The owner of a small air charter company and a paramedic were killed when the Piper Navajo the owner was flying crashed near the airport on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy off New Brunswick Saturday. A nurse and another pilot were injured and are in stable condition in the hospital. The pilots and medical staff were returning from the nearby community of Saint John after the emergency transfer of a patient to its hospital. The aircraft went down near the small airport on Grand Manan in fog at about 5 a.m. Police identified the pilot as Klaus Sonnenberg, owner of Atlantic Charters, and the paramedic as William Mallock.
Grand Manan is actually closer to Maine than it is to New Brunswick and is about 20 miles from Blacks Harbour. As such, the charter service is a lifeline for those who need medical care that is beyond the capability of the small hospital in the village of 2,000. Sonnenberg and Mallock were well known in their first responder roles and the island’s mayor said they will be missed. Dennis Greene told the Canadian Press Sonnenberg was “a great pilot … who was always there to help during an emergency.”
