alt="Investigators suspect that a plane that crashed outside Port Hope Simpson descended rapidly and vertically in the flight's final minutes. "
v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">Investigators suspect that a plane that
crashed outside Port Hope Simpson descended rapidly and vertically in the
flight's final minutes. (CBC) A plane that crashed on Sunday
while heading to pick up an ill patient in southern Labrador descended rapidly,
and vertically, in its final minutes, an investigator
says.
Three investigators with the
Transportation Safety Board of Canada were in Port Hope Simpson on Wednesday to
analyze the wreckage of a small plane that was commissioned to fly a patient in
the community to a hospital in northern Newfoundland.
Pilot James Hudson, 43, was
killed in the crash, which occurred in a wooded area about five kilometres
outside of the community. He was alone on the flight.
Michael Cunningham, the Atlantic
regional manager with the TSB, said it appeared that the plane almost fell from
the sky.
"There are trees on either side
of the impact outline which have not been touched by the aircraft, so that would
indicate that there was not much of a horizontal component to the direction of
flight. It was pretty much vertical," he said.
"It's not normal, obviously, for
an aircraft to be descending vertically like that."
There was fog in the area at the
time of the crash, but Cunningham said it is too soon to say if that was a
factor. RCMP said earlier this week that Hudson had talked about the fog he saw
with ground crew in the flight's final minutes.
Cunningham said the small plane
did not have a black box recorder, but its global positioning system was
recovered.
Cunningham said it looks like the
plane's engine was running and that the plane itself was intact before the
impact.
However, he said the intense fire
did not leave many clues behind.
"Our task is quite daunting
because of the fact that there was such extensive damage to the aircraft in the
post-crash fire," he said.
Still, he said he expects the TSB
will be able to determine what caused the crash.