The ongoing investigation into an airplane crash that killed three men outside Sundre last September has confirmed that the aircraft made a touch-and-go landing at the Sundre airport only moments before crashing, said John Pearson, a senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.Investigators have managed to recover flight data from the aircraft's digital electronic flight information system, which is proving helpful in the investigation, Pearson told the Gazette.ìIt did enter a spin,î said Pearson. ìWe knew that from the beginning (from witness testimony) but this sheds a lot more light on the direction and exactly what the aircraft did.ìWe had some information that it did do a touch-and-go landing at Sundre, but up until now we couldn't be absolutely sure of that. Now that is pretty much definite. It then flew out to the northwest and then made a left turn towards the accident site.ìWe were able to get a fair amount of flight data, which sheds a lot of light on the last flight.îChuck Matson, 51, of Calgary, Stephen Brosseau, 43, of Spruce Grove, and a 42-year-old Edmonton man were killed when the single-engine Cirrus SR-22 they were in spiralled into a farm field on Sept. 24.An eyewitness to the crash, Lance Dejax, said he saw the plane spiral into the ground.Analysis of the recovered data is continuing, said Pearson.The information system unit that held the engine operation parameters was ìtotally destroyed so we weren't able to get anything from that,î he said.One thing the newly collected data will not be able to tell investigators is who was actually flying the aircraft, he said.ìIt doesn't show any control inputs; it shows the behaviour of the aircraft,î he said. ìWe have the behaviour of the machine, the pitch up, the pitch down, the roll, the speeds and the heading.îTwo of the men on board were experienced pilots and one was a student pilot.While investigators still do not know what caused the crash, they have already determined that the aircraft did not run out of fuel, he said.The final report into the crash, including an exact cause if it can be determined, may be ready by the fall, he said.
