Atlin

While cruising in marginal weather conditions on a flight from Atlin to Smithers, the single engine aircraft struck the slope of Mt Llangorse. All three occupants were killed.

The pilot and five passengers boarded the float-equipped Beaver aircraft in Atlin, BC, and departed on a visual flight rules (VFR) flight to Dease Lake at 1618 Pacific daylight time (PDT). The flight arrived over Dease Lake at 1735 and proceeded northward over the lake's east shore. Approximately one and one-half miles from the south end of the lake, the aircraft turned to the south to descend for a landing in the middle of the lake. The aircraft was in a fairly steep constant descent when it struck the water. It then nosed over and came to rest with only the bottom of the fuselage visible. The fuselage floated for about 10 minutes, then sank in 120 feet of water. The landing area was approximately one mile from the south end of the lake. The pilot escaped with serious injuries. The five passengers did not exit the aircraft and drowned.

While flying over mountainous terrain, the pilot realized that the summit was shrouded by clouds. He decided to turn back and initiated a turn to the left when he lost visual contact with the ground. The airplane struck the ground and crashed on a snow covered area. The pilot was seriously injured and the passenger, seating in the cabin, was killed. It was reported that the aircraft was equipped with one seat only and the passenger was seating on the ground, without a seat belt.

The aircraft departed Vancouver to take part to a SAR mission following the disappearance of a Ryan B-5 Brougham operated by the Canadian Aerial Explorations that crashed in north BC last October 10. The accident occurred in unknown circumstances, killing all three occupants.

On October 9, 1930 Captain E. J. 'Paddy' Burke departed Atlin in his float-equipped aircraft with two passengers on board, bound for Liard Post. On the return flight the next day, snow squalls forced the trio to land on the Liard River to await better weather. When persistent weather problems forced a third landing Liard River, a float was damaged, leaving the aircraft and its three occupants stranded, considerably off course from the straight line track between Atlin and Liard Post. A massive search was launched, and eventually abandoned. By November 12, only one search plane doggedly persisted. It was Everett Wasson and trapper Joe Walsh in the Treadwell Yukon Fairchild G-CARM. On November 24 Walsh and Wasson spotted the abandoned, snow covered aircraft, and 12 days later discovered two survivors forty miles up the Liard River from the plane. Pilot Paddy Burke had died of exposure and starvation. Aircraft mechanic Emil Kading and passenger Bob Martin had survived 2 months in the winter wilderness with very little food or equipment. The nearest suitable landing site for Wasson's ski equipped Fairchild was 10 miles from the starving survivor's camp. After three days of snowshoeing, sledding and back-packing, Wasson and Walsh had Kadding and Martin safely aboard the Fairchild, on there way to Whitehorse. Six days later Wasson returned to the Liard River and retrieved the body of Paddy Burke. And so ended on of the longest air search in Canadian history. The Following spring a salvage crew removed the Junkers from its ice bound floats, installed a set of skies, and flew the aircraft out. In the original text, the aircraft involved was mentioned as being a Junkers F.13.

Source: Yukon Transportation Museum, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory