Ten years ago, CTV reporter Mark Schneider took a trip on board a Pacific Coastal Airlines Grumman Goose (FPCK). On Sunday morning seven people died when that very same plane went down on Thormanby Island, while flying north from Vancouver. There was only one survivor.
In his report, Schneider noted that the Grumman Goose looks like a cross between a pelican and a cartoon character, and was designed 71 years ago to carry well- heeled Americans from New York to their vacation homes.
While roughly 350 that were built between 1937 and 1945, only 50 were still in existence when Schneider filed his report. That included four that were owned by Pacific Coastal Airlines.
Regarded now as a collectors' item, the primary role of the Grumman Goose in British Columbia is to carry fishermen, tourists and resource industry officials to remote destinations.
When the Grumman Goose FPCK went down on Sunday, it was taking employees of heavy construction contractor Peter Kiewit Sons Co.
The company is working on a river power project at Toba Inlet, which is about 160 kilometres north of Vancouver.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Mark Schneider
