The number plane crashes in Canada dropped last year from 2015 - except here in BC.
The Transportation Safety Board says in 2016 there were 54 accidents involving all aircraft in BC - up from 42 in 2015. Nationally - there 22 fewer incidents.
TSB Regional Manager, Bill Yearwood, says the increase was due mostly to crashes involving private planes.
"These accidents could be just running into the ditch, flipping over, landing with the gear up - so those add up the accident numbers. What is important to look at is the fatal accidents and what made it fatal as opposed to survivable," he says.
Yearwood says one way to make a crash more survivable in a light aircraft is by wearing a shoulder harness.
"Restraining the upper body so it doesn't flail into the instrument panel or any sharp objects around the cockpit is a basic," he says. "Aircraft beyond 1985, smaller aircraft, all have shoulder harnesses - but there are a number of older ones that don't." Yearwood says by preventing unconsciousness, of course, someone who's initially survived a crash has a greater chance of getting out of the wreckage.
He says TSB supports Transport Canada making shoulder harnesses mandatory in all private, light aircraft. Yearwood says 12 people died in 8 fatal crashes in BC in 2016 - compared with 7 in four fatal crashes in 2015.
There were three crashes involving planes from Kelowna including the crash in October 2016 that killed former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice.
Across Canada, the number of crashes decreased from 251 to 229 - and the number of deaths were down slightly from 47 in 2015 to 45 last year.