Survivor Of Sandy Bay Plane Crash Reacts To Report
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 13:39
A survivor from a fatal plane crash at Sandy Bay says he hopes someone is still held to account over the accident.
Jimmy Ratt was one of the EMTs involved in the 2007 incident which killed the pilot of a plane owned by Transwest Air.
The King Air plane crashed during an aborted landing attempt at the landing strip.
The Transportation Safety Board released a report into the crash last week, saying it found a number of problems that contributed to the tragedy.
For instance, the crew did not perform an assessment of the aircraft before they departed — which meant they were forced to make some decisions on the fly.
As well, the pilot did not perform a visual inspection of the landing strip before trying to touch down and had also allowed a junior officer to take the controls.
Ratt says he heard the two pilots yelling at each other shortly before the crash.
He says he’s glad an investigation was launched into the incident, but still has to see a report on it.
Ratt says he suffered serious injuries to his body, specifically his arm and leg, which he’s still trying to recover from.
He adds the incident continues to weigh heavily on his mind, as he still has nightmares — but he doesn’t believe he will get his “life back”.
Ratt says northern medical staff trust their lives with the air crews transporting them throughout the province’s north, and he hopes this type of incident doesn’t happen again.
He also hopes the report helps make things safer for everyone.