Plane In The Fraser River

[Max]

I just caught the tail end of the news about plane crash into the Fraser river near Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows.

 

Anyone know any more about this?

 

Hopefully all are okay

 

Max

[Pratt]

Unfortunately, not a happy ending. They have located the plane today using sonar, but have not recovered it nor the body of the pilot.

 

 

 

From CBC:

 

VANCOUVER - Renowned Canadian painter Toni Onley has died in a plane crash. He was 76 years old.

 

Onley has been identified as the pilot of a float plane that crashed in the Fraser River near Vancouver on Sunday.

 

According to witnesses, Onley was practicing landings and take-offs in his LA4 Buccaneer amphibious plane before it went down.

 

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the accident.

 

Known for his watercolour landscapes, Onley often flew to remote locations around the country to paint. He would also fly around British Columbia to teach art classes.

 

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Onley survived the crash of another plane several years ago.

 

His work was featured in galleries around the world, including the Tate Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Library of Congress in Washington.

[Pratt]

They recovered the wreckage of the aircraft today, it was in 3 pieces and was quite mangled, watching it on the news tonight.

 

However, no sign of the body of the pilot.

 

RIP

[407 Driver]

Didn't he wreck his Polish built PZL Wilga (??) on the Garabaldi Glacier 15 years ago ??

 

[bandaid]

He parked it nicely in a crevace(sp) and hung around there overnight.

[Charles W.]

Saw several pictures on TV as they pulled part of the wreckage up out of the water.

 

The main gear was in the down position, no sign of the nose and the nose gear as it was not attached.

 

As I recall the main gear is held up by hyd. pressure so the position of the gear after the hull was destroyed and the hyd. pressure was relaesed does not mean much...

 

For sure what ever happened was catostrophic by looking at the wreck.

 

Really a sad event.

 

C.W.