A British Columbia air safety group is confused as to how their training ground, which uses the skeletal fuselage of a light plane, was mistaken for a genuine historic crash site. The group, PEP-Air, has been using the wreck for training purposes on private property north of Kamloops. The fuselage has no motor, wings, doors, seats, or propeller. The group’s executive director, Fred Carey, stated that they marked the site with tags and a phone number to indicate that it wasn’t a real crash. Officials had announced earlier in the week that a hunter had stumbled upon what police believed to be a two-decades-old crash site. However, Carey said they planted the fuselage around two years ago, at the most.

Carey expressed confusion over how the mix-up occurred, stating that they had registered the training site with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. He added that it was apparent the wreckage wasn’t real if the police or the hunter had looked inside. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been in contact with the police and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre regarding the site. The RCMP has not yet responded to questions about the matter.

The air safety group uses the simulated wreck as part of their training exercises. Carey mentioned that there are several fake crash sites across B.C. but did not disclose their locations. The group takes their training seriously and aims to make it as realistic as possible.

Overall, PEP-Air is perplexed as to how their training ground was mistaken for a genuine crash site and is working to resolve the misunderstanding.