Beechcraft King Air 100 crash on takeoff, 7 dead, AeroPro
Beechcraft King Air 100 crash at 6h on takeoff, 7 dead, AeroPro
Beechcraft King Air 100 s'est écrasé vers 6h mercredi matin quelques minutes seulement après son décollage de l'Aéroport de Québec, tuant les sept passagers et membres d'équipage à son bord. Selon ce qu'il a été possible d'apprendre dans les dernières minutes, un employé de l'entreprise Cegerco, Normand Tremblay, est du nombre des victimes.
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CTV.ca News Staff
A small plane crashed near Quebec City's Jean-Lesage Airport Wednesday morning and exploded into a fireball, killing all seven people on board.
Five passengers were aboard the twin-engine plane along with two crew. Police have not confirmed the identities of the victims.
The plane, bound for Sept-Iles, Que., reportedly had trouble at takeoff, at 5:57 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The pilot radioed he was experiencing trouble with the right engine and asked to return to the airport. Seconds later, the plane crashed into a grassy area in a rural neighbourhood about two kilometres north of the airport and burst into flames.
Though firefighters arrived quickly, reports say there is little left of the plane.
The pilot sounded relatively calm in his distress call to the Quebec City airport traffic control tower.
"Quebec tower, Aeropro 201 (here), we have a right engine problem, we're going to return for landing," the pilot said.
"Roger," the controller responded. He then asked if the pilot needed emergency services.
"Affirmative, we are unable to climb," the pilot answered.
Seconds later, another voice comes onto the control tower recording: "There was a fireball only three knots from the airport. I believe it's a King Air from Aeropro that just crashed."
CTV Montreal's John Grant says the plane crashed not even 50 metres from a house, waking the family inside.
"They looked out their window and saw a ball of fire in their yard. So clearly, it could have been much worse if there had been any people hurt or killed on the ground," he told CTV News Channel Wednesday morning from the scene.
The Canadian Press reports that plane crashed into the property of former NHL hockey player Mario Marois, a former captain for the Quebec Nordiques and current scout for the Carolina Hurricanes. Marois was not home at the time but members of his family witnessed the scene.
The plane was a Beechcraft King Air 100. Grant says investigators aren't clear why the aircraft crashed.
"It's difficult for the experts to understand why the crash happened, because normally, that kind of aircraft can fly and can continue to climb on one engine," he said.
The plane belonged to a charter company called Aéropro. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident.
The accident comes one month after another plane crashed at île-aux-Grues, killing four people. That plane in that accident, a Cessna 172, carried the Aéropro logo, but the company says the aircraft was operated by a different company.
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