CRASH KILLS PILOT
A small plane registered to high-tech executive Neil Spriggs crashed off the runway at Carp Airport on Wednesday, killing the only person on board, police say.
A single-engine aircraft crashed off the runway at the Carp Airport Wednesday afternoon, killing the pilot.
Police say that person is believed to have been alone on the plane and was found dead at the scene.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it is deploying a team of investigators to the site of the accident involving a Blackshape BS100 airplane.
The TSB, an independent federal agency, is responsible for investigating occurrences in air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation.
Ottawa police say any further information will come from the TSB.
The plane was registered with the high-tech executive Neil Spriggs of Kinburn, the CEO of Ottawa-based Nanometrics Seismic Monitoring Solutions. He also has a commercial pilot's licence and flight instructor rating.
The Blackshape BS100 is a high-performance, Italian-manufactured tandem two-seater with a frame made from carbon fibre. The plane registered to Spriggs was manufactured in 2015 and is listed as having been imported in August 2019.
Spriggs, who has a degree in oceanography, had worked for geophysics organizations around the world and joined Nanometrics as the sales manager in 1992. He became CEO in 2015.
Mark Braithwaite, the owner and chief flight instructor at MNB Aviation, based at the Carp Airport, said he wasn't at the airport on Wednesday, but news of the crash had been circulating on social media.
It's been a pretty tough time for all of us.
“It's been a pretty tough time for all of us,” Braithwaite said.
Ottawa Fire Services said it was notified at 1:05 p.m. that a small plane had crashed near the airport. When firefighters arrived they saw smoke coming from a wooded area south of the airport.
Firefighters searched the area alongside police and paramedics, and the plane was found in a forested area south of the runway.
Fire crews used portable extinguishers to bring the fire under control before stretching a hose line to fully extinguish it.
Dave White, the owner of Ken White Construction on March Road, said his daughter drew his attention to black smoke coming from behind some trees he can see from his office.
“We could see where the plane went down. But that's all we saw.”
The Carp Airport would not comment on the crash.