Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Pilot killed in Vernon crash remembered as great guy

CBC News:

The daughter of a man who died in a plane crash in Vernon, B.C., on Monday afternoon says flying planes was John Urbas's lifelong passion. Urbas, 78, was killed when his plane crashed during landing at Vernon Regional Airport. No one was else was in the plane. Christine Urbas said Tuesday that John Urbas "was in heaven" while he was flying, and the family takes comfort in knowing he died doing what he loved. She described her father as "the greatest guy," adding he was passionate about flying and was living his dream of rebuilding his own plane. Urbas built his ultralight plane almost from scratch, she said, and had only made three trips in it before the fatal crash.He had been rebuilding and flying gliders and ultralights for more than 50 years, she said. Grahame Go, the manager at Vernon Airport, said Urbas was an experienced pilot. "He has a very good reputation as a pilot, and he's very thorough in what he does. He has a mechanical engineering background," Go said.

Urbas's death has had a huge impact on the tight-knit aviation community at the Vernon Flying Club. "It just hurts everybody around for a long time. There's a lot of hurt and sadness over something like that," said pilot Gunther Scholz. Scholz said witnesses on the ground saw the plane's tail flapping violently as it made its descent, which means the pilot had no control. "Indications are the aircraft may have suffered mechanical problems while making an approach to land it there," said Gord Molendyk of the Vernon RCMP. Christine Urbas said based on witness reports, she's confident that her father was not to blame for the accident. He was always very careful, she said, and did everything right.

It was the third ultralight crash that claimed a pilot's life in B.C. in just one month. The other crashes were near Kamloops and Valemount. The number of crashes in the past month does not mean ultralight planes are dangerous, said Scholz. "They're as safe as any aircraft. Everything has its limits, weather conditions, turbulence, and the maintenance. It was something that let loose," he said. The Transportation Safety Board is not investigating the crash because it was a non-commercial, home-built plane. Transport Canada and the B.C. Coroners Service are investigating.

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