to $100,000 were offered for its recovery.

He said rumours about the plane being involved in a drug smuggling operation were "completely unsubstantiated."

....So which is it?

I have a hard time thinking that you'd smuggle any quantity of drugs in a small plane with 4 guys on board...

You, my friend, are not the scum that write stories like that for the Province. They had a very easy time thinking that because, as completely false and unfounded as it was, it sold papers for a few days.

Drew a line from Penticton to Victoria. It looks like the pilot put Victoria Go To in the GPS on the ground in Penticton, got on his track, and went down on it. No flying the valleys as was the speculation. Line passes exactly over where they say the crash site is. Plane is relatively undamaged, which makes you wonder if there were initially survivors.

It's a sad thing. Young man with a love of flying, on what should have been an easy trip with brother and friends, lying dead or injured on a hillside with cockroaches fabricating stories about him.

[iflyforpie]

He would have had to follow the valley or he would have went in a lot sooner. The Green Mountain road is the most obvious path if attempting to follow a direct line to Victoria.

Which is too bad since all you have to do is turn south and follow the narrow, but level valley down the old road to Keromeos before you get to the Apex turnoff But that is south, not west... That valley looks dangerous and confined, where Apex looks obvious and inviting.

Deadly....



Safe....



Rest in peace and condolences to all affected... Fly safe all.

[adhc2]

My condolences to the families of those on the Comanche that crashed at Apex mtn.

I have flown out of this airport for nearly 30 years as a private and commercial pilot as well as air deputy for CASARA. I recall at least 10 crashes resulting from trying to out climb rising terrain in this area with the majority resulting in the loss of life. All though the investigation is not complete, it is likely this would be a contributing factor as it was in the previous accidents in this area. Back in 2003 I was flying fire suppression out of Penticton and was approached by a pilot at the the fuel pumps . He was about to depart from Penticton and asked me about appropriate procedure. I reccomended gaining altitude in the valley before turning on route. Unfortunatly He chose to turn on route after take off, could,nt outclimb terrain and crashed with all aboard perishing. What happens is the terrain is deceptive and it appears as a reasonable plan to turn direct after take off, but in most case the climb gradient required along with subsiding air, high density altitude, and heavily loaded aircraft are the recipe for disaster. Further when the pilot realizes the problem it can be too late because valleys are more narrow down low, leaving little or no room to turn around.

I hate to say that I was right about this one, but as a rule even the most inexperience Pilots will contact ATC after clearing the zone. Search and rescue normally comence search from last known position which suggests that there was a high likelyhood of the unable to clear terrain scenario.

I can only hope that pilots will heed this hard lesson learned from this tragidy

[Widow]

Crashed B.C. plane overloaded: TSB
Summer heat, deceptive terrain also contributed to crash
Last Updated: Friday, October 1, 2010 | 6:49 AM PT
CBC News

A plane that crashed last summer on B.C.'s Apex Mountain was overloaded with four large men aboard and couldn't fly over the mountain, says the Transportation Safety Board.

The crash west of Penticton on Aug. 17 killed all four men from Kelowna.

The investigation so far has revealed that the plane was at or over its weight limit and that made it difficult for the small plane to clear the mountain, said TSB member Bill Yearwood.

"The aircraft is designed to carry four persons," he said. "These men were big guys, they weren't light guys."

Yearwood said the heavy passenger load plus the weight of the fuel and the hot summer weather put the single-engine Piper Comanche at or above its limits.

High temperatures can create conditions in which aircraft do not get as much aerodynamic lift as in cooler weather.

Dangerous flying area

Apex Mountain has been a problem for many pilots leaving the Penticton airport, Yearwood said.

"There is a warning for operations out of Penticton, that one should try and reach 5,000 feet before heading west because of the mountainous terrain," he said.

The plane left Penticton and headed west, crashing about 30 kilometres from the city in B.C.'s Okanagan region.

Okanagan flight school operator Mark Holmes said he knows of 12 crashes in the region where the plane went down.

Holmes said the area is known for its tricky terrain, which can fool pilots into thinking they are gaining altitude quickly enough when they are not.

It took seven-day search involving dozens of planes, including some from the Canadian Forces, to find the downed aircraft.

The bodies of pilot Rama Jesus Tello, 36; his brother, Maya Paulo Nicholas Tello-Wrigley, 21; Salem Dedovic, 30; and Jasson Kevin Christopher Patrick Minor, 35, were found in the wreckage. They had died from impact injuries, police said.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columb ... anche.html