The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has ruled out mechanical failure as the cause of a Sept. 21 float plane crash on Fairbank Lake that killed the aircraft's 61-year-old pilot.
Ken Webster, an aviation inspector with the Transportation Safety Board, said they were able to work with the float plane's insurer to retrieve the wreckage from the bottom of the lake and reconstruct the plane on the shore.
“From that examination, we determined that in all likelihood there were no mechanical deficiencies in this instance,” he said.
While small aircraft aren't required to have black boxes on board, that record flight information, Webster said the inspection of the wreckage showed all the plane's instruments would have been in good working order before the crash.
Webster said the Transportation Safety Board was assisting the coroner's office in its investigation of the crash.
“We will not be producing a report that has the actual cause of the accident,” he said.
But the coroner's office could produce a report once it concludes its own investigation.
After the crash residents in the area were able to rescue the float plane's 32-year-old passenger.
But Brian Hickey, 61, did not survive the crash.
