Flight records and witnesses said the Piper Cherokee began its journey from British Columbia and made several stops before crashing near Sioux Lookout, Ont.
Police said pilots Abhinav Handa, Hankun Hong, Gene Lahrkamp and Duncan Bailey died in the crash near Sioux Lookout after taking off from Dryden, Ont.
British Columbia’s anti-gang unit said Larkamp is wanted in Thailand for the murder of another man with ties to BC gangs, while court records show a man with the same name and age as Bailey is wanted by police for breaching bail conditions related to a separate murder plot in B.C
The TSB says the single-engine aircraft was 170 pounds over its maximum takeoff weight when it crashed, but does not say if or what cargo was on board.
It also says the pilot had not logged enough night flights to carry passengers after dark, nor was he qualified to fly in weather conditions that would have required instrument navigation due to reduced visibility.
The TSB says its investigation was conducted to promote transport safety, not to assign blame or determine civil or criminal liability.
The report states that the plane departed Dryden Regional Airport at 9:00 p.m. on April 29 and was reported missing about four and a half hours later. An emergency locator transmitter was activated on impact and signal-assisted search and rescue services to find the crash site.
The plane crashed after dark, hitting trees in a wooded area, the report said. It was out of control when it hit the woods at a 90 degree angle and came to rest about 100 feet from the first trees it hit.
All four men were fatally wounded.
“The airframe fractured in a manner consistent with a wheel movement and both fuel cells ruptured,” he says.
Weather reports indicate broken cloud layers, light rain and fog.
Before departing, the pilot filed a flight plan with Nav Canada, which operates flight information centers across the country. During the call, a flight service specialist gave a brief weather update and suggested there could be limited visual flight authorities, the report said.
Flying under visual flight rules means a pilot must use visual cues — watching the ground or the horizon, for example — to steer the plane.
Doing so at night can be particularly difficult, and the report says this flight would likely not meet the requirements to operate under visual flight rules.
“Instead, such a flight would require pilots to rely on their flight instruments to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft,” he says.
Neither the pilot nor the passenger next to him, who also had a commercial pilot’s license, were certified to fly under instrument flight rules, he says.
No defects were found in the aircraft and the engine was found to be operating normally, the report said.
No signs of carburetor icing were found, but the report says that could have happened under the weather conditions at the time.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 17, 2022.
