What: de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver en route from Pitt Meadows to Okanagan Lake
Where: Brenda Mines
When: May 13, 2012, 6:45 p.m
Who: three aboard, three fatalities
Why: The plane had taken off from Pitt Meadows airport and was en route back from Okanagan lake when it went down in a wooded area below Highway 97C about seven kilometers west of the Brenda Mines Road intersection. There was a fire at the scene. Witnesses say the plane was headed toward “Peachland” possibly looking for a landing site toward Merritt when it went down.
According to the NTSB, the accident site is about ten minutes out of Kelowna.
A Cormorant helicopter and a Buffalo airplane, the coroner, B.C. Ambulance, Kelowna Fire Department and Kelowna RCMP responded to the scene. The plane caught fire.
Pilot Colin Moyes, 52, and passengers Peter Keate, 81 and Inez Keate, 79 have been identified as the crash victims. The pilot had his future in-laws in the cabin. His wedding would have been June 23. He leaves behind his 11 year old son. Moyes is also survived by his fiancee and her two children. A memorial is scheduled at 2 p.m., May 27, at North Vancouver’s Pinnacle Hotel.
