The 42-year-old man, who was found deceased at the scene following a plane crash on a grass airstrip at the Flying U Guest Ranch on North Green Lake before noon on June 16, has been identified as Jonathan Lindsay Blair of Edmonton, Alberta.
A 74-year-old man who piloted the Piper Cherokee Arrow airplane, was airlifted to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and he remains in serious condition.
Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) says the small private aircraft crashed while landing on the airstrip.
Yearwood adds the TSB is waiting to interview the pilot, but due to the extent of the injuries, he doubts it will happen anytime soon.
“We are waiting for the police for some more information. We are assessing the occurrence. It is a landing accident ... lost control during landing.”
Following the initial investigation, Yearwood has told media it appears the pilot attempted to land, touch down, but then decided to abort the landing, tried to pull up, but collided with trees at the end of the airstrip.
Yearwood added it is unclear if the airplane had the performance capabilities to complete the manoeuvre, but that will have to be determined during the investigation.
100 Mile House Fire Rescue fire chief Roger Hollander says they got a callout at 11:50 a.m. and responded with one vehicle to the crash site.
Green Lake Provincial Park Sunset – Sunset View operator Peter Mayr heard the plane coming in for a landing before the crash.
“I heard these two loud bangs like backfire. I ran to the beach to see the plane and heard one more backfire before it crashed.”
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.