Pilot’s training files missing, plane crash trial hears

The credibility of Georgian Express Ltd. took a hit Tuesday when a former employee testified during the civil trial into a deadly 2004 plane crash she was told by a manager to delete a potentially damning email about missing training files for the involved pilot.

But Sara Annette, who was working in flight ops for both Georgian Air and its related company, Georgian Express Ltd., refused.

Annette was in charge of keeping track of pilot training files — stored in individual binders for each pilot — and scheduling flight simulation training for company pilots.

She remembered receiving word the night of Jan. 17, 2004, that Georgian Express flight 126 had crashed into Lake Erie shortly after taking off from the Pelee Island Airport.

That crash killed pilot Wayne Price of Richmond Hill, along with eight area hunters, including Chatham residents Robert Brisco, 46; brothers Tom Reeve, 53, and Ted Reeve, 49; Mitchell’s Bay resident Dr. Jim Allen, 51; Windsor residents Ronald Spencler, 53, and Walter Sadowski, 48; and Kingsville residents Fred Freitas, 38, and Larry Janik, 48.

Price’s girlfriend, Jamie Levine of Los Angeles, was also killed.

Annette testified waking up the morning of Jan. 18, 2004 — the day after the crash — and remembering an email from the week before.

On Jan. 12, 2004, she had responded to a message from Eric Edmondson, vice-president of flight operations, about several of the company’s pilot training files that had “deficiencies.” Her email response to his Jan. 11 message outlined how she had completed three audits over the previous three months that showed training files were still missing for several of the company’s pilots.

Realizing in the wake of the crash that Price was one of those pilots, Annette said she went to the company’s office in Mississauga. She testified she discussed Price’s missing training files with the manager of Georgian Express Ltd., Laura Shaw. She then retrieved Edmondson’s email to show Shaw, Annette testified.

“She told me to the delete the email … I said, No.”

Annette didn’t remember Shaw arguing with her about her refusal but recalls the manager appearing “very flustered.”

Annette said she decided “to try to preserve” the email, so called her husband, an information technology professional, who was able to hide the message.

The estate of Price is among the defendants in the lawsuit, along with Georgian Express Ltd. and Owen Sound Transportation, the company that contracted the airline company to provide winter services to Pelee Island. The defendants have already admitted liability, so the jury will determine what amount of compensation should be awarded for damages.

The lawsuit was filed by London resident Paul Brisco, 71, the brother of victim Robert Brisco. He is seeking aggravated and punitive damages for himself and his brother’s estate, which he administers.

During cross-examination, Bob Love, the lawyer for the defendants, asked Annette about pilots needing to have certain documents from their training files in the cockpit of the plane they are flying.

He also asked if pilots took those documents from their training files that were sometime not returned.

Annette said the pilots were supposed to have copies, not the original documents. She also noted it would have been Shaw or the chief pilot taking the documents from the training files, not the other pilots.

Love said Price had documents in the cockpit of the crashed plane, adding, “that would explain why they weren’t in the binder …” “Yes,” Annette replied.

Earlier in the day, Paul Brisco returned to the stand to be cross-examined by the defence, which focused on his claim for costs in winding down his brother’s real estate and property management business.

An investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined that the pilot Price was under stress and sleep-deprived when he decided to take off in a plane that was overloaded with a number of husky men, hunting dogs and luggage and “contaminated” with ice.

The plane, 576 kilograms over the maximum allowable takeoff weight, took off at 4:40 p.m. for the short flight to Windsor Airport. It crashed into the ice of Lake Erie a few minutes later.

The trial continues Wednesday.