Carson Air Flight 66

Carson Air Flight 66 was a Swearingen Metro II turboprop aircraft on a domestic cargo flight from Vancouver to Prince George, both in British Columbia, Canada. On 13 April 2015, the aircraft crashed into a mountain en route to Prince George Airport, killing both crew members.^[1]

Carson Air Flight 66

C-GSKC, the Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II involved in the crash
Accident
Date	13 April 2015 (2015-04-13)
Summary	In-flight breakup
Site	North Shore Mountains, British Columbia, Canada 49.4090°N 123.0930°W / 49.4090; -123.0930
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II
Operator	Carson Air
IATA flight No.	CA66
Call sign	ECLIPSE 66
Registration	C-GSKC
Flight origin	Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, Canada
Destination	Prince George Airport, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Occupants	2
Passengers	0
Crew	2
Fatalities	2
Survivors	0

History of the flight

The flight had taken off from Vancouver International Airport at approximately 7:02 PDT. The aircraft subsequently descended from 2,400 meters to 900 meters in less than a minute. Air traffic controllers lost radar contact with the aircraft as it was en route to Prince George at roughly 7:08.^[2][3]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft, a twin-turboprop Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II, serial number TC-325, registered C-GSKC, was manufactured in 1977. Carson Air was its only operator. The aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder.^[2]

The crew consisted of only the cockpit crew, 34-year-old pilot Robert Brandt and 32-year-old co-pilot Kevin Wang.^[4][3]

Search

The aircraft crashed into a hillside area near Crown Mountain, a part of the North Shore Mountains.^[2][5] Two helicopters and two aircraft from North Shore Rescue participated in the search for the wreckage of the aircraft, which was slowed by poor weather conditions.^[6] It was later discovered that the emergency locating transmitter was activated, but did not send out a signal.^[7]

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), which determined the cause of the accident to be an in-flight breakup caused by a rapid descent. However, no definite reason was found as to why the descent was initiated. ^[7] An autopsy performed on the two pilots by the British Columbia Coroner Service revealed that pilot Brandt had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for a driver.^[8][9][10]