The Transportation Safety Board says the flight controls of a single-engine float plane that crashed off Saturna Island last Sunday, killing six people, were set for a normal takeoff.
TSB regional manager Bill Yearwood says a preliminary inspection of the de Havilland Beaver recovered from Lyall Harbour this week showed nothing out of the ordinary about the plane's control settings.
Yearwood says investigators expect to interview the pilot and a passenger who survived the crash as soon as Friday.
Both have undergone surgery and are recovering from injuries suffered when the plane slammed into the water shortly after takeoff Sunday afternoon.
Yearwood says contrary to claims of eyewitnesses, it appears the Seair Seaplanes Beaver did not nose-dive into the water but was level when it hit, then nosed over as it sank.
The crash claimed the lives of four people from the Vancouver area and two California residents who lived on Saturna Island part-time.
