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Pilots in fatal North Shore Mountains plane crash identified

The B.C. Coroners Service has identified the two pilots killed in Monday’s plane crash in the North Shore Mountains.
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The wreckage of a plane that crashed in the North Shore Mountains on Monday,

The B.C. Coroners Service has identified the two pilots killed in Monday’s plane crash in the North Shore Mountains.

Robert Brandt, 34, and co-pilot Kevin Wang, 32, both residents of the Vancouver area, died when their twin engine Swearingen Merlin III cargo plane crashed in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park.

The pilots were carrying a load of banking documents to Prince George when their plane disappeared from radar just after 7 a.m

 A massive search ensued involving the RCMP, North Shore Rescue, Canadian Forces’ Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, Talon Helicopters and Metro Vancouver staff.

North Shore Rescue members found the debris from the crash later that afternoon and the rest of the fuselage and cockpit the next morning in a steep and densely treed area just off the trail to Coliseum Mountain, a popular hiking route in the summer.

According to the Transportation Safety Board, which is now in charge of investigating what caused the crash, the plane fell from an altitude of  2,400 metres to about 900 metres — the height at which the wreckage was found — in less than 20 seconds.

“This, with the wreckage dispersal and the lack of terrain damage is consistent with an in-flight break-up,” stated an update from the TSB on Thursday.

TSB investigators are now planning to remove the wreckage for more detailed analysis.

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A rough approximation of where Carson Air flight 66 crashed into the North Shore Mountains on Monday. - Google maps

There was no emergency distress call from the pilot and the plane had no cockpit voice or data recording systems, so the investigation will be limited to studying the scene and the wreckage. In 2013, the TSB recommended Transport Canada require flight data and cockpit voice recorders be installed on all smaller commercial aircraft.

Carson Air, the company that owned the plane, had no previous crashes or investigations.

Metro Vancouver, meanwhile, is dealing with any environmental damage that may have come from the crash.

The plane was carrying about 900 litres of jet fuel when it went down and Metro Vancouver has contracted an environmental remediation firm, Quantum Murray, to deal potential runoff into Norvan Creek, which is a tributary of Lynn Creek.

“A lot of that may have already been dispersed in the air as the plane was crashing. Some of that may have in fact occurred when the plane hit the ground,” said Mitch Sokalski, director of regional parks.

Work crews have deployed booms and absorbent pads, similar to the ones being used to clean up the Marathassa bunker fuel spill in English Bay. Water samples are being tested but so far, there are no results to show how much if any of the fuel is entering the water. Metro has also hired consultant Golder and Associates to do an overall environmental impact assessment of the entire debris area.