Hero pilot killed; Perimeter Aviation mourns

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This article was published 05/10/2010 (5571 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN the spring of 2009, she was being hailed as hero for helping pilot Perimeter Flight 640 to a safe belly landing after declaring an emergency en route to Winnipeg’s James Richardson International Airport.

Now, Winnipeg’s flying community is in mourning after learning their former colleague, Marie-Eve Rousselle, died in a car crash over the weekend in New Brunswick. The pregnant mother was killed alongside her 29-year-old husband Robin Rousselle Saturday after their car struck a moose on a two-lane highway about 35 kilometres north of Moncton.

The couple’s two-year-old son, Dylan, survived the crash with minor injuries.

“My thoughts are just with her family and their son… we had a special bond together,” said Capt. Kristen McCallum, 28, who worked at Perimeter Aviation with Rousselle as her first officer in March 2009. The two made news across Canada when they encountered serious problems trying to land their 18-seat aircraft on a flight to Winnipeg from St. Theresa Point.

McCallum and Rousselle, whose maiden name was Robichaud, circled the airport and eventually made a belly landing that kept the two pilots and their eight passengers safe.

The two were hailed for keeping their cool in what could have been a potentially disastrous situation.

“I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to be by me,” said McCallum, who broke down in tears Monday talking about her former colleague.

The young pilot trained at Moncton Flight College and started at Perimeter in 2006 before leaving the company last year to return to Moncton to be closer to her and her husband’s families.

Both were from Neguac, a village on Miramichi Bay, and were on their way home from a family wedding. The Saint-Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Neguac, where Robin and Marie-Eve were married on Aug. 13, will now be the site of their funerals Thursday afternoon.

On Saturday, they were travelling in a Pontiac on the two-lane highway in Shediac Bridge when they struck the moose.

Police said the car’s driver died at the scene of the crash and his wife died in hospital Sunday. RCMP had not released the couple’s names Monday, but friends identified the Rousselles as the crash victims. A Mountie said Monday the couple’s two-year-old son is with family.

“Everyone’s very upset,” said Janet Ketonen, another Perimeter Aviation pilot who photographed Rousselle’s wedding in New Brunswick. “They were such nice, gentle souls.”

She said the couple shared an easygoing approach and had been together for years.

Ketonen said Rousselle’s husband will also be sorely missed. “He had a good sense of humour.”

Perimeter Aviation vice-president of commercial operations Carlos Castillo said employees at the close-knit company were “shocked” to hear of Rousselle’s death.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca