The son of a prominent Edmonton businessman killed in a plane crash last October died along with four other people in eerily similar circumstances near Wainwright yesterday.
"It's a shocker. Statistics say it shouldn't happen, and for it to happen twice in one year, it's just unbelievable," said J.D. Hole, a local businessman and family friend of Allen Williams and his son Reagan.
Reagan was flying the plane carrying four others to Winnipeg from Edmonton yesterday morning when it went missing near Wainwright, which is about 225 km southeast of Edmonton.
The passengers on board included Rhonda Quirke and Phil Allard, both employees of A.D. Williams Engineering Inc., the company Reagan was president of, as well as two unidentified contractors.
Transportation Safety Board officials have said the plane tore apart in midair. Wreckage was strewn for about a kilometre and a half, with the wings separated from the fuselage.
The plane was a single-engine Piper PA-46 Piper Malibu aircraft.
News of the crash shocked Reagan's brother Sheldon, who told Sun Media around 5 p.m. that his family had just learned of it.
"We just got back from Kelowna a half-hour ago so we have very few details at this point," he said.
It was only five months ago that Sheldon and Reagan lost their father Allen in a plane crash near Golden, B.C. But in what some called a miracle, Sheldon's three-year-old daughter Kate, who was riding in the plane piloted by her grandfather, survived.
Rescuers pulled her out after she spent hours hanging upside down in her seat. Another A.D. Williams executive, Steven Sutton, also died in that crash.
AN AVID FLYER
Reagan, himself the father of a young child, took over the company before Allen Williams died. Like his father, Reagan was an avid flyer. "They all had an interest in aviation," said Hole, who noted he himself had flown with Reagan. "They were both extremely capable pilots."
Investigators, meanwhile, were at the crash site about 12 km northeast of Wainwright yesterday as they began the work of determining the cause of the crash. An official with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is expected to brief the media on the incident this afternoon.
The crash has also shocked staff at A.D. Williams Engineering, the company Allen Williams founded in 1978, as they dealt with the loss of co-workers for the second time in months.
"They've been through this fairly recently, and this is even more devastating to have this happen five months later," said Sue O'Connor, a spokesman for the company. Many employees went home early, and the company plans to bring in grief counsellors for staff struggling with the tragedy, O'Connor added.
Quirke had been with the company since 1996 and last December was promoted to the position of director of business integration and strategy. She had a background in accounting and had been responsible for implementing accounting system conversions. She was also a member of several professional associations and non-profit organizations.
Allard had only started with the company as chief financial officer a few months ago after coming from Telus where he was a director of finance.
"Our offices were in shock in Edmonton this afternoon," said Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson. "It's a tragedy. He's the type of person who touched a lot of people's lives around the office in a positive way. It hit our office pretty hard."
KIND AND GENTLE
Johannsson described Allard as a kind and gentle person who was well respected by his colleagues.
Allard was also treasurer of Badminton Alberta, giving back to a sport in which he had competed for 10 years.
Allard was the chief financial officer for the company, the same position Sutton held until his death in the October crash.
"We've lost some talented people," said Hole, who remembered Reagan as "an exceptionally good swimmer in his day."
He added that Reagan "was extremely outgoing, extremely well liked, and I think he was doing a great job looking after the company."
The crash left Hole baffled at how both Allen and Reagan Williams could meet the same fate. "It's not a risky endeavour," said Hole, referring to flying. "It's like an automobile accident or anything else. It happens."
