Crash that killed Prentice a challenge for investigators

VANCOUVER — Federal investigators have an especially challenging mystery on their hands piecing together what caused a small jet to crash last Thursday, shortly after taking off from the Kelowna airport, sending out no distress call.

The Cessna Citation carrying former Alberta premier Jim Prentice crashed near Kelowna, killing all four people on board. The aircraft wasn’t carrying an in-flight data or cockpit voice recorder, which are commonly referred to collectively as a black box.

The absence of recording devices has put aviation analysts at a disadvantage when it comes to explaining what was behind the incident, said Bill Yearwood, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” Yearwood said.

There is no legislation requiring smaller planes to carry black boxes, despite recommendations from the safety board dating back to 1991 that the devices be made mandatory.

The federal agency renewed its calls for legislative changes in the wake of Thursday’s crash, calling on the federal government to expand the law, which orders only medium and large commercial planes to carry the recorders.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he has instructed his staff to look into possible regulatory changes.

“Over the past 20 years, there have been significant developments in technology that are more cost-effective and these options will be explored,” Garneau said in a statement, explaining that the price tag was a major factor behind the lack of regulation.

Aviation experts say the absence of a black box might make an investigation more challenging, but it doesn’t alter the procedure analysts follow when examining a crash.

“It’s more difficult but certainly it’s been done many, many, many times,” said retired aviation analyst Larry Vance, who spent 25 years with the Transportation Safety Board.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania state police said Tuesday that three men from the Niagara region of Ontario died in the crash of a small plane that lost contact with flight controllers as it was flying from Virginia to Canada.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the Piper PA-28 took off Sunday from Richmond International Airport and was headed to St. Catharines/Niagara District Airport in Ontario.

Potter County coroner Kevin J. Dusenbury Sr. said the wreckage was found late Monday in Keating Township. State police identified the victims as Rifat Tawig, 25, Benjamin Jeffries, 19, and Corey Mijac, 18.