© Atleo Air, websiteDrunk passengers likely caused a Cessna 185F crash that killed three members of British Columbia's Ahousaht First Nation and a pilot in May 2010, according to an investigative report released Thursday.
Drunken passengers likely interfered with a pilot just moments before his float plane crashed off Vancouver Island's west coast last year and killed all four people on board, says a recently released report.
Damon York, the pilot for Atleo River Air Service, and passengers Katrina English, Edward Sam and Samantha Mattersdorfer died when the
Cessna 185F they were in crashed just northwest of Tofino, B.C., on May 29, 2010.
Bill Yearwood, the lead investigator on the crash for the Transportation Safety Board, said the report, which was released publicly this week, ruled out mechanical or environmental factors or even a shift in the plane's load.
Yearwood said the pilot was not incapacitated because of medical problems and was not suicidal.
Investigators learned, however, that the pilot was not wearing a shoulder strap and his seat had no locking mechanism. They concluded the crash was likely caused by a passenger sitting behind the pilot pushing the pilot's seat forward, forcing the pilot to lose control.