TOFINO, B.C. - The federal transport minister ordered a review into float plane safety on Monday, two days after a crash off British Columbia left four people dead.
The announcement comes after years of reports that have repeatedly recommended changes to improve safety for people riding in the small float planes -- recommendations the federal government has so far failed to implement.
"I think it's clear we don't need any more studies," Transport Minister John Baird said in a news release.
Baird said he has ordered his staff to conduct a review into improving the safety on float planes, including reviewing design standards.
He said officials will also examine ways to improve escape from a submerged float plane, such as the operation of emergency exits, pop-out windows, life vests and training for commercial crews.
In addition, Baird said he also told his staff to create a float plane safety awareness campaign beginning in June, and strengthen investigation and enforcement for operators found to be violating existing rules.
Saturday's float plane crash involved a Cessna 185 on a short trip to Ahousat from nearby Tofino.
Witnesses said the plane nose-dived several kilometres from shore. On Monday, federal investigators raised the badly damaged plane from the ocean floor.
The cause of the crash isn't known, and it's not clear how the passengers and pilot died. Police have confirmed they were all still in the plane's cabin when they were found, but it wasn't known whether the passengers were strapped into their seatbelts.
Another crash last November at Saturna Island, located just east of Vancouver Island, left six people dead, including a six-month-old infant. None of the victims were wearing life jackets, and all of their bodies were found inside the plane.
The Transportation Safety Board has said drowning is the cause of death in 60 to 70 per cent of all fatal float-plane crashes, and the recommendations following accidents often focus on helping passengers escape submerged aircraft.
For example, a 2006 review ordered by the federal government recommended life vests be worn and doors left unlocked during takeoff and landing, and that there be a way to ensure that cargo and baggage doesn't interfere with people scrambling to get out of the plane.
A TSB report in 1994 made the same recommendation about life vests.
However, Transport Canada has resisted adopting such recommendations.
Bill Yearwood of the Transportation Safety Board said that anything done to improve chances of people getting out of a submerged plane "is a step in the right direction."
Meanwhile, investigators have started examining the wreckage from Saturday's crash.
"It's a badly broken up aircraft and there's a lot of work to be done to sort out what damage came first, what angle the aircraft struck the water at to cause that damage," said Yearwood.
His three-person team has started inspecting the wreckage to determine if the damage supports witness reports that the plane suddenly careened nose-first into the water, about three-quarters of the way through the six-minute journey from Tofino to the remote village. Ahousat can only be reached by sea or air.
The team was also handed underwater photos and video taken by a team of RCMP divers, who on Sunday retrieved the bodies of siblings Katrina Sam, 22, and Edward (Hunter) Sam, 28, their cousin Samantha Mattersdorfer, 24, and Tofino-based pilot Damon York, 33.
"My concern right now is to try and get information that may perish. As we move the aircraft we need to check everything that could be damaged in the move, so that's what we're doing right now," Yearwood said, explaining the plane will then be shipped to Richmond for further analysis.
The B.C. Coroner's Service is investigating. Island Regional Coroner Lyn Blenkinsop said they haven't yet received word from the hospital about when autopsies and toxicology studies will begin, and it will then take six to 12 weeks to get results.
All three passengers were young parents, and well-known in the community.
John Caton, who runs Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in Tofino where the two siblings worked, said the trio were heading back home after a shopping trip.
"They were two young great First Nations kids this should have never happened to," he said, adding he was on his way to the village to bring food to the family. "They were hard-working.... It's a tragic thing."
Scott Fraser, MLA for the Alberni-Pacific Rim region that includes Ahousat, said he'd met all the victims and had flown himself in the very plane that crashed.
"In Ahousat, everybody knew these young people and they're going to be dearly missed," he said. "They're a community that's going to be grieving for a while and my heart goes out to them."
Fraser said he'll want to hear any recommendations from the TSB report, adding that he's heard there may have been "an issue" around exiting the plane.
