Jorge Barera
Northern News Services

Fort Good Hope (Jan 07/02) - The pilot who flew the Cessna 172 that crashed into the side of a cliff on New Year's Eve was warned by a senior pilot from another airline not to fly that day.

"I told him you're crazy, you shouldn't be flying," said Andrew Bails, a senior pilot with North-Wright Airlines based out of Norman Wells.

Bailes said he landed his Beech-99 and pulled up behind pilot Dana Wentzel, 23, who was getting ready to take-off in his Cessna and warned him about flying in the current weather conditions.

Bailes said Wentzel looked at him, smiled and "off he went."

The statement came as the RCMP, the territories' chief coroner and two investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada recovered the bodies and finished inspecting the site of the crashed Cessna 172 Friday.

Search parties found the bodies of the pilot and three passengers with the wreckage last Wednesday afternoon about 50 kilometres south of Fort Good Hope.

Dead are Kole Crook, 27, a well-known Hay River fiddler; Ashley Andrew, 18, and her sister Lindsay, 11, nieces of Tulita Chief Frank Andrew; and Wentzel of Lower Sackville, N.S.

The Ursus Aviation airplane crashed on Dec. 31 after its 1:14 p.m. departure from Fort Good Hope. It was flying to Norman Wells en route to Tulita.

Rescue efforts began at 3 p.m. that day.

Reasons for the crash are not yet known, but Ray Tsuji, chief investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said mechanical failure may not have been the cause.

"There was nothing that obviously pointed to mechanical failure," said Tsuji who noted the investigation is still months from completion.

Tsuji called weather conditions at the time of the crash marginal.

He hadn't checked the pilot's records.

David James, operations manager for North-Wright Airways, believes weather could have been a factor.

James said icy conditions forced the grounding of its small aircraft on the crash day.

That day three of North-Wright's small planes turned back on scheduled trips within five minutes of each other.

"There was freezing rain and ice reported from other aircraft," said James. "Ursus kept on going."

James said small aircraft like the crashed Cessna are not equipped to keep windshields, propellers and wings defrosted.

Bailes, an expert witness for similar crashes involving Cessnas, said that type of aircraft should not have been flying in those conditions.

"What would make a pilot risk his life like that?" said Bailes.

John Louison, ground search and rescue co-ordinator in Fort Good Hope, confirmed that conditions at the time were not the best. He said he helped the pilot scrape ice off the Cessna before it took off.

"The plane was really icy," said Louison. "He should have stayed on the ground, but I didn't think it was my place (to tell the pilot)."

Blair Jensen, owner of Tulita-based Ursus Aviation, said he checked the pilot's weather readout for the day and it seemed fine, although "elders in Fort Good Hope said the weather changed radically."

Jensen added that the pilot made the final decision to fly. He was also skeptical of James' contention that all his planes were grounded that day.

Jensen was in Yellowknife at the time of the crash.

Tsuji said the airplane seemed to have crashed nose first into the side of a steep slope.

"It was quite a severe impact," said Tsuji.

He said the plane is basically intact lying upside down with the fuselage across the slope and the wings, still attached, spread up and down the slope.

Tsuji said the plane appeared to have hit the top of the slope, slid down about 120 meters and a clump of trees stopped its plunge to the bottom around 240 meters away.

Tsuji described the slope as "pretty much sheer rock" which barely holds snow.

After the plane disappeared, day search crews scoured the countryside for almost 40 hours before locating it.

Ursus is paying the airfare for the crash victims' family members to travel to Tulita, said Jensen.

The bodies will be taken to Edmonton for post-mortem examinations, said the territorial coroner's office.

- with files from Kevin Wilson