B.C. float-plane pilot would ‘give his life to save other people’

Four of nine people died in crash on Friday

VANCOUVER— Al McBain, the pilot killed in a float-plane crash on a small island north of Vancouver, would have “done everything to protect his passengers,” says his first cousin.

Tammy McBain, who lives in Calgary, spoke to Al McBain last week.

“He was excited about how his life was going. He loved to fly,” she said about her cousin, who lived in Victoria and planned to visit her in August. “I’d always say I pray every day for your protection in the air. He said, ‘You can’t worry about me. I always do my best, but if my time ends up in the air, then I died doing what I love, which makes me luckier then most.’ ”

A couple of months ago, when Al visited Tammy, she talked to him about what he would do if his plane ever crashed.

“He says, ‘You just got to act like the captain and go down with the ship.’ He’d give his life to save other people.”

Tammy said Al was involved in another crash more than a decade ago when he worked for a different company and all the passengers survived.

On Monday, Seair Seaplanes confirmed McBain was the pilot and said he had worked for the company for more than 15 years.

The Cessna 208 Caravan went down Friday just after 11 a.m. on Addenbroke Island, roughly 100 kilometres north of Port Hardy, B.C., with nine people on board. Four people died, two are in critical condition and three are in serious but stable condition.

The passengers on the charter flight boarded in Richmond, B.C., and were bound for Ole’s Hakai Pass Fishing Lodge on Calvert Island, said Chris Krepski, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board.

On Monday, the owners issued a brief statement confirming the passengers were on the way to their fishing lodge.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our guests and their families,” the statement reads. “We have no details to provide at this time to allow our guests and their families time to process this tragedy.”

A team of investigators from the federal Transportation Safety Board arrived Sunday morning to examine the crash site north of Vancouver Island.

On Sunday, Krepski said investigators would gather “information about weather conditions, pilot training and experience, and aircraft maintenance,” as well as try to retrieve any recording devices.

In 2009, another Seair craft, a de Havilland DHC-2 — or Beaver float plane — crashed in Saturna Island’s Lyall Harbour just after takeoff, and six passengers drowned, including a mother and her 6-month-old baby. Only the pilot and one passenger survived.

The TSB’s investigation into that accident concluded the six deaths were probably caused by a lack of emergency exits. Only two of eight passengers were able to get off the plane, the two who survived.