Skip to content

Mechanical failure blamed in plane crash at Salmon Arm Airport

Two elderly occupants, one in serious condition, transported to hospital
18286952_web1_copy_190904-SAA-Plane_crash2
An air ambulance lands near the site of a plane crash at the Salmon Arm Airport on Tuesday, Aug. 27. (Jim Elliot/Salmon Arm Observer)

An elderly couple was taken to Interior hospitals after sustaining injuries in a plane crash at the Salmon Arm Airport.

At approximately 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27, BC Emergency Health Services, along with the Salmon Arm Fire Department and Salmon Arm Road Rescue, responded to the crash at the airport where a Cessna Mariner airplane came to rest at the north end of the runway.

Police report the couple, a 71-year-old man and his 73-year-old spouse, both from Alberta, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

One was reported to be in stable condition when they were transported to hospital by ambulance. The other occupant, said to have serious injuries, was transported by air ambulance to hospital in Kelowna.

Salmon Arm RCMP Staff Sgt. Scott West said police are investigating the crash.

Keith Watson, manager at the Salmon Arm Airport, said a mechanical malfunction was at fault behind the crash.

“The aircraft was inbound for Salmon Arm and, on final approach, it had a mechanical malfunction and sequentially suffered a hard landing,” said Watson.

Watson said that although the two occupants of the private plane are not local to Salmon Arm, they have been to the airport before.

Although there will be no investigation from the Transportation Safety Board, Watson said the board may be speaking with the pilot in command once he is cleared from hospital.

Read more: Elderly couple injured in plane crash at Salmon Arm airport

Read more: Crown seeks psychiatric assessment for accused in Salmon Arm church shooting


@CameronJHT
Cameron.thomson@saobserver.net

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.