Water bomber crashed in N.B. killing pilot

Pilot Ron Clowes was killed yesterday when the water bomber he was flying crashed shortly after takeoff near the Miramichi, New Brunswick airport.

The water bomber, a 60 year old TBM Avenger aircraft, is owned by Forest Protection. Forest Production is co-owned by the province of New Brunswick and several forestry companies including J.D. Irving, Fraser Papers, Weyerhaeuser, and Acadian Timber. The company conducts aerial fire protection, insect control, and herbicide programs. Clowes has worked for Forest Protection for ten years and has logged over 13,000 hours of flying time.

The flight was intended to be a practice flight. Clowes was the only one on board.

A witness said he watched the plane take off and did a small tour around the area before it seemed to stall and start to go down. The witness said it looked as if the pilot pointed the plane to ensure it would miss workers at a nearby peat moss plant when it went down.

Today, the Federal Transportation Safety Board officials are on site examining the wreckage that is strewn over 200 metres. The aircraft is not equipped with a data recorder.

Sources:

Pilot killed in crash - Firefighting plane goes down during practice flight in Miramichi (Times & Transcript)

N.B. water bomber crash kills pilot (CBC)

Probe of Miramichi water bomber crash begins (CBC)