Pilot likely disoriented in plane crash that killed Jim Prentice

The Transportation Safety Board says the pilot of a plane that crashed, killing former Alberta premier Jim Prentice, was probably disoriented.

The Cessna Citation jet went down shortly after takeoff from Kelowna, B.C., on its way to the Springbank airport west of Calgary in October 2016.

The TSB says there were no flight recording systems on board he aircraft, so it could not definitively determine the cause of the crash.

But TSB investigator Beverley Harvey said the “most plausible scenario” is that pilot Jim Kruk became disoriented.

“A pilot without enough recent night flights and with limited recent experience in flying by instruments and who was likely dealing with a high work load associated with flying the aircraft alone, experienced spatial orientation and departed from controlled flight shortly after takeoff,” Harvey said.

The T-S-B is recommending the mandatory installation of lightweight flight recording systems by all commercial and private business operators not currently required to carry them.

Kruk, a retired RCMP officer, optometrist Ken Gellatly, the father-in-law of one of Prentice’s three daughters and Calgary businessman Sheldon Reid all died with Prentice.

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