Sister of plane crash victim that went missing in B.C. starting support network

Though bittersweet, the sister of a pilot whose plane went missing last fall is grateful for the support she found in the community nearest where they thought the plane went missing.

Dominic Neron’s plane went missing in the Revelstoke area on Nov. 25, 2017, with passenger Ashley Bourgeault, while en-route from Penticton to Edmonton. Tammy Neron, her sister Kate Sinclair and other family and friends went to the city to participate in the search.

“Revelstoke was a place that really showed us what community was about and we had everyone from first responders to locals supporting us and rallying behind us the whole way,” Neron said.

The family continued their search off and on until the wreckage was spotted by a B.C. Air Ambulance Crew on Sept. 10, 2018.

“They were saying that they wished there would have been more information provided from search and rescue to everybody else to keep this at the forefront of their minds,” Neron said.

With the connections they have made and the lessons they have learned throughout this painful process, Neron and Sinclair are planning to create an organization that will provide resources, skills and support to families of missing people.

“With our search we uncovered so much grey area and dead ends that we feel the best way to give back, after we were lucky enough to receive closure, is to help others who were going through a similar tragedy of a missing loved one,” Neron said.

Based in Edmonton, Neron said that they plan to be a resource for Western Canada but are more than willing to work with people all over the world looking for help finding a missing person.

Aerial footage of crash site.

When paramedics and air ambulance pilot discovered the missing plane they were able to relay exact coordinates to the RCMP – ending their 10 month search. pic.twitter.com/Z1h1JuMY5X

— Emerg Health Services (@BC_EHS) September 11, 2018

“We want to be able to give a tool set and care to march forward with everybody who is doing their own organized search efforts, after the military, RCMP and search and rescue suspend their search,” Neron said.

With contacts in the aviation, drone and 4x4ing community as well as potential volunteers to search on foot and analyze drone footage, Neron feels they have a good start on collecting resources that could help other families.

She also plans on sharing personal experiences and support through the organization and working to attract funders for the project.

The first phase will be a Facebook page and a Kickstarter fundraising page which Neron hopes will be up and running in the next few weeks. From there Neron said it will snowball into a website and continue to grow from there.

“We really want to pay that forward,” Neron said.

@JDoll_Revy jocelyn.doll@revelstokereview.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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