Seaspan airplane crash

A place to remember our peers who have completed their last voyage on this earth. Finish With Engines.
Post Reply
User avatar
The Dieselduck
Administrator
Posts: 4131
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:41 pm
Currently located: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada (West Coast of Canada)
Contact:

Seaspan airplane crash

Post by The Dieselduck »

Two weeks ago, an airplane crashed on Vancouver Island, claiming the life of 5 people, 4 of them, employees of Seaspan, a large marine services company based in Vancouver BC.

The following men were involved in the accident...

* Perished - Terry Axton, 51, of Maple Ridge. He was a loader, employed with Seaspan for 30 years. He leaves a partner and two children behind.
* Perished - Scott Thorne, 56, of Vancouver. He was a ship's Mate employed on the Seaspan King, having worked his way from deckhand. He had 30 years under his belt at Seaspan. He leaves a wife and two daughters behind.
* Perished - Grant Wood, 62, of Chilliwack. He was a loader, employed with Seaspan for 23 years. He leaves his wife and two children behind.
* Perished - Mark McLean, 48, of Comox. He was a loader who recently began working with Seaspan.
* Perished - Simon Lawrence, 36, of Port Hardy, was the pilot, and employed with Pacific Coastal for 2 years.
* Surviving - Lorne Clowers, 56, of Squamish and an eight year veteran of Seaspan who suffered a broken pelvis in the accident.
* Also surviving, was Bob Pomponio, 54, of Campbell River who suffered a fractured hip, but manage to drag Mr. Clowers 50 meters away from the burning aircraft. Mr. Pomponio, recently hired by Seaspan, was credited with effecting a "prompt" rescue using his cell phone's texting feature, to direct search and rescue planes to their location, after the destruction of the aircraft's emergency beacon. The two were seated at the rear of the airplane, and managed to get out before the plane caught fire after the crash.

The Grumman G-21 Goose amphibious plane, on charter at the time and operated by Pacific Coastal Airlines of Vancouver, crashed in a remote forested area of British Columbia, near the town of Port Alice on Vancouver Island. The crash occurred around 0700hrs on the morning of Sunday, August 03, 2008, halfway into a 20 minutes flight from Port Hardy, BC, at the north east end of Vancouver Island, to Chamiss Bay, in Kyuquot Sound, on the island's north west coast. The plane was subsequently destroyed by fire. The wreckage was salvaged and is the focus of a Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation based in Richmond BC.

Seven person were on board the flight; five of whom were crane operators, also know as "loaders" and were employed by Vancouver based Seaspan International. The sixth Seaspan employee on board, was the Seaspan King's Mate. The flight was bringing the loaders to the Seaspan King, which had towed its self loading, self dumping log barge to the inlet. Once there the loaders were to operate the barge's own crane, loading bundles of logs onto the barge. Once loading is done, the loaders fly out, the tugboat gets underway to the destination of dumping.

Seaspan is contemplating a memorial for the victims of this accident, the worst in their operating history.

This is a lost of great significance in the tug boat community on the west coast of Canada. My condolence go out to the victims' family, and the many people impacted by this unfortunate event.
Martin Leduc
Certified Marine Engineer and Webmaster
Martin's Marine Engineering Page
http://www.dieselduck.net
User avatar
The Dieselduck
Administrator
Posts: 4131
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:41 pm
Currently located: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada (West Coast of Canada)
Contact:

Re: Seaspan airplane crash

Post by The Dieselduck »

I just came across an interesting tidbit regarding this accident.

Seaspan's new powerful harbour / escort tug Seaspan Resolution, recently launched, bears a dedication plate to Scott Thorne, the mate of the tug Seaspan King, who perished in the airplane accident last year. The tug was also sponsored by Patricia Thorne; I assume, the wife of Scott.

I though that was a nice gesture from Seaspan.
Attachments
Seaspan Resolution
Seaspan Resolution
Seaspan-Resolution.jpg (54.5 KiB) Viewed 7789 times
Picture by Ron Karabaich
Picture by Ron Karabaich
pic by Ron Karabaich.jpg (57.11 KiB) Viewed 7790 times
Martin Leduc
Certified Marine Engineer and Webmaster
Martin's Marine Engineering Page
http://www.dieselduck.net
User avatar
JK
Enduring Contributor
Posts: 3066
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:29 am
Currently located: East Coast, Canada
Contact:

Re: Seaspan airplane crash

Post by JK »

I was told Seaspan was a decent company.
Totally agree with you Martin about a nice gesture.
Post Reply