Plane went down because of Stall

The plane is believed to have gone down due to a stall. The plane crashed near the side of a hillcrest. The two survivors were able to get out of the plane on their own. Shortly thereafter, there was an explosion on the plane, followed by a couple minor explosions.

The terrain where the plane went down is described as very dense with 50 year old growth. The site is not viewable from the air and is not accessible by road.

The deceased were brought out of the site via the Cormorant out of Comox, to Port Hardy. The deceased were then transported down to Parksville.

All of the notifications of next of kin have been completed. The names of the survivors and the deceased will not be released at this time in respect of their families and an ongoing investigation.

This is a Transport Canada and Transport Safety Board Investigation. The RCMP are rendering assistance wherever possible.

On behalf of the RCMP our condolences go out to the victims of this tragedy and their families. The RCMP is working hard to get answers to this issue.

An "Approximate" Time line of Events:

7:08am – GPCB took off from Port Hardy en-route to Chamiss Bay near Kyuquot Inlet.

7:25am – GPCB went down due to a possible stall. Cause of possible stall is unknown at this time.

9:50am – Pacific Coastal were notified by Chamiss Bay that GPCB was overdue.

9:53am – Pacific Coastal contacted Comox Rescue-Co-ordination Center.

11:35am – Port Hardy RCMP were notified a plane had crashed in their area.

2:00pm – RCMP Air Services arrived in Port Hardy. (Helicopter)

4:32pm – GPCB was located West of Alice Lake, just North of Port Alice.

4:55pm – Port Alice RCMP were notified that the crash was in their area.

5:30pm – Survivors were airlifted out of the crash site by Cormorant.

9:00pm – All of the deceased arrived in Port Hardy.