AZ Soaring (ping Tuno)

From: Anchorage Daily News
Published: October 2, 2007

The pilot of the floatplane that crashed in Katmai National Park and
Preserve on Sunday was Bruce Stephens of Wasilla, according to the
National Park Service. Stephens, 60, and three passengers died in the
crash. All the victims have been removed from the crash site and will
be flown to Anchorage today, the Park Service said. The National
Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The deaths bring to 29 the number of people killed in Alaska plane
crashes during the 12 months that ended Sunday.

The plane crashed on its way back to the Royal Wolf Lodge, a 120-acre
privately owned fly-fishing lodge inside the park.

Besides Stephens, the victims were Canadian brothers Greg Brophy, 44,
and Sean Brophy, 49, and guide Tom Beatty, 38, of Homer. Greg Brophy
was chief executive of a major Canadian information-security firm.

The men were on a fly-fishing trip and their plane was returning to
the $6,650-per-week lodge after a day of fishing.

The pilot contacted the lodge, saying he expected to be back about 4
p.m., Park Service spokesman John Quinley said. When the Helio Courier
had not arrived 45 minutes later, the lodge organized an aerial
search.

Crews discovered the badly damaged wreckage about six miles from the
lodge at about 5:15 p.m. It had crashed into trees near Nonvianuk
Lake, about 50 miles northeast of King Salmon in the northern portion
of the park, said Jim LaBelle, chief of the NTSB's Alaska office.

It had not sent a distress signal.

Lodge employees boated and hiked to the crash site, where they
confirmed that all four occupants were dead, Quinley said.

The weather in King Salmon at the time of the crash was overcast with
light rain, he said. The cloud ceiling was between 2,500 and 3,000
feet, with 10- to 20-mph winds.

"It wasn't a bright, clear day, but it doesn't seem like it was a
horrible, zero-visibility day," Quinley said.

The area features mostly hills and lakes, Quinley said, and mostly
lacks the mountains that are common in other parts of the park. He
didn't know if the area's topography played a role in the crash.

The bodies of the four victims were still at the accident site late
Monday. An NTSB investigator and national park rangers were on the
scene, he said, but it was too early for them to have determined the
cause of the crash.

The Brophy brothers were both from Ontario. Greg Brophy was the
president and chief executive of Securit Information Security, a
global information-security company headquartered in Oakville,
Ontario, said Securit spokeswoman Elizabeth Hendricks.

Brophy founded a branch of the company in 1988, and today it is a
global information security firm that offers records management, data
protection and shredding services.

"He was very gregarious and very enthusiastic and passionate about his
vision," Hendricks said. "Everyone here is just devastated."

The plane was owned by Branham Adventures but was leased to the lodge,
Quinley said. Calls to both businesses were not returned.

We (in ASA) have known about this for a couple of days now. We are
mourning his loss in Arizona, where our thoughts & prayers go out to
his surviving family, including sons Mark and Jason.

Tuno

On Oct 3, 7:41 pm, Tuno wrote:
We (in ASA) have known about this for a couple of days now. We are
mourning his loss in Arizona, where our thoughts & prayers go out to
his surviving family, including sons Mark and Jason.

Tuno

Any news on an Arizona Memorial Service?
Micki

Hello All,

Thank you for your sympathies and well wishes. Obviously we are all
devestated by this tragic event. We held a small wake in Wasilla on
Saturday for our friends in Alaska. It was really awesome to hear how
much Dad meant to each one of them and to hear the stories of their
good times together.

We will be having services in the Phoenix area on the 20th of October
but have not finalized a time as of yet. I should have that in the
next day or two. If I don't get back on this board to fill you in
please call the sailport at (520) 568-2318 and we'll pass it along.

Thank you,
Jason Stephens