VERNON PLANE CRASH VICTIM IDENTIFIED

VERNON - RCMP have identified the pilot of a small plane who was
killed when it crashed near Vernon Tuesday night with 109 kg of
cocaine on board.

James Edgar Darwin, 39, a Vernon resident, was alone in the plane at the time.

City spokesman Gordon Molendyk, of the Vernon safe communities unit,
said Thursday the single-engine aircraft apparently ran out of fuel
and went down in a heavily forested, mountainous area 23 km southwest
of the Okanagan city.

Molendyk said the RCMP's Osoyoos integrated border enforcement team
has been brought into the investigation to determine the origin and
destination of the drugs.

He said Darwin had rented the aircraft Oct. 13 from Flight Discovery
flight school in Kelowna.

Flight-school owner Tammy Pitkeathly said Darwin had rented aircraft
from the school three times in the past six months. She said he held
a recreational-pilot permit, which has more restrictions than a
private pilot's licence. The permit limits the number of passengers
the pilot can carry, and does not allow night flying.

However, she said Darwin was an experienced pilot, with more than
1,800 hours logged in the air.

"In March 2006, we took him for a checkout and we did 1.6 hours in
the air with him to ensure he was able to handle the plane," she said.