Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. plane wreck 'verified' by RCMP is revealed to be fake crash site for training

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Nov, 2023 04:11 PM
  • B.C. plane wreck 'verified' by RCMP is revealed to be fake crash site for training

For the past couple years, the volunteer British Columbia air safety group PEP-Air has been using the skeletal fuselage of a light plane for training purposes on a private property north of Kamloops, B.C.

The wreck has no motor, wings, doors, seats, or propeller.

So Fred Carey, the group's executive director, is confused how the training ground could have been mistaken for a genuine historic plane crash. 

“It’s pretty silly … I mean I just don’t understand how it could get this far," he said. 

Officials announced earlier this week that a hunter had stumbled on what police thought was a decades-old crash site in the B.C. Interior.

A notice posted Tuesday on the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System said the RCMP inspected the site and "verified" the wreckage was at least 20 to 25 years old, and it carried no registration or identifying marks.

But Carey said in an interview on Friday that they planted the fuselage there two years ago "at the most," marking it with tags and a phone number to let people know it wasn't a real crash.

Carey said the training site has been in use for about 18 months, and has been registered with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

The report about the wreckage “made no sense," he said.

His group, which is part of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, has since contacted RCMP to let them know it isn't a real crash site.

"So, what was missed? I guess when Transport Canada and RCMP looked at it, they didn’t phone JRCC (Joint Rescue Coordination Centre) to see if it was real,” said Carey.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a statement on Friday that it had been made aware of the wreckage being found and it had been in contact with police and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, but it didn't have any additional information to share.

The RCMP did not immediately respond to questions about the site, near Knouff and Community lakes, north of Kamloops. 

Carey said as a volunteer search and rescue volunteer group, they send members out to look for the simulated wreck as part of training exercises. 

“We do need to train and we take our training very seriously and we try to make it as realistic as possible,” said Carey.

He said there are "quite a few" fake crash sites across B.C., although he would not give the locations.

He said it was clear neither the police nor the hunter looked inside the wreck, but it would have been apparent it wasn't a real crash had they done so. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Help ID suspect in Burnaby robbery

Help ID suspect in Burnaby robbery
Burnaby R-C-M-P are hoping the public can help them identify a suspect wanted for a brazen robbery that happened almost two months ago. Police say a man was sitting in his vehicle at about 1:30 a.m., on September 27th when the suspect opened the car door, assaulted him and stole 33-hundred dollars.

Help ID suspect in Burnaby robbery

Road closures in effect in Surrey

Road closures in effect in Surrey
Surrey RCMP is advising the public of road closures following a serious collision involving a pedestrian on Fraser Highway. On Thursday, at approximately 8:15 a.m. police responded to the report of a youth struck by a vehicle in the 19400-block of Fraser Highway. The pedestrian has been transported to hospital with serious injuries.

Road closures in effect in Surrey

Veltman found guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Muslim family in Ontario

Veltman found guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Muslim family in Ontario
The trial has heard that Veltman hit the Afzaal family with his truck while they were out for a walk on a summer evening. 46 year old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack, while the couple's nine-year-old son was seriously hurt but survived.

Veltman found guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Muslim family in Ontario

No Canadians on updated exit list for the Rafah border crossing, hundreds still stuck

No Canadians on updated exit list for the Rafah border crossing, hundreds still stuck
Global Affairs Canada said Wednesday that a total of 367 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and family members have been able to get out, including nine people who left without the Canadian government's help. Two more people were able to travel to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, and 10 made the trip on Monday.   

No Canadians on updated exit list for the Rafah border crossing, hundreds still stuck

Confirmed cases of Salmonella in BC

Confirmed cases of Salmonella in BC
The B-C Centre for Disease Dontrol says there have been eight confirmed cases of a rare strain of salmonella since mid-November. The centre says the outbreak has been linked to imported cantaloupes sold under the label “Malichita” and those sold from October 11th to November 14th should be disposed of.

Confirmed cases of Salmonella in BC

Helpline and funding for groups to combat hate-motivated violence in B.C.

Helpline and funding for groups to combat hate-motivated violence in B.C.
The British Columbia government is offering groups affected by hate crimes up to $10,000 each in a bid to combat what it says is a spike in racially motivated incidents across the province. Premier David Eby said Wednesday the province will also launch a racist incident helpline starting in the spring to refer victims who experienced such attacks to counselling and other support services.  

Helpline and funding for groups to combat hate-motivated violence in B.C.