Comox - Williams Lake

On April 23, 1966 at 12:00 AM, Comox - Williams Lake experienced a crash involving Grumman HU-16 (SA-16) Albatross, operated by Royal Canadian Air Force - RCAF, with the event recorded near Hope Slide British Columbia.

The flight was categorized as training and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 83.3%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The crew departed Comox Airbase on a training flight to Williams Lake. While cruising in limited visibility due to foggy conditions, the seaplane struck the slope of a mountain located about 10 miles east of Hope Slide. The aircraft was destroyed and while the f/o Bob Reid survived, all five other occupants were killed. More info on https://www.notaries.bc.ca/resources/scrivener/fall2004/walkdownthemountains-50.pdf 1st Lt Pete Semak, † 1st Lt Phil Montgomery, † F/O Chris Cormier, † F/O Bob Reid, Lac Bob MacNaughton. † Passenger: James Braiden. †

Aircraft reference details include registration 9302, MSN G-450.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 49.3036°, -121.2428°.