by Carol Shaben
16. INQUEST
1 “What the hell were you thinking?”: Vogel interview, October 21, 2003.
2 “They’re going to use any statement you make to press criminal charges”: Ibid.
3 “If they persist in this matter of operation for a much longer period we are virtually certain to be faced with a fatality”: Memorandum from Inspector Griffiths, re: Wapiti Aviation Ltd, August 17, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells.
4 “the Company failed to meet a regular maintenance check on part of its fleet”: Canadian Air Transportation Administration, media statement, October 22, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells.
5 “he was considered conscientious and a careful pilot”: Record of telephone conversation between Dave Klippenstein and Dale Wells, Oct. 22, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells.
6 “lawsuit against Wapiti alleging ‘wanton or reckless operations’ ”: Letter from Leighton Decore, Decore and Company, November 17, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells.
7 “Dale would also lose his status as chief engineer”: Letter to Wapiti Aviation Ltd. from D.A. Davidson, Regional Director, Aviation Regulations for Ministers of Transport, December 18, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells.
8 “lacked sufficient knowledge of the intricacies of the present operations to permit him to competently discharge his duties as operations manager”: Letter to Wapiti Aviation Ltd. from L.A. Klein, Regional Manager, Air Carrier Operations, Transport Canada, December 19, 1984. Courtesy of Dale Wells. In a 1990 Federal Court of Canada judgment, Justice Allison Walsh noted: “Unlike the case of Delbert Wells, all the witnesses speak highly of the work and ability of his son, Dale Wells. He was carrying on several jobs as Chief Pilot, Chief Maintenance Engineer, Chief Flying Instructor and Designated Flight Test Examiner. In March and April 1983, the Department of Transport, through its regional superintendent Aeronautical Engineering and regional superintendent Air Carriers approved forms in which Delbert Wells was formally designated as Director of Flight Operations and Dale Wells as Director of Maintenance, Chief Pilot and Chief Flying Instructor. While Dale Wells was qualified for the positions he occupied as the airline grew he had too many different duties for one person to accomplish. Delbert Wells’ qualifications to act as operations manager (Director of Flight Operations) were never thoroughly checked.” Judgment in Court Action No. T-1637-85 between Sally Margaret Swanson and Her Majesty the Queen, February 6, 1990, 16–17.
9 “I feel it could turn my life around. I want to put the past behind me, starting today”: Jack Aubry, “Quebec Court Gives Hero Probation for Break and Enter,” Edmonton Journal, January 9, 1985, B1.
10 “We will not point an accusing finger at anybody”: Canadian Aviation Safety Board, Wapiti Aviation Ltd. Inquiry Proceedings, H40006, 3.
11 “Did you have an opportunity to sleep?”: Ibid., 149.
12 “They thanked him for telling the truth”: Vogel interview, October 21, 2003.
13 “I burned it in the fire”: Canadian Aviation Safety Board, Wapiti Aviation Ltd. Inquiry Proceedings, H40006, 163.
14 “I believed I was farther ahead than I was”: Ibid., 201.
15 “has the operations manager ever rejected a request by a pilot for a co-pilot?”: Canadian Aviation Safety Board, Wapiti Aviation Ltd. Inquiry Proceedings, H40006, 262. Delbert Wells did not testify at the inquiry. A medical report submitted at the opening of proceedings stated that he should not be submitted in his present medical condition due to the possible difficulties of testifying. Wapiti Aviation Ltd. Inquiry Proceedings, H40006, 16.
16 “I had never at any time told any pilot to go take a look and go down to 800 feet”: Ibid., 305.
17 “I could see no reason whatsoever for any lack of sleep”: Ibid., 330.
18 “I only did what I had to do”: Douglas Sweet, “Plane Crash Hero ‘Did What I Had to Do,’ ” Edmonton Journal, March 2, 1985.
19 “Maybe now he’ll be proud of me”: Christopher interview, September 30, 2011.
20 “he’d grown up a lot”: “Crash Hero,” Midday, segment D, CBC television footage, April 16, 1985.
17. AFTERLIFE
1 “That experience definitely changed my outlook in the sense that I now have a greater appreciation of life”: Maureen Buchholz, “Survivor Changed,” The Peace Arch News, December 1, 1984.
2 “So if you haven’t done the things that you’ve always wanted to do, it’s time to do them”: “Deschamps Quits,” CBC television footage, Edmonton Newsday, February 27, 1985.
3 “What am I doing wasting my time here?”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
4 “a wrecked ship for every mile of coast along the Graveyard of the Pacific”: Graveyard of the Pacific, Virtual Museum of Canada, www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca.
5 “This is the pilot who flew the plane”: Vogel interview, October 14, 2011.
6 “Never touch me when I’m sleeping or I’ll take a swing at you”: Author correspondence with Vogel, November 9, 2011.
7 “your services will be required until approximately October 11, 1985”: Erik Vogel, personal files.
8 “Corona Mafia”: Warren Michaels, “Archambault Pizza,” CBC television footage, Edmonton Newsday, July 2, 1985.
9 “He looked like Grizzly Adams”: Interview with Elpedia Palmer, November 19, 2011.
10 “Paul was close to everyone and he was very loyal”: Interview with Donna Bougiridis, November 11, 2011.
11 “I’m striving to be better for myself—mentally, physically, morally—and I’m not doing too bad”: Warren Michaels, “Archambault Pizza,” CBC television footage, Edmonton Newsday, July 2, 1985.
12 “Ed Sullivan had appeared on the show”: Paul appeared on CBC television’s Front Page Challenge, May 4, 1985.
13 “that’s how I get around”: Interview with Sue Wink, October 20, 2011.
14 “Do you consider yourself a brave man?”: Front Page Challenge, CBC television footage, May 4, 1985.
15 “He’s just a good friend”: Wink interview, October 20, 2011.
16 “I can’t go a day without thinking about it”: Canadian Press, “Pilot to Tell Story at Fatality Inquiry,” Edmonton Sun, November 9, 1985.
17 “do you have any issues with the law?”: Author correspondence with Vogel, October 27, 2011.
18 “I just did it”: Herald Staff Writer, “Pilot to Tell Story at Fatality Inquiry,” Daily Herald Tribune, Grande Prairie, November 9, 1985.
18. FATE
1 “He couldn’t bring himself to examine the contents of that box”: Interview with Randy Wright, January 6, 2011.
2 “I had to prove to myself that I hadn’t lost my nerve”: Ibid.
3 “Not many people had that kind of one-on-one access”: Ibid.
4 “What do you think I can do to solve this problem?”: Interview with Lindsay Cherney, December 8, 2010.
5 “in order to be an effective government, he needed to include people”: Jim McQuarrie, producer, “Generations: A Hundred Years in Alberta,” CBC documentary on Muslim families in Alberta, December 28, 2005.
6 “You put those together and you get an exceptional minister”: Keith Gerein, “Cancer Claims Larry Shaben,” Edmonton Journal, September 7, 2008, A3.
7 “I got to make tips”: Wink interview, December 4, 2006.
8 “He wanted to come home”: Wink interview, October 20, 2011.
9 “When he told her it was Demerol, she got mad”: Ibid.
10 “He needed somebody to appreciate his worth as a human being”: Larry Shaben interview, October 10, 2004.
11 “The airline had immediately launched a lawsuit against Transport Canada for damages, challenging the legality of the decision in court”: Wapiti’s lawsuit against Transport Canada never made it to trial.
12 “We saw a car’s lights go off and on a couple of times and from the angle of the lights, it was in the ditch”: Randy Hardisty, “Robbers Attack Shaben,” Calgary Herald, December 8, 1986.
13 “Stop the car. They need help”: Alma Shaben interview, December 8, 2010.
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14 “turned to open the back door to let him in”: Hardisty, “Robbers Attack Shaben.”
15 “Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s drunk”: Alma Shaben interview, December 8, 2010.
19. ATONEMENT
1 “Hi Erik, Just a short note to let you know that I am still behind you in every way”: Correspondence between Erik Vogel and Carla Blaskovits, May 1986. Courtesy of Erik Vogel.
2 “defamation lawsuit by Wapiti Aviation against the CBC for a documentary on the crash in which Erik, along with several other former Wapiti pilots, had participated”: The lawsuit never made it to trial.
3 “channelized attention with loss of situational awareness”: Erik Vogel, “It Won’t Happen to Me,” Helicopter Professional Pilots Safety Program newsletter, Volume 7, No. 1, 1995.
4 “It was life altering”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
5 “ ‘It would have been a disaster,’ Scott later told me, ‘because I was too busy trying to figure out what I needed’ ”: Ibid.
6 “ ‘That damn dog just stole my drink’ ”: Letter from Byron Christopher to Gayle Archambault following Paul’s death, May 14, 1991.
7 “He changed the way I looked at prisoners”: Ibid. Byron Christopher went on to become a crime reporter and eventually began a long-term correspondence with Richard Lee McNair, one of America’s most wanted prisoners. That correspondence resulted in an award-winning newspaper series and formed the basis of a biography, which Christopher is currently writing on McNair.
8 “He was no doubt very hungry, as it was gone in no time”: Author correspondence with Irene Jorgensen, December 2006.
9 “It wasn’t his job. He just did it”: Interview with Irene Jorgensen, December 10, 2006.
10 “I believe he had a heart of gold that had been badly damaged in his young life”: Ibid.
11 “People should have been looking after themselves, not expecting government to do it”: Larry Shaben interview, October 10, 2004.
12 “the minute you start pretending that you’re the reason and not your position, you’re lost”: Interview with Larry Shaben, Jr., November 29, 2011.
13 “I’ll lose the opportunity to go back out and work in the private sector”: Cherney interview, December 8, 2010.
14 “he didn’t ask for anything from me”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
15 “He said goodbye, and that was it”: Ibid.
16 “He put his life on the line to save another man”: Interview with Andrew McNeil, December 5, 2010.
17 “I think that ate at him, to be mocked by everybody”: Ibid.
18 “he wanted to be out in the bush the way Mother Nature meant man to die”: Daniel Archambault interview, April 1, 2009.
19 “there’s been nothing to say it was foul play”: John Ludwick, “Police Investigate Man’s Death,” Daily Herald Tribune, May 8, 1991, 1.
20 “I’d go into the bush and find these frozen remains”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
21 “If you ask me, someone bumped him on the head. I told the police that”: Bougiridis interview, November 11, 2011.
22 “I still dream of him”: Wink interview, October 20, 2011.
20. RETURN
1 “I realize that I’ve been making a trail. So I figured why not just keep going”: Vogel interview, October 21, 2003.
2 “locating a small plane is nearly impossible in the bush if there is no ELT”: Author correspondence with Vogel, October 27, 2011.
3 “the accident of C-GXUC most likely would have been averted”: Federal Court of Canada Judgment in Court Action No. T-1637-85 between Sally Margaret Swanson and Her Majesty the Queen, February 6, 1990, 25. Justice Walsh quotes expert aviation witness Walter Gadzos, formerly of the Department of Transport, who assisted Justice Charles Dubin in the 1979 Commission of Inquiry on Aviation Safety.
4 “His eighty-two-year-old aunt knew Scott’s half-sister’s name was Joanne, and that she lived in Bulawayo”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
5 “I asked him, does he know anything about the Deschamps family?”: Ibid.
6 “I never had that connectedness before”: Ibid.
7 “Nor does it mean that it wasn’t a miracle—at least to me”: Deschamps, “Once Upon an Angel,” 17.
8 “he couldn’t do in business what he’d been able to as a Cabinet minister”: Cherney interview, December 8, 2010.
9 “If things got difficult, he persevered, and when others didn’t follow through, he was disappointed”: Larry Shaben, Jr. interview, November 29, 2011.
10 “reluctance to charge interest on money others borrowed from him—were deeply rooted in his faith”: In Islam, profit is permitted, but interest is forbidden.
11 “dance the dabke in the basement”: The dabke is a traditional Middle Eastern line dance.
12 “There was a lot of yelling and partying going on”: Interview with Sol Rolingher, November 29, 2011.
13 “continue a dialogue of mutual support and peace”: Edmonton Jewish and Muslim communities media release, September 12, 2001. Courtesy of Sol Rolingher.
14 “Treat each other with utmost respect and resist the temptation to lecture”: Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities, “Larry Shaben: An Embodiment of a True Leader,” September 10, 2008.
EPILOGUE — SURVIVORS
1 “Don’t worry about recognizing us, it said, we’ll be the ones grinning like idiots”: Author correspondence with Vogel, October 23, 2006.
2 “it never seems like enough”: Ibid.
3 “I’m not the black-and-white, rigid, career-driven, typical kick-down-the-door cop that I was”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
4 “who promote or develop housing or related services and who are passionate about what they do”: Homeward Trust Edmonton website, http://www.homewardtrust.ca/programs/rooph-awards.php.
5 “I would like to take my wife in my arms and apologize to her and tell her yes, we can have a child”: Larry Shaben interview, October 10, 2004.
6 “Not too many people have that experience”: Deschamps interview, December 5, 2007.
7 “why a 6′3″ Fire Captain is crying at his desk”: E-mail correspondence from Erik Vogel to Larry Shaben, September 4, 2008.
IMAGE CREDITS
1.1 Erik Vogel; 1.2 Alma Shaben
1.3 Alma Shaben
1.4 Edmonton Journal
1.5 Erik Vogel; 1.6 Edmonton Journal
1.7 Paul Archambault, “They Called Me a Hero” (1985), 28
1.8 1.9, 1.10 Edmonton Journal
1.11, 1.12, 1.13 QMI Agency
1.14 QMI Agency; 1.15 Edmonton Journal
1.16 Edmonton Journal; 1.17 Ken Archambault
1.18, 1.19 Scott Deschamps
1.20, 1.21 Erik Vogel
1.22 Courtesy of the author
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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———. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. New York: Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977.
Bauer, Harry. The Flying Mystique: Exploring Reality and Self in the Sky. New York: Delacorte Press, 1980.
Boer, Peter. Bush Pilots: Canada’s Wilderness Daredevils. Edmonton: Folklore Publishing, 2004.
Cobb, Roger W. and David M. Primo. The Plane Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media and Transportation Policy. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2003.
Collins, Richard L. Air Crashes: What Went Wrong, Why and What Can Be Done About It. Charlottesville: Thomasson-Grant, 1986.
Dickens, C.H. From the Ground Up. Ottawa: Aviation Publishers Company Ltd., 1984.
Flying Magazine eds. Pilot Error: Anatomies of Aircraft Accidents. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1977.
Gann, Ernest K. Fate Is the Hunter. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961.
Langewiesche, Wolfgang. Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1944.
Marshall, David and Bruce Harris. Wild About Flying: Dreamers,
Doers & Daredevils. Toronto and Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2003.
Montgomery, M. R. and Gerald L. Foster. A Field Guide to Airplanes: How to Identify Over 300 Airplanes of North America: Illustrations, Descriptions and Specifications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Obson, Diane K., ed. Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Reid, Piers Paul. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors. New York: Avon Books, 1974.
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de. Airman’s Odyssey. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1939.
Schiavo, Mary. Flying Blind, Flying Safe. New York: Avon Books, 1997.
Sherwood, Ben. The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009.
Smith, Patrick. Ask the Pilot: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. New York: Riverhead Books, 2004.
Taylor, John W. R., ed. Jane’s Pocket Book of Commercial Transport Aircraft. New York: Collier Books, 1973.
Transport Canada. Flight Training Manual. Toronto: Gage Publishing Ltd., 1986.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book took flight the day I met my agent, Jackie Kaiser. Months earlier, MFA classmate and fellow writer Rob Weston had recommended Jackie to me, but I’d been reluctant to contact her. I was still smarting from unsuccessful efforts to interest others in the book. I had shelved my business career to write, and had all but given up on my dream when an article I’d written on aviation safety for The Walrus (under the gifted stewardship of editor Jeremy Keehn) garnered a trio of National Magazine Award nominations.
Just after midnight on the day I was scheduled to fly across the country for the awards ceremony, I mustered the nerve to send Jackie a brief e-mail sketching an outline of the book and requesting a few minutes of her time. Her response was instantaneous. By the end of our two-hour meeting the next day I knew that I had found not only a remarkable champion, but also the makings of an enduring friendship.
