British Columbia

Robert Brandt and Kevin Wang identified as victims of B.C. plane crash

The BC Coroner's Service has identified Robert Brandt, 34 and Kevin Wang, 32 from Vancouver as the two pilots who were killed in Monday's crash of a small cargo plane in B.C's North Shore Mountains.

Carson Air Flight 66 fell from sky in uncontrolled descent killing both pilots

A graphic shows the departure time and last known location of missing Carson Air Flight 66. (CBC)

The B.C. Coroner's Service identified Robert Brandt, 34 and Kevin Wang, 32 from Vancouver as the two pilots killed in Monday's crash of a small cargo plane in B.C's North Shore Mountains.

Brandt was the pilot and Wang, the co-pilot, of a twin engine Swearingen SA-226 aircraft that was flying paper products used for banking from Vancouver to Prince George for Carson Air in Richmond.

The Transportation Safety Board said the pilots suddenly lost control of the plane, which dropped from an altitude of 2,400 metres to about 900 metres — the height at which the wreckage was found — in less than a minute,

The bodies of the two pilots were found in the aircraft's fuselage by North Shore Rescue searchers around 1 p.m. PT Tuesday.

The crashed plane is a twin-engine SA-226 Metro II similar to this one. (Carson Air)

At the time Yearwood praised the ground crews, saying that without them, the search would have taken many days if not weeks, as the wreckage would have been virtually impossible to spot from the air.

The plane was not equipped with cockpit voice or flight data recording systems. As a result, the TSB says the cause of the crash will have to be pieced together from the physical evidence, which he said will take time.

The plane left Vancouver International Airport at 6:43 a.m. Monday heading for the Prince George Airport. But air traffic control lost radar contact with the flight at 7:08 a.m., as it was crossing the North Shore Mountains.

The investigation has been turned over to the B.C. Coroners Office and the Transportation Safety Board.