The owner and pilot of a Blackshape BS100 was killed when the high performance ultralight crashed at near Carp Airport near Ottawa last Wednesday. The aircraft went down in a wooded area after the pilot Neil Spriggs, made a radio call saying the aircraft’s engine had failed. The wreckage was on fire when rescue crews arrived and it was initially suppressed with fire extinguishers before a hose could be used to douse it.
Spriggs was well known in the local flying community and Ottawa business circles as the owner of Nanometrics, which specializes in seismic technology. The aircraft he was flying is capable of speeds up to about 160 knots using a Rotax 914. Spriggs was on a local flight when the mishap occurred.