What: Privately owned Glasair Aviation “Sportsman 2+2” plane en route to a fishing trip on Lake Klemka Where: Pipmuacan Reservoir in the Saguenay region When: Sunday August Who: Carol Tremblay, 56, and Nathalie Cote, 44, Why: The couple had decided to go fishing on Lake Klemka, and flew there on the Sportsman configured with floats. They landed on the Pipmuacan Reservoir and were checking for directions when the plane started letting in water. They donned their life jackets and swam (for an hour) for the island. Tuesday they swam from the island to the reservoir and walked till they found a cabin where they found a battery, which enabled them to light-signal the helicopters searching for them.
Joint Co-ordination Rescue Centre in Trenton, Ont., recovered them shortly at 9 p.m. on August 31.
George’s Point of View
So many crashes end badly, it is a real pleasure to hear of survivors who walked away—in this case, swam away—from a downed plane. Their fishing trip turned out to be, not a tragedy, but simply rather more of an adventure than they had anticipated.
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What: PT Nusantara Buana Airlines CASA C-212 North Sumatra and Aceh, 19 year old plane Where: Bahorok, Indonesia When: Sept 29, 2011 Who: 15 passengers, 3 crew Why: The fate is known of the 18 passengers who went missing on a short Indonesian hop between North Sumatra and Aceh. The flight lost contact and crashed in the jungle canopy.
Rescuers reached the crash site via helicopter, and all the passengers were reported as casualties. Search and rescue teams found the passengers all strapped in their seats, lifeless.
Devastated family members accuse the airline of unprofessionalism. THe airline reports that rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather, terrible conditions, mountains and forest.
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Alaska Airlines flight 76 made an emergency landing at Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia, Canada, on May 3.
The Boeing 737-400 aircraft was flying from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle, Washington when it developed a problem in one of its electrical systems, prompting the pilots to land at the nearest airport.
The plane landed uneventfully.
There were 120 passengers and 5 crew members onboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.
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What: American Eagle Embraer ERJ-135 en route from Toronto to New York Where: Toronto When: Jun 6th 2010 Why: After takeoff, the plane developed a leak and shut down an engine. The flight diverted to Elmira where they made a safe landing minus one engine.
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What: Home built “rag bags” kit plane Where: Nanaimo Airport, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. When: June 4, 2011 Who: pilot Dr. Bill Phipps, 71, of Campbell River Why: Six minutes into a planned eight minute exhibition before 1000 spectators at the Wings and Wheels air show, while supposed to be doing a four point roll, Dr. Phipps home built plane was “tail-on to the crowd and upright” and flew into the ground. A witness describes that “The right wing clipped the ground and he did a cartwheel.” Another witness said it was likely he stalled and that his wings lost lift.
Rag Bags was Phipps name for his home-built wood and fabric plane.
B.C. Ambulance and Cranberry Fire and Rescue recovered Phips, who was airlifted to Victoria General Hospital. He was in serious condition, with severe injuries but was stable Monday.
What: Northern Thunderbird Air Beechcraft 100 King Air en route from Vancouver International Airport to Kelowna International Airport Where: Russ Baker Way, near Vancouver International Airport, Canada When: Oct 27, 2011 4 pm Who: 9 occupants, 2 fatalities Why: Reporting difficulty to ATC after a warning light came on in the cabin fifteen minutes after takeoff, the pilot, Luc Fortin attempted to return to the airport. The plane crash landed short of the runway. On impact, the fuselage separated from the tail section by 10 yards and was on fire beside the road. Fortin died of his injuries, and the co-pilot died later with burns on 80% of his body. There were 9 people aboard, and all of them were hospitalized. The plane had hit the ground and skidded, it’s wing striking a car. Two on the ground (in the car) were injured by debris.
Fortin, a 14,000-hour pilot, died at Vancouver General Hospital, and leaves a wife Dagne and sixteen month old daughter Katelyn.
After weeks in intensive care, co-pilot, Matt Robic, 26, died at Vancouver General Hospital on November 16, 2011 with 80% burns. He leaves his wife Natalie Redfearn.
On landing on Russ Baker Way (street), the plane burst into flames. Passersby on the street pulled over and rushed to the burning plane to pull those aboard from the flames. Initially both pilots were alive and were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Read the accounts of some of those involved by following the “read more” link below.
The flight had been chartered as a private rental by an executive group with business in Kelowna.
Jeremy Kerr, John Redmond, Haim Peri, Shawn Nagurny, Lonney Lee and half a dozen other good samaritans had been driving by (or worked in the immediate area) and pulled over to run into the burning plane and rescue those aboard. Thanks to their efforts, seven people survived. Carolyn Cross, Lorelei Sobolik, Cameron Sobolik, Tony (Troy?) Zanatta, Kelly Jablonski, Jeff McCord were among the survivors.