Air Nootka Beaver missing near Tofino BC - Aug 16 2013

[SeptRepair]

Its pretty crappy around here today. Low ceilings and showers.

[CD]

Oh no...

Plane missing with six people on board north of Tofino on Vancouver Island
August 16, 2013 5:29 pm
By Amy Judd Global News

A float plane with six people on board has gone missing north of Tofino on Vancouver Island.

Bill Yearwood with the Transportation Safety Board says they were alerted of the missing plane at 11:45 a.m., and a search is now underway.

It is not known where the plane was coming from or going to, but it is a de Havilland Beaver.

We will update this post with more information when it becomes available.

Global News

[Doc]

Lets all hope they have put down on a lake to wait it out while they fish.

[flyinthebug]

Lets all hope they have put down on a lake to wait it out while they fish.

Did that many times on the coast my friend. (and in many other places too)

Keeping positive thoughts!

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I was talking to a friend who called me from that area and he is holding for weather, he said there was a ELT signal but the helicopters could not get to that location.

[Doc]

Lets all hope they have put down on a lake to wait it out while they fish.

Did that many times on the coast my friend. (and in many other places too)

Keeping positive thoughts!

Ever notice how the fish just taste better when you catch them from your stranded float plane? There's something about being the only person alive, who knows where you are. Fingers crossed here.

[adhc2]

Latest update word is Air Nootka Dhc2 Hesquit lake aprox 10 northwest of Hotsprings cove east of the Hesquit Peninsula low vis prevailing winds from the SE unconfirmed but it is believed there were suvivors.

[CD]

Float plane with six people on board crashes near Tofino
August 16, 2013 6:38 pm
By Amy Judd and Christine Tam Global News

A float plane with six people on board has crashed north of Tofino on Vancouver Island, the Coast Guard has confirmed.

Crews searched for the plane for several hours Friday before locating the crash site about three nautical miles from where it took off in Hesquiaht Lake.

Jean Jackson from the Hesquiaht First Nation said a ground search was underway for survivors of the crash, however the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre wouldn’t confirm whether anyone died or was injured.

The Air Nootka Dehavilland Beaver had picked up five hikers at around 10:20 a.m. from Hesquiaht Lake and was en route to Gold River, according to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

Just three minutes after taking off from Hesquiaht Lake (near Hot Springs Cove), the pilot sent out a distress call.

Air Nootka confirmed they lost radio contact with one of their planes.

Two cormorant helicopters carrying six search and rescue technicians searched for the plane and the crash site was located Friday afternoon.

Weather conditions in the area hampered the search.

Air Nootka provides charter service to any community or location that is accessible by float plane, and currently operates two types of floatplanes, a Cessna 185 and two DeHavilland Beavers.

Global News

[Axial Flow]

"Float plane survivors to hospital. 1 w/serious injuries to Vancouver, other with less serious injuries to Victoria" CBC

Status of other 4 not known...

Off of Twitter @cbcnewsbc

[bizjets101]

Hearing two fatal, two to hospital, two unknown.

[Lotro]

TOFINO, B.C.—Two people were killed and another two injured when a float plane believed to be carrying a group of hikers crashed Friday in a remote area of Vancouver Island, the Transportation Safety Board said.

Another two people aboard the plane were unharmed, the safety agency confirmed.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013 ... coast.html

Tragic news.

[geodoc]

METARS for Tofino. Accident happened about 18:00Z

CYAZ 170100Z 14005KT 1SM -RA BR OVC006 16/16 A2999 RMK FG5ST3 VIS VRB 1/2-11/2 LAST OBS/NEXT 171300UTC SLP156
CYAZ 170052Z 16005KT 1SM -RA BR OVC006 RMK FG5ST3 VIS VRB 1/2-11/2
CYAZ 170025Z 16005KT 3/4SM -RA BR OVC006 RMK FG6ST2
CYAZ 170010Z 16005KT 1SM -RA BR OVC008 RMK FG6ST2 VIS VRB 1/2-11/2
CYAZ 170000Z 12004KT 1 1/2SM -RA BR SCT003 OVC008 16/16 A2999 RMK SF3ST5 VIS LWR ALG SHR SLP158
CYAZ 162300Z 15004KT 1 1/2SM -RA BR SCT003 OVC007 16/16 A3000 RMK SF3ST5 VIS LWR ALG SHR SLP159
CYAZ 162200Z 15006KT 1 1/2SM -RA BR SCT003 OVC007 16/15 A3000 RMK SF4ST4 SLP161
CYAZ 162100Z 14008KT 1 1/2SM -RA BR SCT003 OVC007 16/15 A3000 RERA RMK SF4ST4 VIS VRB 1-3 /R14/ SLP161
CYAZ 162050Z 14010KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT003 OVC007 RERA RMK SF3ST5
CYAZ 162000Z 16007KT 2SM SHRA BR SCT003 OVC008 16/15 A3000 RERA RMK SF4ST4 OCNL GUSTS SLP159
CYAZ 161944Z 14009KT 2SM SHRA BR SCT003 OVC008 RERA RMK SF2ST6 VIS VRB 1-3
CYAZ 161929Z 13011KT 1SM +SHRA BR SCT003 OVC008 RMK SF4ST4
CYAZ 161900Z 14006KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT003 OVC008 16/15 A2999 RMK SF3SC5 VIS VRB 1-3 OCNL GUSTS SLP156
CYAZ 161800Z 13009KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT004 BKN008 OVC015 15/15 A2998 RERA RMK SF2CF3SC2 VIS VRB 1-3 /R15 AFT 13UTC/ SLP153
CYAZ 161738Z 14009KT 1 1/2SM -SHRA BR SCT004 OVC008 RERA RMK CF3SC5
CYAZ 161700Z 14008G16KT 1SM +SHRA BR SCT004 OVC011 15/15 A2998 RMK CF4SC4 SLP152
CYAZ 161654Z 16010G16KT 1SM +SHRA BR SCT004 OVC012 RMK CF4SC4
CYAZ 161600Z 13010G15KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT004 OVC012 15/15 A2996 RMK CF4SC4 VIS VRB 1-3 VRY LGT SHRA SLP146
CYAZ 161516Z 14008KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT004 OVC012 RMK CF4SC4 VRY LGT SHRA
CYAZ 161500Z CCA 14008KT 4SM BR FEW004 BKN012 OVC020 15/15 A2995 RMK CF2CF2SC4 VIS LWR IN FRQ -SHRA SLP144
CYAZ 161420Z 13008KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT004 BKN012 OVC020 RMK CF3CF2SC2 VRY LGT SHRA
CYAZ 161400Z 12005KT 3SM -SHRA BR SCT004 OVC016 15/15 A2995 RMK CF3SC5 VIS VRB 1-5 VRY LGT SHRA SLP142
CYAZ 161343Z 11005KT 2SM -SHRA BR SCT005 OVC016 RMK CF4SC4 VRY LGT SHRA

[Donald]

Condolences to those affected.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Doc, that weather is very typical of the west coast of Vancouver Island this time of year.

[single_swine_herder]

Yup ..... and even with the worst of the reported weather, the air to air radio would be full of pireps of "It's good VFR."

[Rowdy]

That weather is also at the airport.. on low ground, a few miles away from town.. Somedays it'll be 0/0 at YAZ and perfectly flyable (SKC) in the harbour and we're running back and forth to hot springs cove and ahousaht without any problems. The last few days have been on and off with weather up and down, I just got back from YAZ thursday night. The fun of west coast weather.

So sad to hear. Never good to see a fellow west coast aviator and your peers have something like this happen. Waiting for more to come out in the wash.

[stallfortime]

according to a Province story 2 hrs. ago, the beaver was 'going down', in the words of the pilot(still un-named pending next of kin). According to mr. young, a survivor in the right hand seat, an attempt was underway to cross the peninsula.

[180]

My sincerest condolences to all the family and friends of the two deceased. Very sad.

Global news BC has a more updated story this morning. Sounds like a brutal post accident scenario with fire and people stuck in the plane.

"Two people died in the crash, including the pilot who had 25,000 hours of flying experience."

[single_swine_herder]

Pretty graphic interview with the passenger who had occupied the right front seat.

He did highly heroic work extricating himself after being trapped between the seats, feet stuck in the wreckage, then rescuing a burned passenger, and did his best to save the pilot. He did all this with a shattered sterum, broken ribs, broken collar bone, and third degree burns to his legs.

I always wonder if I would have had the intestinal fortitude to perform to that high standard of conduct in a similar situation.

This video interview should be required listening simply to reinforce exactly what you are responsible for preventing.

http://globalnews.ca/news/787712/exclus ... -accident/

As FTB is fond of posting .... "Fly safe out there."

[frozen solid]

I think we're all curious about how we would behave in such a situation. Certainly there are people who stand out: like the man in this accident. But I'm confident that most of us would do our best. I like to believe that something kicks in in these situations that allows us to do what must be done. I'm sure you would perform the same way.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

From the comments in the news media they keep saying he transmitted a MayDay just before it hit the trees.

For sure he would not transmit a May Day for poor vis or fog.....maybe the engine quit?

[stmah2]

I'm sure I know the pilot...guy's I'm real sorry for the loss. Families I am sure he did everything to minimize harm to his passengers. It's a sad day for aviation when a hero passes.

Fly Safe All

Sean

[pelmet]

Without making any comment about this particular accident, these poor weather accidents, especially in mountainous terrain(which seriously limits your options) are much more deserving of the wrath of certain posters than the gear-up landings we hear about(despite the gear-up thing being a bone-headed manouver).

They seem to happen over and over again from our slowly decreasing DHC Beaver and 185 population to the last of the Grumman Goose population. And there is serious death and destruction involved with these weather related accidents operated by essentially VFR aircraft in a high risk environment.

[Doc]

Pelmet....leave me out of this.

[Beefitarian]

Without making any comment about this particular accident, these poor weather accidents, especially in mountainous terrain(which seriously limits your options) are much more deserving of the wrath of certain posters than the gear-up landings we hear about(despite the gear-up thing being a bone-headed manouver).

They seem to happen over and over again from our slowly decreasing DHC Beaver and 185 population to the last of the Grumman Goose population. And there is serious death and destruction involved with these weather related accidents operated by essentially VFR aircraft in a high risk environment.

So do you suggest some form of restriction, to prevent those types of planes from flying in regions where unexpected weather occurs?