Investigation Found Pilot Should Not Have Been Flying On Day Of Crash

By: Nick Liard

A Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation has determined that a pilot who was involved in a plane crash south of Sudbury in 2015 was unfit and unqualified to by flying.

On March 17, 2015, Leo Arseneau, his terminally ill wife Mary Lou and their caregiver took off in in their single-engine aircraft heading to Florida with a scheduled stop in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

The plane crashed nearly 50 km south of Sudbury.

The investigation found the pilot did have a private pilot licence issued in 1991.

Leo’s two other pilot licenses had expired in 2013, and given the expired qualifications, lack of recent experience(just one hour flown since Oct 2014) and levels of stress and fatigue, he should not have been flying on the day of the crash.

*files from Transportation Board of Canada website