Pilot killed in crash was set to quit Nav Air, family says
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, December 23, 2005
One of the two Victoria pilots who died in a plane crash in Terrace Tuesday night planned to leave the company the next day because of safety concerns, his family says.
Simon Piper, 33, told family he wanted to quit Sidney-based Nav Air Charter Inc. as early as Wednesday, said brother-in-law Walter Langer.
But Piper did not make it to Wednesday. Instead, he and co-pilot Trevor Hardy, 31, were killed when their twin-engine plane crashed and exploded moments after takeoff at Northwest Regional Airport.
"How do you come to terms with it?" asked Langer, who said Piper -- who also worked part-time as a Sidney ambulance attendant -- was about to begin 10 days of vacation. "[Wednesday] was just like a shock day. The whole day was surreal."
The cause of the crash is not currently known, and remains under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board. Nav Air voluntarily gave up its operation certificate Wednesday, a move that has grounded its flights indefinitely.
This is not the first crash involving Nav Air. On April 22, a Nav Air plane crashed in the Comox Valley, killing two pilots.
"That really shook him [Piper] up and he knew at that point he had to get out." Langer said.
"He was trying to use his hours and experience to get on with one of the passenger airlines."
Nav Air managing director Bernie L'Hirondelle said he was not aware that Piper planned to quit.
"I have had no indication from anybody that Simon wanted to leave," L'Hirondelle said Thursday evening.
L'Hirondelle declined to comment on Piper's specific safety concerns, saying, "The company has no demands the pilot overload the airplane or fly an unsafe airplane."
He said the families of the two pilots were still grieving and he didn't want to discuss any "second-hand information they may have gotten."
Bill Yearwood, of the safety board, said the two pilots were not considered naive operators. Nav Air has said Piper and Hardy had more than 2,000 hours each of flying experience.
The plane crashed about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday about 300 metres beyond the airport fence, said Yearwood.
He said it was pointed at 90 degrees from the runway at the time, meaning either there was a problem with the controls after takeoff, or the crew had discovered a problem and was circling around to land.
As Piper's family awaits an explanation, they say his death is especially sad because Piper had always wanted to be a pilot.
His father, an airline accountant, used to take him to see aircraft at Vancouver International Airport when he was two months old. Later, his father bought a flight simulator. When Piper was not working on bodybuilding or his drumming skills, he could be found behind the controls of a virtual plane on the computer, said Langer.
He was also soon to be an uncle. His sister Jennifer (Langer's wife) is about to deliver. Piper had expressed an interest in starting his own family with wife Ann whom he married in 1998, said Langer.
"He had a wicked sense of humour," said Langer. "He was always about the positives."
"He had a way of looking at the good stuff in life."
Piper's death has devastated a close-knit family of three siblings, and parents, who moved to Victoria to be near him while he worked as an ambulance attendant to put himself through flight school, said Langer.
A memorial service is planned for Piper on Dec. 30, 1 p.m., in the Salvation Army Citadel at 4030 Douglas St.
With files from CanWest News Service