Suspended Abbotsford airline has history of infractions
The Abbotsford airline whose licence was suspended by Transport Canada after a crash at the Abbotsford airport last week has an enforcement history with the federal agency dating to 2011.
Transport Canada enforcement summaries and tribunal rulings show that Island Express Air was sanctioned four times and fined a total of $45,000 for problems with maintenance schedules and training of flight crew.
Island Express Air spokesman Dale Nielsen had no comment Thursday on the company’s history of infractions. He said the company is busy working with Transport Canada on a “corrective-action plan” after the suspension of its operators certificate Wednesday.
Company president Gerry Visser did not respond to a message seeking comment.
In December, Transport Canada fined Island Express Air $30,000 for, on six occasions, flying a plane that hadn’t been maintained on a schedule that conformed with regulatory standards.
In 2016, a Transportation Appeal Tribunal decision upheld a $5,000 fine against the company for allowing a plane to fly without having replaced parts in a de-icer as required by the company’s maintenance schedule.
In June of 2016, Transport Canada fined Island Express Air $5,000 for allowing a pilot to act as a flight crew member when he had not fulfilled the company ’s ground and flight-training program. That involved a May, 2015 flight. Visser told an Transportation Appeal Tribunal hearing that the infraction happened as the result of an error made by the company ’s chief pilot with respect to the subject pilot’s training records, but the pilot was licensed and experienced.
In 2012, Island Express Air was also fined $5,000 by Transport Canada for allowing a plane to take off although it didn’t meet the requirements of a specific airworthiness directive. Transport Canada did not respond with additional information Thursday but on Wednesday, the agency suspended Island Express Air’s operating certificate “in the interest of public safety ” following the Feb. 23 crash as well as “its contraventions of the Canadian aviation regulations.”
In a statement, Transport Canada said that “(in) light of these threats to public safety,” the agency won’t lift the suspension “until it proves it can keep its operations consistently compliant with aviation safety regulations.”
The crash is under investigation by the Transportation Safety Board. On Feb. 23, an Island Express Air Beechcraft King Air B100 carrying two pilots and eight passengers came down in a raspberry field shortly after takeoff, putting two people in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Nielsen said Island Express Air voluntarily suspended operations immediately after the crash.
“The company is working hard on a corrective-action plan so we can continue forward as an operating company,” Nielsen said in a brief interview, but wouldn’t talk specifically about what Transport Canada wants it to fix. “Until correctiveaction plans are completed, it’s between us and Transport Canada.”
Nielsen said Island Express Air has 10 planes and operates scheduled flights to Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox out of the Abbotsford as well as charter flights wherever customers want to fly.