Pilot in fatal crash didn't have licence, investigator says
Alison Taylor
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto Star June 24, 2001
The pilot of a Cessna 170 plane involved in a fatal crash with a helicopter should never have been in the air, says a Transportation Safety Board investigator.
Evidence shows the light plane's pilot, Myles Tunney, did not have a valid pilot's licence and that his student permit had expired in 1995, said David Curry, the investigator in charge of the accident.
"If he didn't have a licence he shouldn't have been in the air at all,'' Curry said.
The plane and helicopter collided at about 1,000 feet near the village of Sandford, northeast of Toronto, around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Anton Tyukodi, the 45-year-old helicopter pilot, died.
Tunney was able to land his plane in a nearby farmer's field and was uninjured.
According to Tunney's log book, he had been flying about 25 hours annually since 1996, which is not a lot, Curry said.
"So far in our investigation there is no evidence that he did anything wrong physically to cause the accident,'' Curry said.
On the evening of the accident, Tunney took off from a nearby private grass airstrip and headed south.
Meanwhile, Tyukodi was flying the helicopter from Lindsay to Toronto and was heading southwest, approaching the Cessna diagonally.
Investigators believe the plane was underneath the helicopter.
"It is quite believable that they just didn't see each other. We have no hard evidence that these guys were doing something that they shouldn't except Mr. Tunney was flying without a licence,'' Curry said.
The probe is continuing.
Criminal charges have not been laid but Transport Canada will likely look into the fact Tunney was flying without a valid licence