TSB says MRU plane involved in fatal crash did not have flight recorder

Searching for clues in crash Investigators are trying to determine why a plane crashed, killing two MRU instructors. Brad Macleod reports.

Officials with the Transportation Safety Board say that the small aircraft that went down earlier this month with two Mount Royal flight instructors on board did not have a flight or voice recorder on board but that neither were required.

Jeff Bird and Reyn Johnson were killed on February 13 when their plane crashed into the trees near Highway 40, west of Water Valley.

Both pilots were highly experienced and were on a routine training flight from Springbank Airport when they suddenly went down.

The TSB dispatched a team from Edmonton and spent two days at the crash site, which lies in an area normally used by the school for training.

The agency says that the plane departed from the Springbank Airport at 4:35 p.m. and climbed to 8,000 feet above sea level, heading in a northwesterly direction.

Officials say the last radar return of the plane was 0.13 nautical miles southeast of the accident site location, 32 nautical miles northwest of the airport.

The TSB says the plane hit the ground 30 minutes after departure.

All of the major aircraft components were destroyed in the impact and the ensuing fire. The plane did not have a flight data recorder or voice recorder on board but the TSB says neither were required.

The wreckage, including the engines and propellers, has been removed from the site and sent to Edmonton for further analysis.

"We are in contact with the manufacturers of the engines and technical experts," said Fred Burow, senior investigator with the TSB. "On that note, We are actually conducting teardowns of the two engines that we recovered and we will have technical experts here for that to determine if we can find any issues."

The propellers and other components will be sent to Ottawa for the complete analysis.

The agency will also be looking to gather information on air traffic control communications, radar information, pilot training, qualifications, proficiency records and medical history.

The TSB will also attempt to reconstruct the events to learn more about the accident sequence.

Burow said that the investigation will take some time to complete. "The important thing is to get the investigation correct and it will take the time it takes to do that."

He said that if any urgent safety concerns are discovered, the TSB will coordinate work with other agencies, including the manufacturer and Transport Canada, to get information out right away.

Burow said that the TSB has brought up the 'black box' issue with Transport Canada before and hopes the board will work towards bringing those devices to smaller craft in the future.

Officials at Mount Royal University say they are continuing to offer support and counselling to students and staff and the students in the aviation program will need to complete a number of steps before they can get back up in the air.

"Students will sit in the cockpit for at least five minutes or until they feel comfortable," said Duane Anderson, VP of Administrative Services at MRU. "They will need to circle the hangar three times in a standard circle formation before moving on to the next stage of reorientation."

Anderson says that safety is still the number one priority in the program. "We are ensuring everyone feels safe and is feeling supported before they get back in the planes."

"We believe our program is very safe, we believe our planes are very safe and we do not believe that any of the issues have to do with the people or the aircraft."

There have been three other incidents that resulted in the death of flight staff from the MRU flight program: