Five die in plane crash from A.D. Williams Engineering

Tragedy that other consulting engineering firms could only imagine has struck A.D. Williams Engineering again. On Friday, March 28 Reagan Williams and four others were killed when the small plane they were travelling in plummeted into deep woods near Wainwright, Alberta.
CBC reports said that the RCMP searched for four hours until they located the wreckage at noon on Friday. The plane, which was being piloted by Reagan Williams, P.Eng., apparently broke up while in the air. The wreckage was spread over three kilometres. The bulk of the wreckage lies in a wooded area on the shores of the Battle River approximately 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
Exactly five months to the day, Reagan’s father, Allen Williams (65), was killed while piloting a small plane in mountains near Golden, B.C.
Also killed in the crash last Friday were four passengers in the single-engine Piper PA-46 Malibu, plane. Two of these were recently appointed executives at A.D. Williams Engineering. They were Rhonda Quirke, the company’s director of business strategy, and Phil Allard, the company’s chief financial officer. Two other passengers were Trevor John Korol (30) and Shaun Michael Stewart (35), both of Edmonton, who also died. It’s not know if they were employees of A.D. Williams.
Reagan Williams, aged 41, had taken over the company after the tragic death of his father last year in the earlier crash. In that earlier crash, Steven Sutton, the company’s former chief financial officer, was also killed. Williams’ granddaughter miraculously survived, and was found hours later suspended by her seat belt in the wreckage. The story was a media sensation at the time.
A.D. Williams’ website has a statement thanking friends and business associates for their condolences and saying that they drew strength from their support. The statement continued, “As always, our primary concern is for our family, our people and our clients.”
Reagan’s plane was apparently en route from Edmonton airport to a company meeting in Winnipeg. The firm has offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Red Deer.
The A.D. Williams Engineering website includes a photograph of the company plane, identified as a red Malibu JetPROP, which is presumably the one Reagan Williams was flying. He had a commercial and a private pilot’s licence. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the crash.
The staff of Canadian Consulting Engineer send our deepest condolences to the Williams family and all at A.D. Williams Engineering.