Fatal crash at Stave Lake airstrip BC

[boeingboy]

Last night at 6 pm a Cessna 170 with 2 on board crashed at the old Stave Lake airstrip in BC - killing one of the occupants. Stave lake is an old strip that is technically closed and just a stones throw from the lower mainland airports, but you can still get in and out of there. It's not maintained and has obstacles, but the back country guys love it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.5665679

Stave lake strip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjkqwG-2tk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXh9cPo0VcA

[lhalliday]

The media keep reporting it as a 170 but it was actually a 140. I knew the pilot.

...laura

[boeingboy]

Thanks for the correction. Sorry for your loss.

Where was it based?

[karmutzen]

Thanks Laura, makes sense now. Couldn’t figure out where 170 came from. So much for journalistic standards. 140 (and her 182) based at YPK.

[boeingboy]

Just read about her - WOW, sounds like she was well versed and experienced in back county flying and a popular - well liked individual.

A sad loss....

[mmm..bacon]

Landing? Takeoff? What happened? Any witnesses?

Sad - by all acounts a competent pilot, and well-liked person.

[lhalliday]

No information as yet. The Authorities are investigating.

...laura

[JDW]

Hi Laura, can you pm me if you're willing to share the name?

[boeingboy]

Victim identified - Erissa Yong-Wilson ...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.5665679

[JDW]

Incredibly impressive woman. Such a sad loss. I did a bit of training at her school around 2012-2013 and remember being blown away by this dynamic woman who had a hangar full of motorcycles and Cessnas, jumping from skydiving to hamburger flights to anything else around the airport. RIP

[mmm..bacon]

Latest information I've gleaned from 2nd and 3rd hand sources: Aborted takeoff from an unprepared strip (Perhaps a gravel bar - unclear) braked too hard, and flipped over..

[boeingboy]

First of all they were at the airstrip.....second I find it very difficult to believe someone sustained fatal injuries from simply nosing over.

[AirFrame]

First of all they were at the airstrip.....second I find it very difficult to believe someone sustained fatal injuries from simply nosing over.

The aircraft was apparently not badly damaged (structurally) so I would tend to agree. But given the location there could be any number of things that the plane nosed over and came to rest on... Pointy rocks, stumps, etc. I've been told it was head trauma that caused the fatality.

[lhalliday]

I've heard much the same story. My response remains a polite but firm No Comment. Let the TSB do their thing.

...laura

[Big Pistons Forever]

Did the airplane have shoulder belts ? The reason I am asking this is a fellow I knew died in what sounds like a similar accident. His airplane had only a lap belt and sadly he sustained fatal head injuries when his head hit the instrument panel as the airplane nose dug in and threw him forward before it over turned.

I hope that was not the case here.

Personally I won’t fly in any aircraft that is not fitted with a full harness

[karmutzen]

But given the location there could be any number of things that the plane nosed over and came to rest on... Pointy rocks, stumps, etc.

It nosed over in the middle of the landing surface (can't really call it a runway). Nothing pointy around. About 100 yards from the S end. Why that would result in a fatality, either with or without shoulder belts, is a bit of a mystery and we'll have to wait for the TSB. Lots of pictures and videos of Stave on the internet. Not for beginners, which Erissa wasn't and had also been there before with the same airplane.

[goldeneagle]

It nosed over in the middle of the landing surface (can't really call it a runway). Nothing pointy around.

So another question that the investigators will have to ask. Which occurred first, the nose over or the death ? Some of the guessing here could possibly have the cause and effect reversed.

[airway]

Stave Lake landing video:

Beautiful area

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjkqwG-2tk

[CpnCrunch]

Looks like it had shoulder harnesses:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 9819976884

[iflyforpie]

Rest In Peace.

I did not know this inspirational aviatrix but her reputation definitely preceded her. I was hoping to run into her at the Quesnel air show last year as my daughter is really interested in aviation but our paths didn’t cross.