Update: Pilot who died in Yellowknife crash was with Canadian Forces
AEDMONTON – A 26-year-old Canadian Forces recruitment instructor has been identified as one of two pilots killed Thursday in a Twin Otter plane crash in Yellowknife.
Master Cpl. Nicole Stacey, 26, and Trevor Jonasson,gucci outlet 36, both from Yellowknife, died when a 19-seat Twin Otter float plane owned and operated by Arctic Sunwest Charters clipped power lines and struck the side of a building about 1:20 p.m. Thursday.
Stacey was originally from Inuvik, and joined the Canadian Forces in 2002, serving as a signaller in two communications squadrons. She began flying with the Yellowknife-based commercial charter airline in 2009, while remaining a recruit instructor with the Canadian Forces 41st Canadian Brigade Group.
Capt. Conrad Schubert, officer in command with the Canadian Forces’ Yellowknife Company, a unit within 41 Canadian Brigade Group, called Stacey “an exceptional instructor” with a “wonderful sense of humour.” Stacey was one of the first members of the regiment, Schubert said, and taught recruit training courses the past two years.
“She was very well regarded, very well liked,” said Schubert. “We were very proud to have her as our representative.”
The charter company said Stacey and the other pilot had been with the company for about two years.
“Our focus right now is the families of the two pilots,” said April Shand, a vice-president with the company. “We’ve had grief counsellors here on site most of the day to help our staff deal better with this.”
Shand said both pilots had been with the company for about two years, but had experience prior to that. The company is not releasing any other information about the victims, and has suspended all flights until Monday.
The Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
The plane was returning from a tour of Avalon’s Thor Lake rare-earth exploration camp, about 100 kilometres east of Yellowknife. Its destination was a float base on Great Slave Lake.
Seven passengers were injured in the crash, including three executives from Avalon Rare Metals, said Don Bubar, that company’s president and CEO.
Three of the other passengers were financial analysts or investors, Bubar said.
The fourth was a photographer on a shooting assignment for Up Here magazine, publisher Marion Lavigne said. The photographer suffered some head trauma and had surgery on a broken leg in Yellowknife hospital late Thursday.
None of the injuries is considered life-threatening. Four people suffered broken bones and cuts, Bubar said, including one person flown to Edmonton in serious condition.
Processing your request, Please wait....
