First stage of investigation into fatal plane crash concludes at scene
Hours of painstaking work lies ahead as Transportation Safety Board crews wrap up their investigation at the scene of a fatal plane crash in British Columbia that killed former Alberta premier Jim Prentice and three other men.
Investigators now move to the lab after collecting all the required information from the crash site, about 10 kilometres northeast of the Kelowna airport in B.C.’s Okanagan, the safety board said on Wednesday.
Wreckage of the Cessna Citation will be removed from the wooded area by helicopter and taken to a warehouse for further analysis.
In a news release, the board said some of the upcoming work includes reviewing RCMP drone footage of the crash scene, examining the plane’s instruments, sending selected wreckage to its lab in Ottawa, and evaluating plane maintenance and pilot records.
Investigators will also create simulations and reconstruct events to learn more about the sequence of events leading up to the crash.
The Cessna Citation crashed and burned last Thursday night and investigators have reported it could take as long as a year to determine a cause.