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Plane crash bodies found

UPDATE: Thursday 6:15 a.m.

RCMP say a small plane that crashed Wednesday in a mountainous area southwest of Calgary was conducting a mapping exercise.

Two men died when the Piper PA-31 Navajo went down in the Rae Glacier area.

The plane took off from Calgary's Springbank Airport.

"As far as we know, they were doing a mapping exercise," Cpl. Chris Kosack said. "They did hit the mountain known as Mount Rae and then slid down from there."

Kosack said witnesses told police they heard the sound of an engine and then saw an explosion.

"It's very difficult terrain, it's dangerous and it's a glacier."

An Air Force Hercules aircraft was dispatched from Winnipeg to help in the search after a distress call was received at a military base in Trenton, Ont.

Officials have since located the wreckage in the Highwood Pass Day Use Area and recovered the bodies of two men.

The Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation.

– The Canadian Press


UPDATE: 8:30 p.m.

A small plane that crashed west of Calgary Wednesday is believed to have flown out of Penticton earlier in the day.

According to flight tracking website flightaware.com, the Piper Navajo aircraft departed from Penticton Airport at 9:27 a.m. and successfully landed at Calgary's Springbank Airport at 2:01 p.m. Alberta time before its ill-fated flight later in the afternoon.

The aircraft, tail letters C-FNCI, is registered to Aries Aviation Services Corp. of Calgary and has made several flights out of Penticton, Salmon Arm and Kelowna since last week.

According to its website, Aries specializes in aviation services and solutions for the remote sensing industry as well as offering international flight operations, aircraft maintenance and engineering, and aviation consulting.

Its president is listed as Marvin Keyser, and its chief pilot is Andrew Stepanowich, assistant chief pilot Bob Harrity.

It is not known who was on board the flight when it went down, however. And RCMP and the TSB have yet to confirm any of these details.

– Castanet News


ORIGINAL: 6:44 p.m.

RCMP say two men have died in the crash of a small plane in a rugged mountainous region southwest of Calgary.

Police say the twin-engine aircraft went down Wednesday afternoon.

There were eyewitness reports that the plane crashed in the Rae Glacier area near Kananaskis.

RCMP say there were no other people onboard.

No names have been released.

The Transportation Safety Board is to investigate the cause of the crash.



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