Skylink Airlines - Associated Flight Centres and Rafael Zur

TOGA Descent · Post by **TOGA Descent** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:17 am

I (and several of my collegues) worked for this guy back in the 80's.
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Loud 'bang' heard before plane crash

By Clarke Morrison, Staff Writer

Nov. 4, 2004 10:54 p.m.

ARDEN - Witnesses heard a loud "bang" from the twin-engine aircraft shortly before it crashed about three-quarters of a mile from the runway last week, killing all four people aboard, according to a preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The pilot also had a hard time starting the right engine before the doomed flight took off from the Asheville Regional Airport the morning of Oct. 27, the report states.

Once the pilot got the engine started, he immediately taxied to one of the runways and began the takeoff. At about the 3,000-foot marker on the 8,000-foot runway, "witnesses saw the airplane about 100 to 150 feet above the ground with the landing gear retracted when they heard a loud bang,' the report states.

"They said the airplane made no attempt to land on the remaining runway after the noise.

The airplane continued climbing and seemed to gain a little altitude before passing the end of the runway."

At that point the plane began a right descending turn with the nose pointed downward. The witnesses then lost sight of the aircraft and a few minutes later heard emergency personnel responding to the crash site off Glenn Bridge Road.

Air safety investigators found debris from the crash scattered over an area 47 feet long, according to the report. Both propeller assemblies were buried in the ground.

NTSB investigator Butch Wilson earlier said oil was found on an engine cowling, indicating a possible oil leak. He said investigators would attempt to determine why the aircraft banked to the right before clipping a power line and plowing into the ground. The pilot reported mechanical problems moments before the 10:50 a.m. crash.

The wreckage of the Beechcraft BE-60 was taken to an air recovery center in Griffin, Ga., for further examination. Wilson said it could take up to a year for NTSB to issue a final report on the cause of the crash.

Three residents of Guatemala and the pilot from Pompano Beach, Fla., were killed in the crash. The victims were identified as Beatriz Gonzalez de Sagastume, 47, owner of an aircraft business in Guatemala; her son, 18-year-old Jeffrey Layton; Oscar Alvarado; and pilot Rafael Zur.

A family member said Gonzalez de Sagastume was on her way to Winston-Salem to look at an airplane she was considering buying. The four stopped in Asheville after leaving Miami because the pilot had some personal business here, he said.

Contact Morrison at 232-5849 or CMorrison@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.

No more BS · Post by **No more BS** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 1:02 pm

That must be another operator called Skylink not the one based in YYZ-YHM right?

just curious · Post by **just curious** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 1:26 pm

Oh yeah, they were different.

Sadly, they bear some similarity to current Vancouver operators.

TOGA Descent · Post by **TOGA Descent** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:09 pm

This Skylink Airlines as a Vanouver based operation that was around from about 1980 until 1990 or 91. Raf also owned a few flying schools under the name of "Associated flight" during the same time period.

twotter · Post by **twotter** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:32 pm

Hey JC, you are OH so right about them being different.. God how I remember shaking my head as the cattle unknowingly loaded on to his airplanes.. Trusting that because they were licenced by TC that they must be safe..

It's too bad though that when one like him disappears, another shows up before long. We've had too many shysters in this business and if TC would quit harrassing the honest operators, maybe they would have time to spend investigating the ones who need it..

Check Pilot · Post by **Check Pilot** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:55 pm

The Aeronautics ACT got amended because of his shenanigans at the time. (6.71). We all live with that.

Get on with life, as painful as it must be.

Now the complaints from folks are;

that it almost requires an Act of Parliament to fly a C172

Baby Waboose · Post by **Baby Waboose** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:14 am

I actually saw him in a TV documentary about SkyLink and Burrard Air, the documentary culminated with the crash in Terrace B.C. . I was wondering where he disappeared to.

Hope when I die I'm not remembered as the airline guy who's negligence killed people.

duCapo · Post by **duCapo** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:03 pm

2R · Post by 2R » Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:51 am

Excellent timing Ducapo

To those working on mysteries without any clues "I'll never tell"

Well not sober anyhoo,but boy the stories about that guy get better as the years go by.And the timing of this coming up again is amazing.

An elephant never forgets

duCapo · Post by **duCapo** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:57 am

the indusrty is getting better all of the time, as these assholes leave. Touble is, they usually take innocent people with them

ehbuddy · Post by **ehbuddy** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:51 am

Raf Zur...........

The guy that hired me back in the mid 80's to fly for him.

When I arrived at Boundary Bay he drove me to his car dealership and said I would washing cars for a couple of months before I could fly the 402.

One of the guys I met that day said he had been waiting to fly the 402 for 6 months and had had enough.

That evening I boarded the train and went back home.

nite_owl · Post by **nite_owl** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:26 pm

I watched him fire up his Grumman Cougar one day after hustling a student into it. Raf never removed the tow bar from the nose links until he made it to the hold short line ready for t/o and an observant YNJ controller pointed it out to him. The student never flew with him again. Unfortunately that same student was involved with Wapiti a short while later.
We had a terrier dog if you spun him around he'd get all pissed off, growl, bare his teeth, and go after who or whatever was infront of him when he came out on heading. We spun him one day as Raf approached us. I still laugh at the memory of Raf trying to scale the side of a hangar door to get away!

At that time he helped set the bar for sleazy operators.

bmc · Post by **bmc** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:25 am

I had a meeting with him one morning. I had flown into YVR and arrived at his office to see the media waiting in the reception. I had no idea what was going on. Raf invited me into his office and told me that they had an accident in Terrace. I told him I could come back another time and started to leave. He insisted that I stay.

He started to explain what had happened in Terrace and how many had been killed. He then stopped short to tell me he had just spent $200,000 upgrading the avionics package on that airpland and what a loss it was. I thought, "you haven't notified the next of kin and you're upset about spending money on the airplane". Classy guy.

There are legendary stories of Raf. I heard he was once seen walking through the south terminal holding his bleeding nose saying "well that's one salary I won't have to pay this month."

Widow · Post by **Widow** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:02 pm

Check Pilot wrote:The Aeronautics ACT got amended because of his shenanigans at the time. (6.71). We all live with that.

Aeronautics Act
PART I: AERONAUTICS
Measures relating to Canadian Aviation Documents
Minister may refuse to issue or amend Canadian aviation document
6.71 (1) The Minister may refuse to issue or amend a Canadian aviation document on the grounds that

( a) the applicant is incompetent;

( b) the applicant or any aircraft, aerodrome, airport or other facility in respect of which the application is made does not meet the qualifications or fulfil the conditions necessary for the issuance or amendment of the document; or

( c) the Minister is of the opinion that the public interest and, in particular, the aviation record of the applicant or of any principal of the applicant, as defined in regulations made under paragraph (3)( a), warrant the refusal.

Notice
(2) The Minister shall, by personal service or by registered or certified mail sent to their latest known address, notify the applicant or the owner or operator of the aircraft, aerodrome, airport or other facility, as the case may be, of a decision made under subsection (1). The notice shall be in a form prescribed by regulation of the Governor in Council and, in addition to any other information that may be prescribed, shall indicate, as the case requires,

( a) the nature of the incompetence of the applicant;

( b) the qualifications or conditions referred to in paragraph (1)(b) that are not met or fulfilled, as the case may be;

( c) the reasons for the Minister's opinion referred to in paragraph (1)( c); and

( d) except in the case of a document or class of documents prescribed under paragraph (3)( b), the address at which, and the date, being thirty days after the notice is served or sent, on or before which the applicant, owner or operator may file a request for a review of the Minister's decision.

Regulations
(3) The Governor in Council may make regulations

( a) defining the word "principal"; and

( b) prescribing Canadian aviation documents, or classes of such documents, in respect of which a review of the Minister's decision to refuse to issue or amend a document may not be requested.

1992, c. 4, s. 14; 2001, c. 29, s. 34.

So they've used this, as far as I can see, to make it more difficult for some operators - but have neglected to use it to stop shady operators.