Statement from Tyax Adventures on Float Plane Accident in South Chilcotin Mountains
Brian Goldstone Photo
On Sunday, July 17 at approximately 10:40am PT, a De Havilland Beaver float plane traveling from Tyaughton Lake to Lorna Lake in the South Chilcotin mountain range went down in an emergency landing on land. The plane was operated by Tyax Adventures, the operation that mountain bikers from around the world have used to get into the South Chilcotin Mountains. We have received confirmation that the passengers involved in the crash are mountain bikers.
No fatalities have been reported, although the passengers and pilot sustained injuries and were transported to hospital for treatment. The pilot remains in hospital as of Tuesday morning, but the five passengers have since been released.
Investigations into the crash are now underway, but Tyax Adventures provided us with an update today on the below statement.
 | The investigation into the cause of the accident is still underway, but I can confirm that the plane landed on land in the South Chilcotin mountain range, and the passengers were mountain bikers. All of the passengers have been released from hospital. Our pilot is still receiving care, but recovering well. |
Statement from Tyax Adventures on De Havilland Beaver Accident
Tyaughton Lake, BC / July 18, 2022 – Yesterday, at approximately 10:40am PT, the Tyax Air Services De Havilland Beaver, traveling from Tyaughton Lake to Lorna Lake in the South Chilcotin mountain range, went down in an emergency landing. There were five passengers and one pilot on board.
The emergency locator transmitter (ELT) was triggered and emergency responders immediately mobilized for rescue.
The passengers and pilot sustained injuries and were transported to hospital for treatment. One passenger and the pilot remain in hospital, and the other four passengers have since been released.
The Transportation Safety Board has been notified and full investigations into the cause of the accident by regulators and Tyax Adventures is now underway.
Tyaughton Lake, BC / July 18, 2022 – Yesterday, at approximately 10:40am PT, the Tyax Air Services De Havilland Beaver, traveling from Tyaughton Lake to Lorna Lake in the South Chilcotin mountain range, went down in an emergency landing. There were five passengers and one pilot on board.
The emergency locator transmitter (ELT) was triggered and emergency responders immediately mobilized for rescue.
The passengers and pilot sustained injuries and were transported to hospital for treatment. One passenger and the pilot remain in hospital, and the other four passengers have since been released.
The Transportation Safety Board has been notified and full investigations into the cause of the accident by regulators and Tyax Adventures is now underway.
| Our priority is always on the health and safety of our passengers and crew, and we are grateful that those onboard were so quickly rescued and transported for emergency care. We would like to thank the RCMP, the Canadian Forces rescue coordination centre, BC Emergency Health Services and other emergency personnel for their exceptional and rapid response. |
Tyax Adventures was acquired by Blackcomb Helicopters in April of this year.
In 2018, there was a fatal float plane crash where two people died when a Cessna 180H crashed into Tyaughton Lake. That flight was not operated by Tyax Adventures.
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The staff was amazing, everything ran like clockwork, was the best plane trip I’ve ever taken.
Hope all are ok, and heal up quick.
Has me thinking of going back
Kudos to them for their response and reaction to this whole thing.
This links to a story from 2018. You should correct that.
Will you make an article once it comes out? Would be interesting to know if there was a technical issue, sudden weather change, micro-meteorological effects that can cause a pilot un-aware of it to crash (wouldn't assume that since they probably flew there regularly) or any other circumstances.
Usually it takes quite some time, but mostly those reports include alot that is very helpful for anybody else that is involved in any other aviational activity (e.g. paragliding).
If it is caused by local weather effects, it might be interesting to know for anyone that rides or plans on riding etc. in the region.
But it looks like it takes a month or so for the initial report to show up, and longer for the actual investigation to be completed.
Other incidents like air space infringement often are faster.
Glad to hear everyone in this incident survived / is ok
Little flying things are a bit less predictable than the big ones we tend to get used to.
At any rate I agree. My tyax experience was awesome and everyone was super capable and organized. Not quite sure what husstler is implying here.
Having done that flight, you get the usual instructions re seat belts, life jackets, etc. I don't see what else they can do to "train" you for an emergency landing. It's like like you can tuck and roll. You're squished into a beaver with 4-5 other guys and bikes, flying over the Alpine. Wtf are you realistically going to do to improve your chances of survival if the plane goes down? The more I think about it the more I think that is just an ignorant comment.
What I was asking was “out of curiosity are the passengers briefed on what happens if a float plane is underwater because I did that sort of training for helicopters at work”
I’ve got 1000hrs on floats Commercially and haven’t taken the training either. Would be a valuable course however.
Indeed props to the pilot for ensuring the safety of the passengers. A fully loaded Beaver doesn’t exactly “glide” with a power loss, however we don’t know the details.
We always see this hypocrite and politically correct sentence in all statements after an accident or incident... And often later we found out that it was not really their first priority (looking at you money !)
I am absolutely not saying that it is the case here, but damn now this sentence feels so empty and meaningless
But we do know that Tayx has a long history of safe operations and that backcountry flying has inherent risks that simply can't be fully mitigated.
Air charters in Canada are also a heavily regulated industry, where cutting corners is unlikely to go unnoticed and unpunished. Something that (as far as I can find) has never happened to Tayx in their history.
We'll get a full TSB investigation eventually, but until then, I think the safe money is on "someone made a mistake", "a part failed" or "the weather behaved unpredictably", NOT "Tayx was cutting corners to save $$x".
In the end it removes the trust and interest you could have to an honest company in similar circumstances
Then multiply that level of intensity by 10x for commercial applications.
And another 10x for a fully loaded float plane.
I don't know the pilot but I can say there's a 99.9999% chance that if he was able to not kill every single person on board, he most likely has a near robotic level of safety ingrained into his brain.
I am talking in general about the companies' senseless and robotic answers in the such events. Answers certainly made up by their jurists, but it tends to always feel empty and artificial