ChrisVJ
4th Mar 2010, 03:19
This is the second Jodel recently to have in flight structural failure, one old, this one nearly new and apparently home built.
From Vancouver Sun:
Emergency vehicles block off Johnson Road on Forbidden Plateau as a Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox searches the area for the plane and pilot that crashed into the forest early Wednesday morning.
Emergency vehicles block off Johnson Road on Forbidden Plateau as a Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox searches the area for the plane and pilot that crashed into the forest early Wednesday morning.
Photograph by: Marcel Tetrault, Comox Valley Echo
A homebuilt plane that crashed Wednesday in Courtenay, killing its 75-year-old owner, was improperly registered, a Transportation Safety Board official said.
With proper registration, the Jodel F-11 craft, built from a kit, would have had to meet stricter airworthiness standards.
Bert Smit, owner of a private airstrip called Smit Field, was flying the homebuilt plane around 9 a.m. when witnesses reported seeing pieces of one wing detach and the plane crash in the Forbidden Plateau area.
Smit had built the plane himself out of wood and fabric about eight months ago and had flown it regularly ever since, said Danny Annand, Smit’s business partner and a board member of the Courtenay Airpark Association.
The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre dispatched a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox. Ground search and rescue teams, the Courtenay fire department and the RCMP assisted in the search.
“They found the plane — the wreckage — and found Bert, and he is deceased,” Annand said. “They’re sure it’s him; they found his pilot’s licence and everything on him.”
Bill Yearwood, regional manager for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said such aircraft are normally registered as amateur-built, based on weight, speed and other specifications.
Amateur-built planes must meet strict “airworthiness requirements” and be inspected by Transport Canada before being approved for takeoff.
“This particular [aircraft] is not registered as an amateur-built, but registered as an ultralight,” Yearwood said. “We have to determine how that is, because it is likely that it is not correctly registered.”
It was the second B.C. death involving such a craft in less than a year. Donald William Souter, a 52-year-old Surrey man, died last August when a wing detached from his homebuilt Jodel aircraft. That plane spiralled downward before crashing just five metres away from a residence on Falcon Crest Drive.
Souter’s plane was registered as amateur-built.
“[Smit] is quite a craftsman,” Annand said. “Whether it’s a flaw in the design, who knows. We probably never will know, because when they crash, there’s not much left of a wooden airplane. It’s not like there are pieces left to examine.”
Shannon Gorman was outside pruning her raspberry bushes a little before 9 a.m. when she heard the plane and looked up over the trees.
“It looked like he was going to give me a real neat show with a swoop,” Gorman said. “As he started to come down, yellow pieces just flew everywhere, he just exploded and then crashed down. Before that he looked fine, like he was going to do a fancy little show.”
Another eyewitness said she saw the plane do a couple of loops just before its left wing blew apart and the plane went down.
Annand said he knew it was Smit as soon as he received the phone call.
“It made sense that it was him; he’s only two or three kilometres from our airfield,” Annand said. “I’ve been with the family crying since nine o’clock.”
An investigation is being conducted by the safety board to determine the cause of the crash.
[email protected]
With files from Canwest News Service
From Vancouver Sun:
Emergency vehicles block off Johnson Road on Forbidden Plateau as a Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox searches the area for the plane and pilot that crashed into the forest early Wednesday morning.
Emergency vehicles block off Johnson Road on Forbidden Plateau as a Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox searches the area for the plane and pilot that crashed into the forest early Wednesday morning.
Photograph by: Marcel Tetrault, Comox Valley Echo
A homebuilt plane that crashed Wednesday in Courtenay, killing its 75-year-old owner, was improperly registered, a Transportation Safety Board official said.
With proper registration, the Jodel F-11 craft, built from a kit, would have had to meet stricter airworthiness standards.
Bert Smit, owner of a private airstrip called Smit Field, was flying the homebuilt plane around 9 a.m. when witnesses reported seeing pieces of one wing detach and the plane crash in the Forbidden Plateau area.
Smit had built the plane himself out of wood and fabric about eight months ago and had flown it regularly ever since, said Danny Annand, Smit’s business partner and a board member of the Courtenay Airpark Association.
The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre dispatched a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox. Ground search and rescue teams, the Courtenay fire department and the RCMP assisted in the search.
“They found the plane — the wreckage — and found Bert, and he is deceased,” Annand said. “They’re sure it’s him; they found his pilot’s licence and everything on him.”
Bill Yearwood, regional manager for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said such aircraft are normally registered as amateur-built, based on weight, speed and other specifications.
Amateur-built planes must meet strict “airworthiness requirements” and be inspected by Transport Canada before being approved for takeoff.
“This particular [aircraft] is not registered as an amateur-built, but registered as an ultralight,” Yearwood said. “We have to determine how that is, because it is likely that it is not correctly registered.”
It was the second B.C. death involving such a craft in less than a year. Donald William Souter, a 52-year-old Surrey man, died last August when a wing detached from his homebuilt Jodel aircraft. That plane spiralled downward before crashing just five metres away from a residence on Falcon Crest Drive.
Souter’s plane was registered as amateur-built.
“[Smit] is quite a craftsman,” Annand said. “Whether it’s a flaw in the design, who knows. We probably never will know, because when they crash, there’s not much left of a wooden airplane. It’s not like there are pieces left to examine.”
Shannon Gorman was outside pruning her raspberry bushes a little before 9 a.m. when she heard the plane and looked up over the trees.
“It looked like he was going to give me a real neat show with a swoop,” Gorman said. “As he started to come down, yellow pieces just flew everywhere, he just exploded and then crashed down. Before that he looked fine, like he was going to do a fancy little show.”
Another eyewitness said she saw the plane do a couple of loops just before its left wing blew apart and the plane went down.
Annand said he knew it was Smit as soon as he received the phone call.
“It made sense that it was him; he’s only two or three kilometres from our airfield,” Annand said. “I’ve been with the family crying since nine o’clock.”
An investigation is being conducted by the safety board to determine the cause of the crash.
[email protected]
With files from Canwest News Service