Small plane disappears on flight from NWT to Alberta

[180]

Small plane disappears on flight from N.W.T. to Alberta
Postmedia News, Edmonton Journal: Sunday, July 25, 2010 10:02 AM

EDMONTON — Search-and-rescue teams are looking for a plane that left Norman Wells, N.W.T., on Saturday but never arrived at its destination in northern Alberta.

The small single-engine aircraft carrying only the pilot left the town of 800 people Saturday on a strict flight plan for the 965-kilometre trip, said Ron Dimock from the joint rescue co-ordination centre in Trenton, Ont.

The plane never arrived in Peace River, Alta.

A Hercules plane from Winnipeg, a Buffalo aircraft from Comox, B.C., a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter and five aircraft from the volunteer Civil Air Search and Rescue Association are looking for the overdue plane, Dimock said.

Peace River is about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

[Mihai]

God forbid another accident... there have been too many these days.

[ETOPS]

My thoughts exactly Mihai. Lets hope this one turns out OK.

[sky's the limit]

Bad news..... I hope he's roasting wieners over a fire somewhere waiting for a pick-up.


$16 Billion wasted on jets and no SAR bases North of the 50th.... When are we going to get this sorted out?

stl

[jet a1]

agreed stl.... the thought often crosses my mind flying way up north...how long until SAR would get up here.

[armchair]

it'a N registered a/c too (american) ... see latest from Flight tracker

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N64631

[sheephunter]

I too hope all works out. Lots of realestate between the Wellls and Peace but in general not excessively nasty terrain, just vacant land althought it has to be 600nm so weather would / could vary a lot between departure and arrival. I've seen some wicked TS build up on that route. Just seems a long stretch of no where in most single engine if of course that's what it was... What's a "strict flight plan"? Hope all turns out well.

[modi13]

$16 Billion wasted on jets and no SAR bases North of the 50th.... When are we going to get this sorted out?

How about 440 Squadron's Twin Otters in YZF? No SAR techs, but they can locate the aircraft and send a chopper to the scene.

[sky's the limit]

$16 Billion wasted on jets and no SAR bases North of the 50th.... When are we going to get this sorted out?

How about 440 Squadron's Twin Otters in YZF? No SAR techs, but they can locate the aircraft and send a chopper to the scene.

Not even close to being good enough.

As someone who spends almost 100% of my flying time in the remotest parts of the country, it's an issue I'd like to see resolved before we have yet another SAR mess-up, and there have been many in the past. You just can't ask a Cormorant to fly 500-1500nm or more in varying wx in a first responder role. Either farm it out to civilian companies like we have in Vancouver, Whistler, Hope, Banff, and Jasper, or do it right. New fighters? Seriously? I have to just shake my head sometimes.

Anyway, I'm back to work again tomorrow, this time a little closer to home. Fly safe everyone, hope this one turns out ok in the end.

stl

[alti2d]

Saw the C130 and DHC 5 parked in CYOJ for the night. Good luck guys!! No good news as of yet.

[robbreid]

http://www.thekathrynreport.com/2010/07 ... orado.html news video . . .

http://terryjohnsonupdate.blogspot.com/ Family set up blog to update search . . .

[stmymdy]

i hope they find him, met him two weeks ago on his way through

[SAR_YQQ]

The family has written him off as dead. If this search was in the states, they would have turned it off by now. Tough time for close family - my hopes for a discovery that will permit closure.

[Big Pistons Forever]

The ELT did not activate giving an impossibly large search area. Too bad
he wasn't carrying a SPOT. DR along the bread crumb trail from the last hit and the search problem gets a lot more reasonable.

A perfect example of what will continue to happen with the 406 "solution". An inititative that is ultimately all about saving money by reducing UNSARs not about finding downed aircraft.......

[I'm just one]

Aircraft was found not far out of Norman Wells.
Family's worst fears have been varified.
Pilot did not make it.

Condolences to the family.
Good work to all who were involved in the search.

I'm just one

[stmymdy]

damn..

[slowstream]

Sad news, but happy for the family that they have him back.

From what I read he died doing what he loved and in a place he loved.

Clear skies to you

[rigpiggy]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/20 ... ation.html

Condolences to the family

[jeta1]

[Tiny Voices]

How do you know this gentleman didn't have a heart attack/stoke/aneurysm/etc prior to the aircraft coming into contact with the ground? Perhaps some catastrophic mechanical/structural/component failure from which there was no chance of recovery? The fact here is there are no facts. No reports, not even any speculation, aside from your own well reasoned formulation that one more person with more money than common sense went out and smoked himself in his expensive toy. All we know for sure is that an airplane crashed and a pilot died.

[hairdo]

... $16 Billion wasted on jets .... When are we going to get this sorted out?

stl

Hmmm... what if we get the STOVL version and instead of missles and bombs in the internal bays, convert it so that you could transport a person. SHAZZAAAM!!! You've got a hella fast ride to the hospital! Slap on a couple missles on external pylons and you've got a multi-purpose aircraft! One minute a fighter, the next, medivac!

[turbo-prop]

He was on a strict flight plan but failed to make a position report over Fort Simpson, N.W.T., and wasn't heard from as his plane reached the point where it would run out of fuel

News seems to think he ran out of fuel.

[SAR_YQQ]

That is a misnomer - what the news is reporting is what they are being told. JRCC will report that the aircraft's fuel endurance has expired, therefore they know that the plane is no longer in the air. That is why you give your ETA and Endurance.

[Castorero]

This story fits another typical aviation pattern, the mutli-millionaire who escapes life with aviation and ends-up dying "doing what he loved". Here is a statement from the CBC piece:

"Johnson built MiniScribe from a basement startup in the 1980s into a $100-million company."

I have a cynical view of rich people getting into aviation only because they can afford it... they should stick to first class.

Johh F Kennedy Junior.... what a perfect example of a rich dude, with absolutely everything any person can want, and ended-up killing himself and his girlfriend while flying at night over water. There are so many examples... you all know of one I'm sure. The doctor/dentist syndrome.... The heavy trucking company onwer who killed his family in Northern Ontario last year, cant recall exactly who it was but his daughter had her fate-ridden boyfriend onboard... How many of them have killed themselves and their familes only because it was so cool to own and fly your own airplane? Get a fucking yacht instead... it is safer.

I wish flying schools would have the balls to tell a rich candidate to get back in his fancy car and enjoy the fast lane, not the flight line... keep the rich bastards away.

I am a hypocryt to say this too, as I have a very rich friend who wanted to get into aviation and I could not help myself to tell him not to, so I encouraged him to do so, with many caveats. I am after his ass all the time on safety and he is still alive, but he already bought his own craft and he already put his family at risk in a bad storm in mountains. I was glad he survived because I wanted to strangle him myself after that stunt in 0-0 weather.

end of rant.

Ranting for the right reasons is good for you. Makes you feel better about whatever ails you.

A generalized rant like this serves no purpose at all for the rest of us.

There are way too many rich bastards that are smart, intelligent and understand the risks of personal aviation and take measures to minimize them.

You just don't hear about them, that's all.

Why is it that every time some wealthy dude dies in an airplane, he is painted as an incompetent pilot, and his death is implied as almost being poetic justice?

In my experience most of these people are good and very competent at many things, not just making money.

You should get out more...

[stmymdy]

eta1 wrote:
This story fits another typical aviation pattern, the mutli-millionaire who escapes life with aviation and ends-up dying "doing what he loved". Here is a statement from the CBC piece:

"Johnson built MiniScribe from a basement startup in the 1980s into a $100-million company."

I have a cynical view of rich people getting into aviation only because they can afford it... they should stick to first class.

Yep, just jump to conclusions and make yourself look like an ignorant p****.
Just because someone with money decides to fly, doesn't mean they have no idea how to do it
safely.