Two Fairhaven residents killed in Port Hope plane crash
The Chronicle is sad to note the passing of long-time Fairhaven residents Al Crosby (74) and Suzanne Parent (72), whose lives were claimed by a tragic airplane accident near Port Hope.
Al, an amateur pilot and member of the Rockcliffe Flying Club (RFC), flew out of Rockcliffe on Saturday August 13 with his wife, Suzanne.
According to police their plane, a Piper Cherokee with the registration code YSZ, crashed just before 9 p.m. that night near a private airstrip close to Port Hope, Ontario, killing both occupants.
The cause of the accident is not yet known, but the Ontario Provincial Police is investigating.
Chris Hobbs, fellow RFC member and previous co-owner of the Piper Cherokee, had chatted with Al just the day before as he prepared for a flight of his own, to Cincinnati where he attended a conference.
On Saturday evening just after 8 p.m., he received an automated email from a satellite system monitoring the plane’s emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Thinking it was a false alarm (the ELT had previously been triggered by the plane merely being buffeted by the wind while on the ground), he forwarded it to Al without realising that this alert was in fact genuine.
“I’ve known Al for a long time,” he told the Chronicle.
“That makes me feel really bad as that was presumably the real thing,” he added.
Al was a passionate community advocate and was instrumental in the fight against a Kettle Island bridge the last time the issue loomed large. He is also responsible for saving a row of trees on the former military base at Wateridge, and speaking out about contaminated well water near the Montfort Hospital.
Suzanne was a career civil servant whose work took her across the federal government including the Public Service Commission, Transport Canada, Customs and Excise Canada, and the Canadian Border Services Agency.
Both were well-loved by their neighbours and community.