Tweet
5 months ago exactly, actually...
Here's the original story from October on the 3 year old girl that survived the crash: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../BNStory/Front
That's not just rotten luck, that's uncanny...
Five dead in Alberta crash
KATHERINE O'NEILL AND CAROLINE ALPHONSO
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
March 28, 2008 at 10:25 PM EDT
WAINWRIGHT, ALTA. and TORONTO — Exactly five months after a plane crash killed its founder and a top executive, an Alberta engineering firm was struck with misfortune again yesterday when three more senior staff, including its president, died in an aviation accident.
Reagan Williams, president of A.D. Williams Engineering and the eldest son of the company's founder, was flying the firm's PA-46 Piper Malibu aircraft when it fell below radar outside Wainwright and crashed near Battle River.
Also killed were Phil Allard, the company's chief financial officer, and Rhonda Quirke, the director of business integration and strategy.
Police did not release the identities of the other two men aboard the plane who died.
Mr. Williams, a 41-year-old married father of one, was named head of the company in 2005 by his father, Allen Williams. The senior Mr. Williams was killed in October along with the company's previous chief financial officer, Steven Sutton, when his Cessna 172 aircraft crashed in a remote and rugged area near Golden, B.C. That tragedy garnered national attention because search-and-rescue workers found his three-year-old granddaughter, Kate, alive five hours later in tangled wreckage.
Yesterday, the company's staff, who were just coming to grips with last year's fatal crash, were in disbelief that misfortune had struck the family a second time.
“People are in shock. They've dealt with a tragedy already very recently and this is hitting everyone very hard,” spokeswoman Sue O'Connor said.
“They are gathering in the meeting rooms and offices just to support each other and talk things through just to process what's gone on.”
The single-engine, six-seat corporate plane, which Mr. Williams often flew, had left Edmonton's City Centre Airport yesterday en route to a business meeting at the company's Winnipeg office. The five were expected to return to Edmonton later in the day.
The plane was in the air for a little over half an hour before crashing around 8:15 a.m. local time northeast of Wainwright, about a 21/2 -hour drive from Edmonton. While officials did not speculate on the cause of the crash, the weather was overcast and foggy, the RCMP said.
Minutes before the plane went off radar, Mr. Williams reported trouble.
CTV News obtained a report filed to Transport Canada that stated a flight controller in Edmonton observed the aircraft moving “erratically.”
“The Controller queried the pilot who reported a problem with a [gyroscope]. The aircraft was then observed in a rapid descent and … lost contact with the aircraft,” the report states.
Shortly after noon local time, a crew flying a Griffin Helicopter from Cold Lake, Alta., found the wreckage.
The main body of the plane was intact and about 50 metres from the Battle River. But pieces of the airplane were found scattered within two kilometres of the crash site.
Constable Denise Rogan of the Wainwright RCMP said the plane crashed into a dense grove of trees by the river. Because it was so far off the country roads, emergency personnel had to use ATVs and helicopters to get to the accident site.
Yesterday, more than 50 emergency personnel were there, including firefighters, the RCMP, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the military. The bodies were removed from the site yesterday afternoon.
Reached at home yesterday, Mr. Williams's sister-in-law Nancy declined comment. “I have nothing to say right now,” she said, before hanging up.
The same as his father, who had a passion for planes, Mr. Williams had more than two decades of flying experience, Ms. O'Connor said. He sat on the board of directors of the Edmonton Flying Club.
The firm his father founded had grown with branch offices in Calgary, Yellowknife, Winnipeg and Red Deer.
Mr. Williams became president of his father's company as part of a succession plan.
The leadership team was starting to recover from Allen Williams's death, Ms. O'Connor said. Mr. Allard, a former Telus executive, joined the company to replace Mr. Sutton.
At a memorial for his father, Mr. Williams praised his father for saving his niece.
The 65-year-old patriarch had securely strapped the little girl, whom he lovingly referred to as Super Kate, into the small aircraft, a move that police said explained why she was taken from the crash with only minor injuries.
KATHERINE O'NEILL AND CAROLINE ALPHONSO
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
March 28, 2008 at 10:25 PM EDT
WAINWRIGHT, ALTA. and TORONTO — Exactly five months after a plane crash killed its founder and a top executive, an Alberta engineering firm was struck with misfortune again yesterday when three more senior staff, including its president, died in an aviation accident.
Reagan Williams, president of A.D. Williams Engineering and the eldest son of the company's founder, was flying the firm's PA-46 Piper Malibu aircraft when it fell below radar outside Wainwright and crashed near Battle River.
Also killed were Phil Allard, the company's chief financial officer, and Rhonda Quirke, the director of business integration and strategy.
Police did not release the identities of the other two men aboard the plane who died.
Mr. Williams, a 41-year-old married father of one, was named head of the company in 2005 by his father, Allen Williams. The senior Mr. Williams was killed in October along with the company's previous chief financial officer, Steven Sutton, when his Cessna 172 aircraft crashed in a remote and rugged area near Golden, B.C. That tragedy garnered national attention because search-and-rescue workers found his three-year-old granddaughter, Kate, alive five hours later in tangled wreckage.
Yesterday, the company's staff, who were just coming to grips with last year's fatal crash, were in disbelief that misfortune had struck the family a second time.
“People are in shock. They've dealt with a tragedy already very recently and this is hitting everyone very hard,” spokeswoman Sue O'Connor said.
“They are gathering in the meeting rooms and offices just to support each other and talk things through just to process what's gone on.”
The single-engine, six-seat corporate plane, which Mr. Williams often flew, had left Edmonton's City Centre Airport yesterday en route to a business meeting at the company's Winnipeg office. The five were expected to return to Edmonton later in the day.
The plane was in the air for a little over half an hour before crashing around 8:15 a.m. local time northeast of Wainwright, about a 21/2 -hour drive from Edmonton. While officials did not speculate on the cause of the crash, the weather was overcast and foggy, the RCMP said.
Minutes before the plane went off radar, Mr. Williams reported trouble.
CTV News obtained a report filed to Transport Canada that stated a flight controller in Edmonton observed the aircraft moving “erratically.”
“The Controller queried the pilot who reported a problem with a [gyroscope]. The aircraft was then observed in a rapid descent and … lost contact with the aircraft,” the report states.
Shortly after noon local time, a crew flying a Griffin Helicopter from Cold Lake, Alta., found the wreckage.
The main body of the plane was intact and about 50 metres from the Battle River. But pieces of the airplane were found scattered within two kilometres of the crash site.
Constable Denise Rogan of the Wainwright RCMP said the plane crashed into a dense grove of trees by the river. Because it was so far off the country roads, emergency personnel had to use ATVs and helicopters to get to the accident site.
Yesterday, more than 50 emergency personnel were there, including firefighters, the RCMP, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and the military. The bodies were removed from the site yesterday afternoon.
Reached at home yesterday, Mr. Williams's sister-in-law Nancy declined comment. “I have nothing to say right now,” she said, before hanging up.
The same as his father, who had a passion for planes, Mr. Williams had more than two decades of flying experience, Ms. O'Connor said. He sat on the board of directors of the Edmonton Flying Club.
The firm his father founded had grown with branch offices in Calgary, Yellowknife, Winnipeg and Red Deer.
Mr. Williams became president of his father's company as part of a succession plan.
The leadership team was starting to recover from Allen Williams's death, Ms. O'Connor said. Mr. Allard, a former Telus executive, joined the company to replace Mr. Sutton.
At a memorial for his father, Mr. Williams praised his father for saving his niece.
The 65-year-old patriarch had securely strapped the little girl, whom he lovingly referred to as Super Kate, into the small aircraft, a move that police said explained why she was taken from the crash with only minor injuries.
Here's the original story from October on the 3 year old girl that survived the crash: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../BNStory/Front
That's not just rotten luck, that's uncanny...
Comment