Mon. May 15 - New details on Island company's Australian plane crash

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Good morning !

A heat wave is now officially underway, but the word is that temperatures will stay within a reasonable range without approaching the record-setting highs from two years ago. Are you glad to see Victoria get so warm in May, or worried about what this early heat may spell for future weeks or years? Are you out enjoying it, or keeping cool?

Let us know in the poll below, or in an email reply.

NEWS

New report details moments when Island company’s plane went down in Australia crash

Three months ago, a large Boeing 737 Fireliner, part of Port-Alberni-based Coulson Aviation’s Australian firefighting fleet, went down while fighting bushfires. Both pilots were able to escape the burning plane with only minor injuries.

Bomber 139 had hit a ridgeline, cleared some foliage, and then struck ground a second time and slid, according to this month’s initial fact-finding update from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). The plane did one run of dropping fire retardant, and it was while repositioning at about 25m above ground to prepare to drop the rest that it struck the ridgeline. The pilots tried to make a move just before that initial crash.

The ATSB will continue investigating, while Coulson (which also had a plane in a fatal Australian crash in 2020) says it has made interim changes including changing the minimum speed and altitude for drops.

More on the details of the crash, the techniques used to analyze it, and why an Island company does so much of its work in Australia, at Capital Daily.

Capital Bulletin

🌤️ Today’s weather: Mainly sunny. High 28C (22 near water) / low 11. Humidex 32. UV index 8 (very high). Night partly cloudy. Wind west 20km/h (60 near Juan de Fuca Strait).

☀️ This week’s weather: Sunny and hot (24-27C), with the weather warning for unseasonably warm temperatures still in place.

📋 Provincial forms to include gender self-ID: BC’s new data standards will also differentiate between sex and gender and won’t require gender disclosure on forms for which it isn’t relevant. 

NEWS

Juan de Fuca Marine Trail upgrades finish this week

The trail’s stretch from Little Kuitshe Creek Campground to the Parkinson Creek Trailhead has been closed for just over six months but will fully reopen on May 17. This $900K project is the end stretch of a four-year, $2.1M set of upgrades to the 47km wilderness trail.

Upgrades for campers include 50 new elevated tent platforms, and food caches at five of the main backcountry campgrounds. For hikers, improvements include about 600m of stepped boardwalk, 20 new staircases, new engineered bridges at Kuitshe Creek and Hoard Creek, and 19 new foot bridges along the stretch from Little Kuitshe Creek and Parkinson Creek.

More on the trail upgrades in The Westshore.

Also in The Westshore last week, updates on another project along the southwest coast: new cell towers along Highway 14 bringing service to the 70km stretch between Sooke and Port Renfrew.

Subscribe to get stories like these in The Westshore newsletter every Tuesday and Thursday.

The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is located near the longer, more intense, and better-known West Coast Trail. Last summer, Capital Daily wrote a guide to attempting that trail and a feature story on the guardians who care for it and keep it tied to its Indigenous history.

NEWS

Local students create app to help showcase Indigenous cultures

Four Saint Margaret’s students have won the $10,000 Westmont Prize for 2022 with their app IndigenUS, which houses a game that allows users to learn more about the Indigenous communities around them. After a unit on reconciliation in school, the students wanted to pursue a project that would help educate people their age.

The students are not Indigenous and so prioritized connecting with Island Indigenous communities and experts. An early-stages interview with VIU chancellor and Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Judith Sayers helped them refine what the app would be. Partnerships helped the team incorporate perspectives from the Victoria Native Friendship Center, the Indigenous Perspective Society, as well as local Knowledge Keepers.

They team also successfully pitched the app to Inspire: STEM for Social Impact, a program for research and community-based innovation at UVic that engages STEM students from underrepresented groups. The next stage for IndigenUS is to build a prototype.

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Capital Picks

🌱 ​​Pop-up plant sale: The Compost Education Centre is hosting another plant sale, with annuals and perennials available Wednesday 4-7pm.

▶️ Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival has wrapped up in-person screenings, but the fun continues online! Stream dozens of homegrown and international short films on-demand until May 31 at ShortCircuitFilmFestival.com.*

🔭 Radio star’s Star Party: It turns out CBC host Bob McDonald’s event at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter was mis-listed for Sunday on the Friends of the DAO website. But if you wanted to see it, the video from Saturday is up.

👾 Quazar’s Pop-up Arcade now open at Bay Centre. Find restored 80s and 90s classic games—this is a retro arcade experience you won’t want to miss!*

*Sponsored Listing

In Other News

👴🏻 104 laps for 104 years and $104K
WWII veteran John Hillman completed his annual birthday walking challenge, but is still collecting donations for Save the Children to try to raise the last $20K to hit his fundraising goal. He reached his goals of $101K, $102K, and $103K in each of the past three years doing multi-day laps around Carlton House, where he lives.

⚽ Pacific FC near top of league after another 4-1 win
Sunday’s blowout home win over York brings PFC within a point of the CPL’s top spot and raises the team’s goal differential to a league-best +6. Last week PFC also beat Burnaby’s TSS Rovers, who had upset Valour FC to become the first pro-am team in the annual Canadian Championship tourney ever to beat a pro team. PFC now moves on to the semifinals.

In Case You Missed It

💝 ​​Mother’s Day stories: We rounded up Capital Daily articles that feature the lives of Island mothers and grandmothers and highlight work they do for others and that others do for them.

👂🐟 What do the fish say? Local researchers are eavesdropping on fish and learning to tell one species from another—which could have major conservation and commercial impact. [Capital Daily]

📰 Sunday’s newsletter: The Mother’s Day and fish stories were joined by another History Mystery instalment, an update on the notorious “fake nurse,” and more. [May 14]

🎼 Friends of Timothy tonight at the McPherson Playhouse! Over 100 artists on stage, plus historic set and costume displays throughout the lobby exhibit. Limited tickets starting at $25.*

🏥 Local nurses call for systemic change: BC wants to get more people into nursing education, but nursing educators say the field is long overdue for an overhaul to address a lack of supports. [Capital Daily]

⚖️ Protect your rights and dispute your driving prohibition with the help of a knowledgeable lawyer. Contact Acumen Law Corporation today to start your defence. Visit VancouverCriminalLaw.com.*

*Sponsored Listing

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