The Transportation Safety Board says the pilot of a plane that crashed, killing former Alberta premier Jim Prentice, was probably disoriented while flying in the dark, but investigators will never know for sure because the aircraft didn’t have flight recorders. Dan Moskaluk said the Cessna Citation private business aircraft was owned by Norjet, a Calgary-based firm, and had departed Kelowna International Airport en route to Springbank, outside of Calgary. Also onboard that night were Sheldon Reid, a shareholder in Norjet, the owner of the Cessna Citation aircraft that crashed, and Jim Kruk, associated with the 83 ‘Lynx’ air cadet squadron based out of Airdrie, a rural community north of Calgary, and Calgary optometrist Kenneth Gellatly, whose son was married to Prentice’s daughter. (CBC)

"The most plausible scenario is that the pilot, who was likely dealing with a high workload associated with flying the aircraft alone, experienced spatial disorientation and departed from controlled flight shortly after takeoff," the TSB said in a release issued ahead of a news conference in Calgary. The TSB investigation found no record the aircraft operator had ever been inspected by TC, meaning TC was unaware of a “failure to obtain approval for single-pilot operation of the aircraft and the pilot’s lack of recent night flying experience required to carry passengers at night.”

TC has said that it will conduct targeted inspections of private business operators starting this spring. “Pilots who do not have sufficient night proficiency are at a greater risk of experiencing what’s known as spatial disorientation.”

Prentice was Alberta’s premier from October 2014 until his election loss the following spring when the Progressive Conservatives were kicked out by the NDP after more than 40 years in power. That lack of up-to-date nighttime experience meant the pilot was more likely to experience “spatial disorientation,” with loss-of-control sensations including vertigo that can see pilots push down or turn controls when they think they are levelling out, TSB chairwoman Kathy Fox said. This is why we are calling today for the mandatory installation of lightweight flight recording systems on commercial and private business aircraft not currently required to carry them.”

In addition to the recommendation of mandatory flight recorders, the Board has raised concern with the way Transport Canada (TC) had conducted oversight of private business aviation in Canada. The TSB said it’s also concerned about a lack of oversight by Transport Canada over private business aviation, finding no record that the federal agency had inspected the operator of the aircraft, Norjet Inc.

“We don’t like having to say ‘We don’t know’ when asked what caused an accident,” said Fox.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada concludes pilot disorientation was the most likely cause of a plane crash that killed former Premier of Alberta Jim Prentice and three others. The TSB asks Transport Canada to mandate cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders on all commercial and private business aircraft.