The three men killed in a float plane crash Thursday have been identified by the B.C. Coroners Service as pilot Kevin Roger Williams, 42, from Lake Country in the Okanagan, and passengers Frederick Gerald Cecil Wiley, 40, of Merville, and 59-year-old Norman Slavik of White Rock.
The Air Cab Cessna 185 had been chartered to fly the passengers, both employed in the forestry industry, to a logging operation on West Cracroft Island. Wiley owned Cold Stone Logging, based in Courtenay, and Slavik was a forestry consultant.
All three men died on impact, said the coroner’s office.
Transportation Safety Board investigators are expected to begin a detailed examination today of the wreckage to determine what caused it to crash into woods near the shoreline of West Cracroft Island, southeast of Port McNeill.
The damaged plane was removed from the crash site near Potts Lagoon on Monday and was expected to be moved to Campbell River, Transportation Safety Board senior investigator Glenn Friesen said.
The investigators will have greater access to the mechanical workings of the plane, such as cables and pulleys, and get a better idea of what happened in its final moments of flight, Friesen said.
So far, the investigation indicates the aircraft had done a fly-by of the landing zone so the pilot could spot any logs and obstructions.
“He completed a circuit in a rectangular pattern and he had turned ... or was turning ... for the landing area when the accident occurred,” said Friesen.
While fog was an intermittent problem last week, “we’ll be focusing more on the mechanical aspects, the pilot’s actions, the company’s policies and procedures and whether [they were followed],” Friesen said.
Slavik was reluctant to make the trip, and decided to go only at the last minute, his wife’s uncle said on Sunday.
“Norm did not want to go on this trip — he was really only going as a favour to his friend,” Jack Bush of Comox said Sunday.
The pilot of the Cessna had left Coal Harbour that morning and had picked up Slavik and another man in Port McNeill before heading southeast to West Cracroft Island.
The aircraft was preparing to land in a confined area near the logging camp when it slammed into a hillside about 20 metres from the shoreline.
The crash was witnessed by occupants of a shrimp boat, who called authorities and checked on the three crash victims, all of whom died at the scene.
Witnesses reported the aircraft appeared to abort its landing attempt and stalled, plummeting into the trees, said Bush, who is a pilot himself.
“It looks like he probably erred in that he tried to turn too quickly out of the lift and didn’t have enough [lift], and it dropped out of the sky,” Bush said.
The purpose of the trip was to do an audit of a logging operation, Bush said. Slavik worked as a forestry consultant and frequently use float planes to get to work sites, he said.
“I once said to him, ‘You’re on the edge — you spend so much time in these float planes that one of these days, well, what are the odds ...,’ ” Bush said, his voice trailing off.
“And he said, ‘Ah, what the hell.’ It was part of doing business for him.”
Slavik was an astute businessman who always made time for wife Sandy and daughters Gail and Lisa, who are in their late teens or early 20s, Bush said.
The couple enjoyed salmon fishing and often had friendly competitions with Bush and his sons over who caught the bigger fish. Slavik enjoyed playing basketball or hitting the ski hills with his family.
“He just put his whole heart and soul into whatever he did, that’s the kind of guy he was,” Bush said. “This has just been a real, real blow. The two girls just loved their dad like you can’t believe.”
Slavik grew up in Vancouver and studied forestry at the B.C. Institute of Technology.
“He went into the forestry business,” Bush said. “He owned and operated a sawmill in Delta at one point, then he went on and put together three companies. All his business was generated around the forest industry in B.C.”
Bush has spent his life in hospital administration and realizes that tragic deaths occur, “but when it hits home, it really bothers you.
“You know that when somebody goes down like this, it’s often business people where part of their business requires they fly in these planes,” Bush said.
“But when you think of the number of flights that take off and land on a daily basis ... it’s just amazing that there aren’t more accidents.”
TimberWest issued a statement this morning saying that Wiley had worked for “many years as a valuable contractor” to the forestry company.
“We had also developed a good relationship with Norm Slavik, having had the opportunity to work with Norm on a number of occasions,” Dave Whiteley, vice-president of Timberland Operations, said in a statement. “On behalf of TimberWest, I offer my sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Fred Wiley and Norm Slavik.”
Williams got his pilot’s licence a decade ago under the supervision of Dave Parry, chief flying instructor of Langley Flying School. He had a great reputation and stellar record, Parry said Monday.
“He was one of those guys who wasn’t really sure what to do in life and had a low level of personal satisfaction,” Parry said. “When he discovered flying, it kind of lit up his life. I think flying opened him up to possibilities. It was certainly his passion in life.”
Williams later became a flight instructor at the school before moving on to commercial positions.
The B.C. Coroners Service, Transportation Safety board and WorkSafe B.C. are investigating.
