Pilot inexperience a factor in plane crash: report

A Transportation Safety Board investigation has concluded poor weather, ice on the wings and the pilot’s inexperience landing in icy conditions contributed to a deadly plane crash near a remote Ontario reserve. Four people, including the pilot, were killed and a fifth was seriously injured when the Keystone Air plane hit the icy surface of North Spirit Lake in January 2012. Safety board spokesman Peter Hildebrand said the plane was forced to circle the runway servicing the North Spirit Lake First Nation for almost half-an-hour while he waited for it to be cleared of snow. As the plane circled, Hildebrand said, ice built up on the wings and tail. This caused problems when the plane finally began to descend. The plane crashed about 1 1/2 kilometres short of the runway, Hildebrand said. Residents of the northern Ontario reserve, about 400 kilometres north of Dryden, Ont., said there was a blinding snowstorm at the time. Many rushed to the crash site and tried dousing the flaming wreckage with snow, but couldn’t save four people trapped inside. Pilot Fariborz Abasabady, 41, died along with Ben van Hoek, 62, Colette Eisinger, 39, and Martha Campbell, 38, while Brian Shead, 36, survived.