Close X
Saturday, November 30, 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

Man drives vehicle through scene of crash in Coquitlam

Man drives vehicle through scene of crash in Coquitlam
Coquitlam RCMP say a man was arrested for allegedly driving his vehicle through the scene of a fatal collision. Police say a passenger in one of the vehicles involved in the October 19th collision has since died of their injuries and a driver remains in hospital.  

Man drives vehicle through scene of crash in Coquitlam

Guilty plea in UBC crash

Guilty plea in UBC crash
A Vancouver man accused in the dangerous driving deaths of two University of British Columbia students has pleaded guilty. The B-C Prosecution Service says 23-year-old Tim Goerner pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death earlier this month.  

Guilty plea in UBC crash

Indo-Canadian man fined $20K for immigration fraud

Indo-Canadian man fined $20K for immigration fraud
An Indian-origin man has been fined $20,000 for his role in a scheme that charged newcomers tens of thousands for permits to work in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Avtar Singh Sohi, 42, pleaded guilty on Monday to misrepresentation under the Canada Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. 

Indo-Canadian man fined $20K for immigration fraud

Two men charged after blind, non-verbal woman abducted in stolen van in Edmonton

Two men charged after blind, non-verbal woman abducted in stolen van in Edmonton
Two men are facing charges after a van was stolen in Edmonton with a 40-year-old woman inside who is blind and non-verbal. Edmonton police issued an Amber Alert on Thursday for the woman.  

Two men charged after blind, non-verbal woman abducted in stolen van in Edmonton

Home sales to dip in BC over the next year

Home sales to dip in BC over the next year
The B-C Real Estate Association says "the anchor that is (Canada's) monetary policy" will continue to weigh down home sales in this province over the next year. The association has released its fourth-quarter housing forecast showing residential sales are expected to dip nearly five per cent to just under 77-thousand units this year.

Home sales to dip in BC over the next year

Guilty plea in Chinatown stabbings

Guilty plea in Chinatown stabbings
A 44-year-old Vancouver man has pleaded guilty to two separate, unprovoked stabbings that happened in -- or near -- the city's Chinatown neighbourhood in September of last year.  In one stabbing, a cyclist working as a food delivery driver had his throat slashed but survived, while police say the other victim suffered "life-altering" injuries.

Guilty plea in Chinatown stabbings