Deployment notice
TSB deploys team to aircraft accident in British Columbia's
North Shore Mountains near Vancouver
Richmond, British Columbia, 14 April 2015
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is deploying
a team to an accident involving a Carson Air aircraft that occurred in British
Columbia's North Shore Mountains near Vancouver.
The TSB will gather information and assess the occurrence.
April 14, 2015
Mount Elsay and Runner Peak lie north of Mount Seymour. Stephen
Hui
A search is underway in a "steep and treacherous"
area north of Mount Seymour after Carson Air Flight 66 went missing on
Monday (April 13).
The twin-engine Cessna airplane had left Vancouver
International Airport bound for Prince George, and had two pilots on board.
"As of last evening, searchers located debris belonging
to the missing plane. The area being searched, approximately 5 km north of
Mount Seymour, has fresh snow and is steep and treacherous. The main fuselage,
cockpit or pilots have not been located," North Vancouver RCMP said in a news
release this morning (April 14).
"As of Tuesday morning, April 14, 2015, the RCMP
Emergency Response Team (ERT) along with North Shore Search and Rescue (NSSR)
are jointly searching the known crash area. Current weather conditions are
enabling the search efforts."
Police also said the cause of the crash remains
undetermined.
Carson Air Flight 66: Plane believed found in B.C.'s North
Shore mountains
RCMP inserts 6-person extraction team to hold scene
overnight, declares 'this is a rescue operation'
An extensive air and ground search will resume Tuesday on
Vancouver's North Shore for survivors of Carson Air Flight 66 after rescue
crews located enough of a debris field to conclude it's likely the missing
flight.
The small cargo plane with two pilots aboard went missing
around 7:08 a.m. PT Monday.
Bill Yearwood with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada
says searchers have found what they believe is the plane along with part
of a wing, and some papers and other debris, in a remote area of the North
Shore mountains.
An RCMP extraction team compares notes prior to joining the
search area overnight. Police say this is still very much a rescue operation.
"Ground crews and air crews have found debris and
sufficient pieces of the aircraft to suggest they have found the main wreckage
site and they were trying to get into it just before sunset and were hoping it
would be accessible tomorrow [Tuesday]," he said in a phone
interview.
"It [the wreckage] is below where the aircraft went
missing on radar."
Yearwood said determining the cause of the crash won't be
easy.
"There was no distress call. I don't believe there was
any recording device on the aircraft, so it will be a challenge for us to
determine the cause."
"It's snowy in that area so it will be some time before
we get the wreckage to examine it clearly," he added.
At an evening news conference, RCMP said it would
be putting a six-person extraction team into the area overnight to begin work
at first light.
The missing aircraft is a twin-engine SA-226 Metro II, like
this one. (Carson Air)
"At this time we are doing everything that is humanly
possible to successfully compete a rescue operation here," said North
Vancouver RCMP Insp. Davis Wendell.
Mike Danks with North Shore Rescue says about 25 ground crew
are focused on an area north of the North Needle in Lynn Headwaters Regional
Park.
Steep terrain a factor in search
Danks said some of the teams are searching in fresh, deep
snow and weather conditions are deteriorating.
"We have heavy snowfall in the area, and we're talking
about steep, technical terrain. So our crews are taking no unnecessary risks,
but we are doing our best to try and locate this aircraft as soon as possible."
The search is focused on an area in the North Shore
Mountains, about 10 kilometres north of Vancouver, where the twin-engine
SA-266 Metro II was last seen by air traffic control radar, said an official
with Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
The flight from Vancouver to Prince George went
missing on Monday morning with two pilots aboard.
North Shore Rescue is assisting the Joint Rescue
Coordination Centre in Victoria with the ground search and has
set up a staging area near Bone Creek in North Vancouver.
Two Cormorant helicopters, a CC-115 Buffalo and a CP-140
Aurora were employed in the search for the missing plane.
Officials said the missing plane took off from Vancouver
International Airport at 6:43 a.m. PT and was supposed to land at Prince
George Airport at 8 a.m.
Air traffic control lost radar contact with the
cargo flight at 7:08 a.m., when the plane was northeast of Vancouver, said
Robertson.
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Status:
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Preliminary
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Date:
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Monday 13 April 2015
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Time:
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ca 07:00
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Type:
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Operator:
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Carson Air
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Registration:
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registration unknown
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C/n / msn:
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First flight:
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Crew:
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Fatalities: / Occupants: 2
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Passengers:
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Fatalities: / Occupants: 0
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Total:
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Fatalities: / Occupants: 2
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Airplane damage:
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Destroyed
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Airplane fate:
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Written off (damaged beyond repair)
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Location:
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near Vancouver, BC (
Canada)
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Phase:
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En route (ENR)
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Nature:
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Cargo
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Departure airport:
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Destination airport:
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Flightnumber:
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CA66
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Narrative:
A Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II cargo plane, operated by Carson Air, crashed in the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, Canada with two crew on board.
The airplane departed Vancouver International Airport, BC (YVR) at 06:43 on a cargo flight to Prince George Airport, BC (YXS).
NavCanada's Kamloops Flight Information Centre lost radar contact with the cargo flight at around 7 a.m, according to local media.
A search party found parts of the wreckage on a snowy wooded hillside but are still searching for both pilots.
Flightaware flight tracking information suggests the aircraft was airborne at 07:02 hours local time. The last recorded data point by Flightaware is at 07:08:25 hours at 49°19'59.9"N 123°01'59.9"W.