A14 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 26, 1995 Plane crash still puzzling | INVESTIGATORS HAVEN’T found out why a plane crashed into a glacier near Stewart last year, killing its pilot and five pas- sengers. But federal investigators say it is possible there may have been whiteout weather conditions in the area at time of the May 25, 1994 crash. Killed were pilot Dave Blais of Blue Ice Flightseeing of Stewart and five members of a tour group ~~ Fleur Pichon of London, En- gland, Louls Michael Couvillion of Los Angeles, Brian Derrick of Port Coquitlam, Christine McCarthy of Rotorua, New Zealand, and Jennifer Francis of Burwood, Australia, = ‘Unfortunately there are some circumstances in which you can- not be 100 per cent sure. We could not determine why it hap- pened,”’ said Daniel Lawson of the federal Transportation Safety Board. He said Jack of survivors and witnesses meant investigators lacked precise details as to the events immediately before the crash, Film developed from cameras taken from the aircraft’s wreck- age showed weather conditions appeared to be clear but there’s no indication of when those pic- tures were taken in relation to the time of the crash, Lawson added, A transportation safety board found there was no evidence of engine failure or structural failure schoo! hire still under review Nass Valley still haven’t de- cided whether they’ll hire a Surrey. administrator who resigned amid sexual harass- ment allegations. Dr. Art Tindill was recruited by School District #92 this spring as the new principal at Nisga’a ': Elementary Secondary School. Then Nass Valley residents found out about Tindill’s his- tory in Surrey and the school board began backtracking. Trustees responded by hold- ing a week-long series of pub- lic meetings in the Nass in May to address parents’ con- cerns, Tindill was present and answered questions at. those meetings. The school ‘board ¥ was schede; uled to meet last week to dis- cuss the issue. Schools superintendent Al vin McKay said the board is holding off on a decision until it deals with those concerns. ‘One of the communities had a small group from within that requested further meet- ings,’’ McKay explained. ‘Most of the concerns were what kind of program would be mounted for the coming ycar,'’ he said. ‘They also had some stand- ing concems which weren’t dealth with in other years.” Tindill’s. reputation as an ef- fective and innovative admin- istrator was one of the board’s reasons for recruiting him, Mckay said. Surrey newspapers described Tindill as a ‘‘rising star’? and “‘one of Surrey’s brightest ad- ministrators’’ in the aftermath of his resignation. ““That was pretty well borne out in the meetings,”’ McKay said. Trustees have consistently refused comment. McKay is _ the only person authorized to speak for them, and had avoided reporters’ calls for at least a month. Tindill resigned from the Surrey school district in March after a year-long inves- tigation, commissioned by the school board there, concluded he did sexually harass five fe- male co-workers. ‘Most of the allegations of ,Sexual harassment against the Respondent are sub- stantiated,”’ the report states. during flight. * The aircraft struck Mackie. Glacier at a high speed and in a steep, nose-down angle, appar- ently out of the pilot’s control. The aircraft was a six-seater Cherokee Piper, a new aircraft to Blais who had been using a smaller Cessna 172 in previous years for sightsceing flights. Blais delayed an planned mom- ing flight the day of the crash, May 24, 1994, because of poor weather in the Stewart area. The plane did take off at 1:30 p.m. and was reported overdue two hours later. It was located that evening by military. search and. rescue air- craft, The plane’s. emergency locator transmitter guided sear- chers to the location. Investigators did find that the aircraft . lacked commercial registration and ‘was using automotive fuel. And they found that neither pilot nor passengers were dressed for cold weather had the aircraft been forced down on the glacier. ’ The safety board’s Lawson said the aircraft wasn’t required to carry a flight recorder or cockpit voice recorder, Blais was a Stewart town coun- . & cillor. The town’s chamber of commerce building is named in his honour, Enter before 5:00 pm on Friday, July 28 1 to be eligible fo win one of five great prizes. 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