 C-GSKC, the Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II involved in the crash | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 13 April 2015 (2015-04-13) |
| Summary | In-flight breakup |
| Site | North Shore Mountains,British Columbia, Canada 49°24′32″N123°05′35″W / 49.4090°N 123.0930°W /49.4090; -123.0930 |
 | |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II |
| Operator | Carson Air |
| IATA flight No. | CA66 |
| Call sign | ECLIPSE 66 |
| Registration | C-GSKC |
| Flight origin | Vancouver International Airport,Vancouver, Canada |
| Destination | Prince George Airport,Prince George, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupants | 2 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Carson Air Flight 66 was aSwearingen Metro IIturboprop aircraft on a domestic cargo flight fromVancouver toPrince George, both inBritish Columbia, Canada. On 13 April 2015, the aircraft crashed into a mountain en route to Prince George Airport, killing both crew members.[1]
The flight had taken off fromVancouver International Airport at approximately 7:02 PDT. The aircraft subsequently descended from 2,400 meters to 900 meters in less than a minute.Air traffic controllers lostradar contact with the aircraft as it was en route to Prince George at roughly 7:08.[2][3]
The aircraft, a twin-turbopropSwearingen SA226-TC Metro II, serial number TC-325, registered C-GSKC, was manufactured in 1977. Carson Air was its only operator. The aircraft was not equipped with acockpit voice recorder or aflight data recorder.[2]
The crew consisted of only the cockpit crew, 34-year-oldpilot Robert Brandt and 32-year-oldco-pilot Kevin Wang.[4][3]
The aircraft crashed into a hillside area nearCrown Mountain, a part of theNorth Shore Mountains.[2][5] Two helicopters and two aircraft fromNorth Shore Rescue participated in the search for the wreckage of the aircraft, which was slowed by poor weather conditions.[6] It was later discovered that theemergency locating transmitter was activated, but did not send out a signal.[7]
The accident was investigated by theTransportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), which determined the cause of the accident to be an in-flight breakup caused by a rapid descent. However, no definite reason was found as to why the descent was initiated.[7] Anautopsy performed on the two pilots by the British Columbia Coroner Service revealed that pilot Brandt had ablood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for a driver.[8][9][10]