By Canadian Press

B.C. plane wreck ‘verified’ by RCMP is revealed to be fake crash site for training

Nov 17, 2023 | 11:53 AM

KAMLOOPS — Plane wreckage that made headlines this week when officials announced a hunter had stumbled on what police thought was a decades-old crash site in the B.C. Interior was actually placed there deliberately for training purposes.

A notice posted Tuesday on the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System says the RCMP inspected the site north of Kamloops and “verified” the wreckage was at least 20 to 25 years old, and it carried no registration or identifying marks.

But Fred Carey, executive director with volunteer air safety group PEP-Air, says their group planted the fuselage there two years ago “at the most,” marking it with tags to let people know it wasn’t a real crash site.

The wreck has no motor, wings, doors, seats, or propeller.

Carey says the report about the wreckage “made no sense,” and his group, which is part of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, had contacted RCMP to let them know it isn’t a real crash site.

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RCMP did not immediately respond to questions about the site, near Knouff and Community lakes.

Carey says the training site on private property has been in use for about 18 months, and has been registered with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2023. 

The Canadian Press