Canada’s transport safety agency says weather, outdated equipment, and a pilot without a valid licence may have played a part in a plane crash near Brantford Airport that killed a Brampton couple.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its findings on the Nov. 2018 accident on Friday, revealing that the pilot, 76-year-old Ronald Chamberlain, did not reply to medical history requests from Transport Canada (TC) made in February and March of 2018.
READ MORE: 2 killed in overnight plane crash at Brantford airport
The report says TC informed Chamberlain on May 22, 2018, that his medical certificate was suspended, rendering his pilot’s licence invalid.
Despite that, Chamberlain and his wife boarded his Piper Arrow PA-28R plane.
According to investigators using radar, security cameras, and flight recording data, the fatal flight began just before 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, when the privately owned single-engine aircraft left Burlington Executive Airport.
Meteorological reports indicated low visibility, with rain and/or light snow before departure. In addition, the TSB’s report revealed the “aircraft was not equipped with de-icing or anti-icing systems.”
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The destination of the flight could not be determined in the probe, due to the fact neither a flight plan nor an itinerary was filed before departure.
In the report, flight data showed Chamberlain keyed in “microphone clicks,” used by pilots to radio control runway lighting, but did not make verbal transmissions which are normally associated with a departing aircraft.
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The plane climbed to about 1,600 feet above the airport and began its unknown journey.
Around 12:43 a.m., more “microphone clicks” were recorded with no verbal communication from Chamberlain, as the plane circled around Brantford before losing altitude and speed just four nautical miles east of the city’s airport.
READ MORE: Investigation reveals Brantford plane crash occurred just after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning
In that period of time, 26 instances of “microphone clicks” would be keyed in, changing the intensity of the airport’s runway lighting several times.
Brantford County Municipal Airport, which is registered and operated by the city, is not staffed overnight. During that period, lights on the runway have to be activated by a pilot using radio control lighting technology.
At 1:15 a.m., the plane descended rapidly towards the south end of the airport before crashing to the ground, killing the two occupants.
The wreckage was not discovered until the next morning by Airport personnel as the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) on the plane did not activate to alert rescue services.
“The structural integrity of the cockpit was somewhat compromised, but not to a degree that would be unsurvivable, ” the report said, “The damage to the nose, however, was indicative of a significant rate of deceleration that was likely not survivable.”
In the report, the TSB determined after the crash that the runway lights at Brantford airport were in working order, but unable to explain why Chamberlain repeatedly keyed in remote sequences.
County of Brant OPP were called just before 8 a.m. on November 13 in response to the reported plane crash.
OPP identified the deceased as 81-year-old Mildred Chamberlain and her husband, 76-year-old Ronald Chamberlain, from Brampton.
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