Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 11/00) - A plane crash near Great Bear Lake claimed the life of long time Yellowknife bush pilot John Bidwell, his young co-pilot and his co-pilot's new wife.

Bidwell was flying the twin-engine Skyvan from Kugluktuk to Yellowknife, with a flyover of Port Radium, late Sunday afternoon when the plane went down.

Shorts Skyvan Summit Air owned two Shorts Skyvan aircraft. Summit Air is based in Atlin, B.C. and has offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse. The Skyvan is capable of taking off or landing in less than 1,500 feet. Skyward's Skyvan was configured to carry up to 4,500 pounds in freight and nine passengers. A mid-size pickup truck could drive into the Skyvan's cargo hold. A twin-engine turboprop aircrart, it cruises at 180 miles per hour (288km/h). Maximum range is 600 miles (960 km).

Bidwell, 53, co-pilot Colin Tilson, 21, and his wife Mary, 22, died at the scene, Canadian Forces search and rescue reported. They were the only people aboard.

"He (Bidwell) was supposed to come for Thanksgiving dinner Sunday night at my house," said Bidwell's friend, Peter Austin.

"His better half was there and we were waiting to have dinner. I phoned flight services to find out when he was due to land here and they said, 'We've already initiated a search.'"

Austin said the co-pilot had married just two weeks ago. His wife had travelled to Kugluktuk for a surprise reunion. The ill-fated flight was the first leg of her return trip.

Capt. Pierre Bolduc, air controller at the search and rescue centre at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, said the search was initiated at about 6 p.m. Sunday when a phone call was placed to the centre from Yellowknife airport reporting that the plane was an hour overdue.

Shortly after the call, standard procedure in the case of overdue aircraft, the centre started receiving a satellite signal from a emergency locator beacon registered to the aircraft, Bolduc said.

A Hercules from 435 Squadron in Winnipeg, Man. and a Twin Otter from 440 Squadron in Yellowknife tracked the signal to the crash site. By the time the planes arrived at the crash site, however, the search had to be suspended because of darkness.

"It crashed about three miles north of the airstrip at Port Radium," said Bolduc.

A Bell Jet Ranger chartered out of Norman Wells landed at the crash site at approximately 1 p.m. Monday.

"Paramedics confirmed that no one survived the crash," Bolduc said.

The aircraft was operated by Summit Air, based in Whitehorse. Bidwell was the charter company's chief pilot and had been working for the company since January helping establish a Yellowknife base for the company, said Summit owner Jamie Tait.

Tait said the Bidwell and his co-pilot were flying to Port Radium to assess prospects of getting charter work there.

The company plans to continue to running its Yellowknife base and plans to have another Skyvan here within a week, Tait said.

The crash is being investigated by the Transport Safety Board, the coroner's office and the RCMP.

Remains of the deceased were removed from the crash scene Tuesday.

At the time the plane took off it was snowing in Kugluktuk, with light winds and about 1.8 kilometres of visibility. The weather conditions at Port Radium Sunday afternoon are not known.