Jim Kruk found to have not had enough night flying experience
The Transportation Safety Board says it's likely that a mistake from the pilot brought down a plane that crashed in Lake Country in October 2016.
Thursday, the TSB published its final report into the crash that killed former Alberta premier Jim Prentice, along with pilot Jim Kruk, and passengers Ken Gellatly and Sheldon Reid.
Investigator-in-charge Beverley Harvey says new information about the pilot was uncovered.
"The investigation also revealed that the pilot, although experienced, had very little recent experience flying at night, with just two night takeoffs in the past six months. This did not meet Transport Canada requirements to carry passengers at night," she said.
She says Transport Canada regulations require pilots to have made five night takeoffs in a six month period.
That factored into the conclusion that a likely cause was spacial disorientation – that's what can happen when a pilot isn't able to use the horizon as a point of reference, and becomes unable figure out where the plane is in relation to the ground.
Harvey explained what that can lead to.
"Physical illusions, like the feeling of tumbling backward, which may occur during periods of prolonged acceleration – such as during an initial climb after takeoff," she said.
"And even though they're erroneous, these sensations can be intense, causing pilots to doubt their instruments, to incorrectly adjust controls, or even put the aircraft into an accidental spiral dive."
Harvey says it's a cause that's plausible – and that's the best they can do.
"Without hard data, without verifiable data, we cannot know for certain what happened that night. All TSB investigators can do is develop a likely scenario," she said.
"One where a pilot, without enough recent night flights and with limited recent experience in flying by instruments, and who was likely dealing with a high workload associated with flying the aircraft alone, experienced spacial disorientation and departed from controlled flight shortly after takeoff."
The TSB says the lack of certainty in the crash shows that smaller aircrafts, like the Cessna Citation that was involved, should all be mandated to install cockpit voice and flight data recorders.
